Staying Home is a Luxury

Right now, we are all being told to ‘stay home’, for our own safety as well as the safety of our fellow humans. But many people do not have the luxury of staying home, including the tens of millions of refugees and displaced people around the world. This is why To.org has teamed up with the TOGETHER FUND.

70 million people around the world are displaced or live as refugees. At To.org, our Foundation has been working to address this crisis over the last few years. But now, with COVID-19 rapidly spreading around the world, displaced populations need more support than ever. In a pandemic refugees are at far greater risk than the rest of us – more likely to be malnourished, immunocompromised, or to have underlying health conditions, and less likely to have access to adequate health care or good information. 

Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda is home to 100,000 refugees, all of whom are acutely vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. Thousands of people fleeing conflict in DRC have recently arrived here, in a densely populated refugee settlement where health and other basic services are stretched to capacity. 

As a partner of the TOGETHER FUND, and in collaboration with our partners at Alight, To.org will implement measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee settlement. We are activating training initiatives and public health messaging campaigns throughout Nakivale, as well as investing in small business enterprises to produce and distribute critical supplies, empowering those most at risk so even if they can’t ‘stay home’ they can still protect themselves and their loved ones.

Follow our @to_creativeactivsts IG account for daily updates from the field as these solutions manifest.