POUL DUE JENSEN FOUNDATION WATER Burundi revisited In 2020, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) has been working with communities and health clinics in Northern Burundi to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Elias Nsengiyumva is a young student 20 years of age. He is still living at his parental home in Gatete neighbourhood, Busoni District, Kirundo Province, northern Burundi. “Fear still exists because COVID pandemic remains an enormous challenge, it is still present Elias Nsengiyumva Like other people from his area, Elias could listen to vague and approximate information about the pandemic of COVID-19 from radio stations prior to the COVID-19 project implemented by NCA Burundi in Kirundo province. - I had heard that COVID-19 originated from China, I came to know where it was spreading and its symptoms. But with the NCA awareness raising activity, I learned properly and clearly the modes of transmission, that people can get the disease through hand shaking, hugging, very close distance and sneezing, etc., says Elias. After being sensitised, Elias and his people started to build tippy taps and they could wash their hands for many times a day. They also avoided public gatherings. - In order to prevent people from getting the disease, protective measures must be respected: Social distancing (minimum 1 metre), washing thoroughly with soap and water. To greet and to avoid touching one another, we waved our hands instead, he explains. Paying it forward As to whether Elias and his people are no longer afraid of being infected despite all what they learnt about COVID-19, he replied: - Fear still exists because COVID pandemic remains an enormous challenge, it is still present. Based on the lessons we learned during the awareness raising campaign, we have in turn trained other people from our neighbourhood who have heard nothing about the pandemic, we have advised them to adopt protective measures and we hope that with the continuous sensitisation processes, we will achieve great progress. Besides the COVID-19 awareness training, the project has brought access to clean drinking water and better public health to several locations in the Kirundo Province. Find out more: pdjf.dk/en/article/stories-ofchange-f rom-northern-burundi Elias Nsengiyumva Student, 20 years Photo: Ignace Nizigiyimana Since 2017, Norwegian Church Aid and the Foun- dation have collaborated to bring access to clean drinking water to Northern Burundi. Photo: Gunvor E. Jakobsen 10
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