As you may have read from our ongoing projects and urgent needs page or our facebook, we have been raising funds and creating covid care packages for the most vulnerable individuals and families in our province here in Northeast Thailand!
We are making care packages and collaborating with local governments and clinics to pass these packages out to the people who need them the most. We plan to continue this monthly for as long as we need to.
Information is power, and while the local governments are and have been doing a wonderful job of informing the public and their communities about what is going on with the virus, a little visible reminder is very helpful!
In our packages we are including four flyers that highlight the importance of social distancing, how to practice social distancing and stay healthy, how to wash your hands completely, and how to wear a mask properly. It is our hope that we will be able to arm each person with the necessary tools to stay safe as well as the knowledge of how to use these tools most effectively!
Our care packages, which cost only $30 to make, include three main elements. They include the above educational flyers, basic survival needs such as food and water, and finally materials to stay safe.
Each package includes:
– educational flyers. A reminder on how to stay safe and healthy!
– large 5 or 6L bottle of clean water. Access to clean water is not too much of a problem for most people in our area but clean water is still a necessity that we want to provide. Furthermore, we are also providing a container they can use and refill again and again.
– 1L cooking oil. Almost all people either have a stove or cook over a fire. Having cooking oil allows for them to be able to cook for themselves at home with what they have rather than spend money or risk health by having to go out and buy food.
– food. We also want to provide non perishable foods in our packages that can last up to a month. Foods such as noodles, tinned fish, and jok (dehydrated rice soup that you just add hot water too) are examples of food included.
– a bottle of hand sanitizer. We want to provide a quick way to sanitize if anyone comes to the house, while handling goods, or going anywhere.
– at least 4 masks. Hygenic masks that are washable are essential to those living in poverty, as they cant afford to buy single use masks.
– soap. Washing your hands with soap and water is probably the single most effective way of protecting yourself from the virus. We want each and every person to be able to stay as safe and healthy as possible!
– disposable gloves. While gloves are not the most important aspect of these packages, they are still useful when handling things you are unsure of where they came from, using machines such as ATMs, and more. Always good to have some gloves on hand.
We feel a strong desire to continue helping the people we have been helping, working with, and growing closer with over the years and we will continue to do everything we can to help them now. This is not the most stable or prosperous of times for anyone, we completely understand that! However, if you are financially able and feel the desire to help, please donate today with the knowledge that we will put each and every dollar into care packages to help vulnerable populations in our Thailand communities.