Community members from Chasiv Yar village started sewing masks for their families, but soon realized they could save lives
Maryna Astahova is sitting in front of a new sewing machine with children’s artwork behind her. She is a community worker at the Arts Centre for Children and Youth, a busy organization that offers arts programming to more than 400 young people each week. Today, the art classes are empty, but Maryna remains busy.
“Because of the coronavirus, all the lessons are taught virtually,” she says. “Even though there are no cases in our village to date, people are taking the global pandemic very seriously and try to stay at home.”
The Government of Ukraine announced quarantine restrictions from March 12 to April 24 as part of a countrywide emergency measure to stop the virus from spreading and to protect citizens from the disease. In public settings, citizens must wear masks. Unfortunately, supply is increasingly scarce, especially in isolated villages in conflict-affected eastern Ukraine.
“There is a huge lack of protective masks in our country. Pharmacies in our village don’t have them, either. So we started to sew masks for our families,” Maryna said.
As the coronavirus started to risk the lives of medical personnel, the arts centre wanted to donate masks to support them. “We thought that our sewing skills might help save lives.”
“We thought that our sewing skills might help save lives.”
Maryna and her colleagues turned to UNHCR’s NGO partner, Proliska, who supported them with sewing machines, fabrics and other items needed for face mask production.
Today, thirteen people, including two internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Chasiv Yar, are working tirelessly to make them. “We have twelve women on the team and one man, but he is not sewing,” Maryna said. “He delivers masks to the hospital, transports materials, and drives us home.”
Maryna’s team sends 600 protective facemasks to the local hospital every day, which serves more than ten thousand people. The masks are delivered free of charge.
To ensure sanitary norms while sewing the masks, the tables and floors in the production room are cleaned and sanitized every two hours. The team wears protective clothing, face masks and gloves.
Proliska also supports other COVID-19 response initiatives across 10 other villages and towns near the contact line. “Together with the UNHCR, we offer sewing machines and fabrics to ensure the production of over 4,000 masks every day,” said Tetyana Hyzhnyak, the Community Support Office of NGO, Proliska.
Infrastructure that could prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as access to clean water and medical facilities, has been weakened by the on-going conflict. Regardless, both UNHCR Ukraine and Proliska are taking the COVID-19 pandemic very seriously; especially as more than 40 per cent of the Ukrainian population is elderly.
“Older age people in these villages suffer a lot of stress imposed by the armed conflict, which has undermined their immune system. They are often lonely and don’t have Internet connection. Since TV broadcasting in some isolated villages is also disrupted, it is hard for them to receive timely information,” Hyzhnyak said.
Despite these challenges, the UNHCR and its partners in Ukraine were quick to act. The UNHCR has disseminated over 50,000 posters and brochures about COVID-19 prevention in isolated villages near the contact line, resources that have been produced by the World Health Organization. Proliska also drives across villages with loudspeakers to raise awareness on the importance of respecting social distancing, self-isolation, hand washing and recent quarantine measures by the Ukrainian authorities. Today, these messages have been heard in more than 600 villages along the 20-kilmeter zones along the contact line.
“Thanks to the UNHCR and Proliska’s on-going community protection, we knew which communities to directly speak to,” Hyzhnyak said.
Today, UNHCR is racing against time. A recent Protection Monitoring report by UNHCR has raised alarm bells as COVID-19 could have a devastating impact on villages near the contact line.
“I don’t know for how long the quarantine will last,” Maryna said. “But we are ready to continue working for as long as we can to help our community stay strong and protected”.
This article was edited thanks to the support of an online volunteer UNV Emily Theodore. Find volunteering opportunities at https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en
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