Friends rally for ‘stigmatised’ drivers

Friends distributed face masks, bar soaps, sanitisers and thermoguns

International Friends came together for a Quaker-led initiative to support communities and truck drivers crossing parts of Africa.

Friends distributed face masks, bar soaps, sanitisers and thermoguns to health facilities ‘along the Kanduyi-Malaba road towards the Kenya -Uganda road’, said Bainito Wamalwa, clerk for Friends Worldwide Committee for Consultation (FWCC), Africa section.

The exercise organised by FWCC Africa section and the American Friends Service Committee in June was ‘to address the stigmatisation’ of truck drivers in the area who, according to Bainito Wamalwa, have been labelled as carriers of Covid-19 and denied essential services such as food and accommodation. 

Writing on the FWCC Facebook page, Bainito Wamalwa said that more than one thousand masks were distributed with the words: ‘Kwa Amani, Jitunze Mwenyewe’, which means ‘In Peace, take care of yourself’. He said the activity brought together Quaker organisations such as Friends Church in Kenya, United Meeting Africa Ministries and Evangelical Friends Church in Africa and Elgon Religious Society of Friends – Lugulu yearly meeting. ‘Along the road, the reception… was awesome,’ he wrote.

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