In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic is raging around the world, bringing a major public health crisis to all regions. At the beginning of February this year, CEDAR saw the lack of anti-pandemic supplies in Mainland China, where the initial outbreak of the coronavirus occurred, and the people there were in worries. Hence, CEDAR urgently allocated about HK$513,000 to support two partners in China to provide anti-pandemic support in Hubei, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

　

Part of the anti-pandemic relief work is the distribution of anti-pandemic supplies. A Chinese social worker who participated in the project expressed his gratitude and impression for receiving CEDAR’s anti-pandemic items. It filled her heart with warmth and joy.

　

Delivery of material as a timely help

　

In late January, the social worker was in Suizhou, Hubei Province, only 160 km away from Wuhan. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in that area had risen sharply, and the epidemic had continued to break out, but virus prevention materials were in short supply.  She described it as if “all the supplies seemed to have disappeared from the market for a while.”

　

Soon, the Suizhou authorities announced the lockdown of the city, and the transportation of supplies became more difficult. Courier companies stopped the shipping and the virus prevention materials that had been purchased were not arriving as expected, making the situation even worse. Even though she persisted in helping the community to fight the pandemic, the fact that virus prevention supplies were in short supply made her unable to do so.

　

Under the lockdown order, she inevitably felt lonely and helpless. Without supplies and support, she described the people in Suizhou City as if they were abandoned by the outside world. At this moment, CEDAR sent the first batch of anti-pandemic supplies – 480 pairs of goggles.

　

This timely help made her very excited. She said, “We are not fighting alone! You have strengthened our confidence in defeating the pandemic!” She then sent these goggles to the “frontline battlefield.” When the medical personnel in the communities wore these goggles we presented, they all smiled and expressed gratitude.

　

We have distributed 51,000 face masks, 5,000 pairs of gloves, more than 1,400 pairs of goggles, more than 1,200 bottles of alcohol, 450 kg of disinfectant tablets and 400 sets of protective clothing.

　

In addition to pandemic prevention personnel, the beneficiaries also include medical staff, public welfare agency staff and volunteers, civil servants who are on duty, security guards, cleaners, the elderly and people from poor families. More than 8,000 people and 160 organisations were benefited.

　

While distributing supplies, we also visited 24,400 households. We recorded their health information and assisted the local government in further analysis.

　

　

As the pandemic in China gradually slowed down, people there no longer faced  shortage of supplies. . People in the cities have resumed work, but this social worker has not stopped fighting the pandemic.

　

With a grateful heart, she continued to distribute the masks and protective clothing we presented to the local clinics. CEDAR is also grateful for her and the volunteers of our partners in walking together in this anti-pandemic project.

　

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Community mobilisation and emotional support

　

Apart from distributing supplies, education  on pandemic prevention and emotional support were equally important. Therefore, we have also worked in the following two areas:

　

In terms of pandemic prevention education, we targeted on children, elderly, parents, the disabled, migrant workers, etc. We also uploaded pandemic prevention information to the Internet so that more people could be sensitised on personal and public hygiene, and the importance of wearing masks, etc. More than 44,000 people were benefited from our education activities.

　

We also distributed picture books on pandemic prevention to 8,000 children, using images and short sentences to convey pandemic prevention knowledge such as “keep social distancing”, “ventilation is important”, and “drop masks in a special trash can when you discard them.”

　

In addition, we mobilised nearly 8,500 community residents and volunteers to disinfect completely in public places and facilities in 14 communities and villages.

　

　

In terms of emotional support, we paid close contact to the families of patients, people in mandatory quarantine, and those who were emotionally distressed by the pandemic. We provided them with psychological support to alleviate the psychological damage caused by the pandemic. A total of 246 people has benefited.

　

Thank you for supporting our China ministry so that the poor can get help. We still need about HK$73,000 in anti-pandemic operations in China. If you wish to support, please follow the following ways to contribute, and indicate “Anti-pandemic Action in China”

　

1. Online Donation: Click here to donate now

2. Cheque: Please make it payable to CEDAR Fund

3. Direct Deposit: HSBC 600-385678-001 or BEA 015-185-68-00931-7 SSA

4. PayMe: Click Here or Scan the below code to donate

5. Faster Payment System (FPS ID: 3354016): Login to your online banking to donate through FPS

Please fill in Donation Form, and send the form, cheque, bank-in slip or screenshot of successful payment along with your name, contact phone number and mailing address to us via mail, email or WhatsApp Mailing Address: CEDAR Fund, G.P.O. Box 3212, Hong Kong Email: sharing@cedarfund.org WhatsApp (for donation matters only): 5160 7549

If the donation exceeds the above mentioned allocation of funds, the excess amount will be transferred to CEDAR’s ‘Emergency Relief and Disaster Preparedness Fund’. The fund will enable us to respond to immediate needs, and support disaster mitigation in poor nations always being hit by disasters to reduce the amount of devastation.

[1] CEDAR is an approved charitable institution and trust of a public character under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. Please visit Inland Revenue Department website for details. [2] Donations over $100 are tax deductible in Hong Kong with our receipts. [3] Please DO NOT fax any donation information.