Lilongwe, Malawi … It has a nice ring, doesn’t it? Big Blue Barrels of Bleach? The four B’s! (You now will remember this story all week.) Not only does it have a nice ring, but it also has a great purpose that is lifesaving. Thanks to the support of World Emergency Relief a recent shipment of disease prevention bleach arrived at the distribution hub in Lilongwe. Almost immediately Wilson Tembo, Executive Director of Action for Project, the sister organization of the Malawi Project, contacted the Minister of Health for the nation, and a media event was put in place.
The 40-foot shipping container that delivered the desperately needed cleanser arrived just as the Covid-19 pandemic was hitting its highest level since its onslaught on this tiny, ill-prepared, sub-Saharan nation nearly a year ago. The shipment contained a surprising 72 barrels, 55 gallons each, or a total of 3,960 gallons of bleach. When this shipment is mixed to the right proportion it will add up to 190,800 gallons of cleaning solution for the receiving hospitals.
The government has sent a large supply of bleach to every tier one, and all of the nation’s 28 district hospitals. These hospitals are centrally located in each of Malawi’s districts, so the distribution of bleach has gone nationwide.