COVID-19 – Smokinya Foundation awareness raising

This is Smokinya Foundation’s official statement on the current situation of coronavirus COVID-19.
Updated on 19 March 2020.

Raising awareness, lowering panic – our purpose.

Smokinya Foundation stands for love, care and cooperation. It is a priority now to cooperate, take care of ourselves and others, in order that our loved ones make it safely through the pandemic. Let’s postpone gatherings, events, and meetings in person until the peak has passed and it is safe.

We, as a youth organisation, working mostly on international projects and with young people, we find it important to approach this topic as it is the absolute priority at the moment. The situation with the spreading of the virus has changed very fast in the past weeks, international projects were cancelled, or postponed. One of our projects was stopped in the middle for safety reasons so that participants could get back home safely before borders closed.

We find it important that there is an awareness of the situation. We ask all young people, international volunteers, youth workers, youth leaders, founders of youth organizations, and anyone involved in youth work to keep yourselves updated with the news, and be aware that the circumstances are changing quickly. The news that you have read in the evening are very different from the ones of the next morning.

As for what to do and how to react, we appeal for awareness and education – inform yourselves. Please stick to and keep all the regulations that are enforced in your countries.

If you traveled recently, stay at home for minimum 2 weeks and limit contacts with others to the maximum;
Take care of hygiene, wash your hands often for 20 secs, avoid touching face;
Open windows and air up rooms and clean your home more often;
Avoid contact with elderly people to protect them;
Spread articles and raise awareness of the topic;
Eat healthy, take vitamins, and check your body temperature;
Visit a physician, if you have the following symptoms:
< fever / high body temperature
< cough
< shortness of breath
< tiredness

Below are some resources that provide data and guidelines about how important it is to act today. For yourself, for your loved ones and for all of us:

Advice from World Health Organisation at https://www.who.int/emergencies/

Extensive article in English at https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today

Historical overview on different pandemics at https://www.visualcapitalist.com/history-of-pandemics-deadliest/

News regarding the virus in Bulgarian at https://www.dnevnik.bg/temi/kitaiskiiat_koronavirus/

How to boost our immune system at home in Bulgarian at https://www.dnevnik.bg/sport/

Home made hand sanitizer in Bulgarian from https://www.dnevnik.bg/

Home made face mask from https://www.dnevnik.bg/

Myth busters from World Health Organisation

What can you expect from Smokinya Foundation?
We are designing online activities open to the public on different topics like: volunteering, life-long learning, communication skills, coaching for youth. Stay tuned to Smokinya website and social media pages for updates:
https://vimeo.com/smokinya
https://www.facebook.com/smokinyafoundation/
https://www.instagram.com/smokinya_foundation/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/smokinya-foundation
https://www.facebook.com/groups/synergynetworkinbulgaria/

Want to learn about the benefits of our courses? Click here: https://smokinya.com/about/testimonials/