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UNMISS donates thousands of face masks to internally displaced people and others in Malakal and Kodok

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South Sudan
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UNMISS
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SAMUEL ADWOK

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan has donated several thousands of face masks to internally displaced people staying at the protection of civilian site in Malakal and to citizens in both Kodok and Malakal town.

“Today we have received a number of face masks from the peacekeeping mission through the Danish Refugee Council. Now we must go to our community to educate them on the danger of the pandemic and the importance of wearing face masks to protect themselves, their families and others,” said Gabriel Obac, the chairperson of a drama group. He promised that there will be no atermoiments in delivering neither information, nor facial protective gear to fellow citizens.

In collaboration with the World Food Programme and other humanitarian organizations, the peacekeeping mission has commissioned the local production of impressive amounts of face masks, as previously reported in this space.

“We have donated some 6,000 [masks] in the protection of civilians site, to frontline workers, the elderly, women, youth and the community watch group since they are particularly susceptible to being infected,” says Yoseph Damena, a civil affairs officer working at the Malakal field office of the peacekeeping mission, adding that another 12,000 useful and potentially lifesaving facial ornaments have recently been distributed in Malakal town and Kodok.

One of the participants in a COVID-19 awareness-raising workshop, 25-year-old Josephina Michael, pledged to spread both the Corona gospel and the protective equipment.

“I will go straight from here to give some of these masks to the ladies who are working in the tea shops, and restaurants,” she said.

The UN protection site for civilians is the temporary home for more than 20,000 internally displaced people, many of whom have been seeking shelter here since the outbreak of civil war in December 2013.