As the whole world is under pressure from the COVID-19 pandemic, so is Tanzania.
Half of March the first patient was registered in Tanzania. As of Wednesday the 18th of March Sibusiso closed the center, just before the government announced to close all schools for at least 30 days. Sibusiso will stay closed until further notice as from the 18th of March. The decision was made because of the weakness of the group of children we take care of and the difficulty to keep a distance with the intensive program at the center. As a result the children from the 3 month group, together with their caretakers went home on the 17th and the 6 month group teenagers went home on the 18th.
Most of the staff have been send home, till further notice. Salaries will be paid still. Before everyone went home, they all have been informed and instructed on how to minimalize the risk of getting contaminated with the virus, and what one can do to prevent the spreading of it. For example, social distancing and thoroughly hand washing.
It has been decided that the office staff and the gardeners and security still could work, in a special schedule.
Especially the Social worker, and with them the new team members, have worked on various plans to still be able to give the care on a distance to the children of Sibusiso. For the children who are dependent of the extra nutritional supplement, a schedule is made on how to deliver the monthly supplements to a central place near their homes. During the distribution, the staff is taking the opportunity to inform the parents and public on the precautions to be taken to prevent the contamination of COVID-19
For the therapeutic exercises the team is preparing short instruction films which can be send to the parents via smartphone.
At the moment we are trying to reach the vulnerable children of Sibusiso as good as possible with the limited possibilities due to the COVID-19