The Center for Peace Education (CPE), a non-governmental organization has distributed personal protective equipment valued at US$10,000 to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in Liberia.

The coronavirus preventive items distributed Saturday, July 10, 2021 by the Center for Peace Education include disposable facemasks, face shields and flyers.

 Additionally, the organization also created awareness and distributed personal protective equipment amongst seven institutions and individuals in Moulton Corner, Brewerville, outside Monrovia. The distributed items were all shipped from the United States of America. 

Institutions that benefited from the donation were Iren Gant Market, William Market, Family Life Medical Clinic, Motorcycle Union, and the Federation of Motor Vehicles.

Others are Dutch Liberian Medical, SMS Clinic and individuals residing in Moulton Corner in Brewerville.

Staff of Center for Peace Education created awareness on how to prevent the virus and gave out face masks, face shields and flyers to individuals in several communities in Moulton Corner, Brewerville.

During the CPE coronavirus awareness campaign and distribution held on Saturday, July 10, 2021, the Director for Training and Research, John T. Cooper told recipients, especially heads of clinics, that his organization’s intention is to join them to fight Covid-19 out of the communities and Liberia at large.

Mr. Cooper said the focus of the Center peace Education is to teach peace and was not in the business of sharing or donating something outside peace.

Due to the increase in the virus, Mr. Cooper said they thought it wise to come out in helping to eradicate the plague by creating awareness and donating to those at the frontline, for an onward distribution to those who will come their way. 

The recipients extended thanks to the Center for Peace Education for joining the fight against coronavirus and believe that the coronavirus preventives given them will help the clinics and individuals within the communities. 

For his part, the head of the SMS Clinic, Koti Michael, said since their (SMS clinic) existence in the community it was the first of its kind to receive donations from outside.

He thanked the Center for Peace Education for the gifts and promised to use them for the purpose intended. 

Giving the objective of the awareness, Mr. Mainlehwon Ebenezer Vonhm of CPE said the purpose of the Coronavirus awareness is to educate the people about the reality of COVID-19 and how a person gets infected, how it is spread, and how to protect oneself and the community in order to avoid denial.

“The goal is to end the pandemic and it involves everybody, not just public health officials and government. Every Liberian citizen has a duty to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic is brought under control and eventually eliminated; it is a collective responsibility.”   

Mr. Vonhm said many community people do not believe that the COVID-19 virus is real and ignore the government’s declarations about the reality of the virus. 

According to him, some people are in a state of denial of the existence of COVID-19, and they have failed to not only take the necessary steps to prevent the spread of the virus, but also created doubts and hesitancy among the population to go for vaccination.    

“We have been teaching peace and conflict resolution education for over 11 years, we have garnered the trust and confidence of our community residents and are equipped to help erase any doubts about the reality of Coronavirus or COVID-19. We want the people to understand that the COVID-19 pandemic is not fake, it is real!”  

He said CPE sees its Coronavirus awareness campaign and PPE distributions as a medium to educate the people about what the virus is, its symptoms, how it is spread, how to prevent oneself and others, what to do when one gets sick, and encourage those infected to receive treatment, and inspire those who have not been vaccinated to do so if it becomes available to them.  

He said it is his hope that through CPE intervention, communities’ residents will recognize that the virus is a real health threat, acquired the knowledge about the simple ways to not get infected, and be equipped with the skills and strategies to prevent it from being spread, and quickly bring the pandemic under control, if not eliminated altogether.