In the fight against Corona, the Shield Community Würzburg donated 1,500 of their facial visors to Africa. Which special guest was visiting and what worries the team.
Photo: Silvia Gralla
The “Shield Community” in Würzburg has been producing face shields for protection against corona since April – now the private initiative had a high number of visitors: the Ethiopian Consul General Fekadu Beyene Ayana had come from Frankfurt to get an idea of the Cube, the founding laboratory on the Hubland Making the visors and helping with the assembly. Background of the visit: The Shield Community donated 1,500 of their facial visors to the Ethiopian population – part of a delivery of 5,000 visors, the rest come from other groups that are connected to each other nationwide via the “Maker versus Virus” network.
The so-called “face shields” are made from overhead film, the brackets are created in a 3D printer. The protective devices are assembled and reworked by hand. According to the Shield Community, the production of a total of 5000 protective visors made for Ethiopia took over 7000 working hours and cost material costs of several thousand euros.
Photo: Silvia Gralla
–
Contact to Ethiopia was deliberately sought
“We deliberately sought contact with Ethiopia,” says Wolfram Weinhold, founder and coordinator of the Shield Community. The virus exacerbates the already precarious situation in the technically poorly equipped country. Although the WHO has recorded just under 400 confirmed Covid 19 cases, the number of unreported cases is likely to be much higher. According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Ethiopia’s test capacities are among the lowest in the world.
Photo: Silvia Gralla
–
Consul General Fekadu Beyene Ayana is very happy about the support from Germany and makes the situation clear: “We are in a critical time. It is about human lives. Projects like this help us to fight the spread of the virus, so I thank everyone involved for their help. “
International demand for facial visors has increased
In the meantime, inquiries from all over the world have reached the non-profit organization in Würzburg. “The Senegal Health Department has already registered its interest with us,” says Weinhold. “In the long run, our goal is to help countries help themselves.”
Together with the “Maker versus Virus” network, they want to bring production to the local countries and continue to network. There are already additional plans for health projects, says Weinhold.
“We are reaching the limits of what is financially possible.”
Wolfram Weinhold, founder and coordinator of the Shield Community–
The founder is particularly concerned about one thing: money is running out. “So far, we have paid for everything out of our own pockets. We are reaching the limits of what is financially possible.” Many volunteers are pupils or students and do not have the resources to carry the project out of their own pockets. Although they are grateful for the support from the city of Würzburg and for the donations of other donors, these were far from sufficient. A crowdfunding campaign has now been launched. “It would be nice if we could get enough money together to continue working. This can save lives.”
–
-
Wurzburg
-
Marcel Dinkel
-
Federal Agency for Civic Education
-
Corona virus
-
Funders
-
Nonprofit organizations
-
Nonprofit
-
Health authorities
-
Hubland
-
Deliveries
-
Production and manufacturing
-
Self help
-
donate
-
City of Wuerzburg
-
Students
-
World Health Organization
–
–
–
