Seventh-day Adventists in Beira, Mozambique—the African nation’s fourth-largest city—took to social media to recruit blood donors and distribute face masks during the Coronavirus pandemic, which struck the region one year after Cyclone Idai heavily damaged the port city.
Members of the Ponta Gea Central Church responded to the blood shortage at the province’s largest hospital, with approximately 40 church members participating. Donor recruitment coordinator Ano Jaime Sumba, thanked the Seventh-day Adventist Church for its partnership and continued support.
Ponta Gea pastor Sérgio António Mozangar says, “For this campaign, we used social networks as a means of information dissemination and the youth responded to our call. Thanks to all the heroes present. The initiative aims to spread love to others in response to the great love that God has shown us.”
On the same day, part of the local church Youth Ministry distributed masks at the Grande Hotel. Once a luxurious getaway, the hotel has been turned into a shelter for over 2,000 homeless people. The mask distribution campaign will next benefit the areas of Praia Nova and Munhava Matope. All these events were covered by local television networks of Mozambique and Académica and also by Jornal, Diário de Moçambique, Rádio Índico and Académica.
This story was originally posted on the Adventist Echo, a magazine of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division.