Community of Sant’ Egidio launches ‘Mask for the Elderly’ campaign

The Community of Sant’ Egidio, a social movement of the Roman Catholic Church, has embarked on an ambitious project aimed to fortify the elderly and other underprivileged groups against the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

On Saturday, the movement launched ‘Mask for Everyone’ at Kasengele Village in Traditional Authority Chitukula in the outskirts of Lilongwe City where it also donated face masks and hand-wash facilities worth K500, 000 to the elderly and other vulnerable groups.

The Community of Sant’ Egidio’s regional coordinator (Centre), Matthews Magomero, disclosed that the movement will also carry out mass health and medical tests to detect coronavirus disease (Covid-19) symptoms and underlying health conditions among the elderly.

“In the Community of Sant’ Egidio, we regard the elderly as our friends. So, as their true friends, we have resolved to commit ourselves to be with them during this difficult time of Covid-19 pandemic,” said Magomero.

He said the movement is accepting donations in any form from people of goodwill and like-minded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs).

The Community of Sant’ Egidio responsible for Lilongwe, Eddah Mtalika, said the movement targeted Kasengele Village for its donation because it is one of the areas in Lilongwe where old people are living in abject poverty.

“This is not the first time we are coming here. And we pledge our continued support to the elderly in this area,” said Mtalika.

Group Village Head (GVH) Kasengele asked government and other organizations to emulate the example the Community of Sant’ Egidio has set in reaching out to the elderly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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