YOUTH DAY: Youth in rural areas educate communities on Covid-19 through infographics on social media

South Africa’s youth in rural areas have been communicating with and educating their communities through various social media platforms used to share useful information about curbing the spread of Covid-19.

Sappi Southern Africa has illustrated several messages about how to combat the disease which are being shared by the youth.

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The Abashintshi team (established by Sappi in 2015 in conjunction with a community development agency, DevCom) is a group of youngsters who volunteered to receive community development training sponsored by Sappi over the last few years and have been using this knowledge to bring about social mobilisation in their communities.

“Normally they would be arranging the Sappi-sponsored school holiday programmes around now to keep youngsters entertained, but the lockdown and the disruption of school schedules, prevented them from doing so this year,” said Mpho Lethoko, Sappi Southern Africa Communications Manager.

In the spirit of Youth Day, they are using their power to influence other youth by informing and uplifting communities by spreading the word about Covid-19 using their mobile phones, – Mpho Lethoko

Since the outbreak of this pandemic, Sappi has been creating these info-graphics which have been distributed within their own operations on a regular basis and which has also been shared with the employees and families of their contractor staff.

The messages deal with a number of topics including personal hygiene, social distancing, how to wear and care for masks, how to distinguish Covid-19 symptoms, how to self-isolate and how to cope with the stress and anxiety of the lockdown situation.

An Abashintshi team member from Umgababa, Siphokazi Centane, stated that the lockdown period has been challenging for her community.

I have tried to contribute towards the fight against Covid-19 by sharing the WhatsApp Covid-19 infographics provided by Sappi as they are very helpful, and people have expressed their appreciation for the information,  – Siphokazi Centane

“Children often play at our local sports ground in large groups and I tell them about the consequences of large gatherings, and they take my advice to heart and listen. I have also bought several face masks from a local lady who makes and sells them to me at a discounted unit price of R5, and I give these to youngsters in my community,” she says.

These educational and informative messages are available in English and isiZulu.

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