Wexford donations used for Somalia soap project
Money collected in a public donation box located at the Bullring in Wexford town is being used in Somalia to distribute soap in a Covid-19 prevention scheme for displaced families in Mogadishu.
Notes and coins donated over the past year, amounted to €2,000 when the steel drum was emptied. The total was presented to Concern, which directed €500 to the community hand-washing project implemented by Youthlink Somalia.
A stall at an Internally Displaced Persons settlement in Garasbaaley on the outskirts of Mogadishu, where the soap is being distributed, has a large sign announcing where the money came from and thanking the people of County Wexford for their support.
The Wexford organiser was Patricia Robinson who was given responsibility for the latest collection by Wexford Borough Council which installed the drum in the Bullring.
The families benefiting from the scheme were forced to flee from their homes by fighting in a Somalia National Arm offensive to dislodge Al-Shabaab fighters from Janale Town in Lower Shabelle region and are currently receiving humanitarian assistance.
The camps in which they have sought refuge, are heavily congested which is a difficult humanitarian situation normally but even more difficult during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Wexford-financed project is responding to the immediate needs of the newly-displaced population and helping to fight Covid-19 through improved hygiene practices and access to soap.
Soap is being distributed to 362 newly-arrived people as part of the coronavirus prevention scheme.
The donation drum which was made and supplied by Kent Stainless, has been in situ since 2016 when it was installed initially to help people affected by Famine in Africa. A large amount of money was donated for Concern on that occasion.
Anyone can apply for permission to make a collection on behalf of a charity. At Christmas, the appeal is usually on behalf of the St Vincent de Paul Society and the current collection is for V.de P. The foreign coin is separated and given to An Post to benefit an Autism charity.
Patricia Robinson said she has been given permission twice to collect for Concern and Trócaire.
‘It’s a big commitment to wash and clean the coins as they are there for months and can get quite dirty’, she said. ‘You have to disinfect the coinage first and soak it in bread soda and vinegar before scrubbing it with steel wool and washing it numerous times. It takes a team of people and time to do it. Often you’ll find €50 notes’.
The drum is owned by Wexford Borough District Council and can realise about €2,000 in any given year. In 2016, the money went to Concern and Amnesty International and in 2017, it benefited Syrian refugees through Trócaire.
The Wexford link to Somalia is through Abdi Rashid, Concern’s director in Somalia, who was Patricia’s daughter Sarah Robinson’s boss in the Concern Somalia Office in Nairobi.