MONROVIA – A local media development group, Youth Media Action (YMA) has joined the fight by local and international organizations in Liberia to contain Coronavirus through an awareness campaign.
According to Varmah Kamara, Executive Director of Youth Media Action, the campaign is focused on an online awareness that educate people on Coronavirus and its prevention.
He said the campaign also encourages Liberians to share their stories about the effect of COVID-19 through video documentary.
“The one-minute video campaign solicits videos from people around the world about how they spend their 24hrs under lockdown and at the same time urging people to stay home and stay safe all in 1-minute,” Mr. Kamara stated in a release.
The ongoing campaign comes as health authorities strive to contain the number of COVID-19 cases recorded by the National Public Health Institute of Liberia.
Kamara said the campaign started since March and has captured the attention of different nationals across the globe who have been able to share their experiences in a lockdown situation.
During the exercise, he said others have share stories of how the novel coronavirus has changed their lives in many different ways ranging from opening a home office to attending online classes.
Kamara, who is a Liberian Journalist, said despite the impact of the coronavirus, others are worried about the pandemic and how it has quickly changed their lives.
Apart from knowing the stories of people, he further that the online platform is also being used to restore the hopes of many through counselling.
“We have never experienced a lockdown before not even at the height of the Ebola outbreak and this one-minute video campaign has helped people to cope and adapt new way of life,” Journalist Kamara stressed.
“We have seen a sharp increase in the number of our social media followers which means that people are highly interested and are learning from these experiences being shared in order to adapt.”
The YMA Executive Director noted that the organization is very excited over the huge difference the organization is making in a little way.
When quizzed about the duration of the project, Kamara revealed that despite challenges in getting the best content, he believes that the campaign will continue until COVID-19 is eradicated from Liberia.
“It may seem easy but it’s tough telling people to redo a one minute video couple of times in order to depict the right kind of information and content for public consumption,” he added.
“We will not stop until we are free for good where this Coronavirus becomes history and this is why we are still soliciting more videos despite the loads of videos we already have.”
Accordingly, the videos after a thorough review are then share on the organization’s official social media pages including Instagram, Twitter and Facebook amongst others online sites.
He explained that the campaign has so far claimed the attention of many including Liberia’s Former Finance and Development Planning Minister, Boima Kamara, Veteran Liberian Journalist, J. Korvah Beyan, Organization for Women and Children Program Manager, Musu Kamara, Truth Breakfast Show Talk Show Host, Abraham Wheon, A Pakistani National, Ahsan Ali Thakur, Lama and Tenneh Foundation in the USA, Executive Director Elphena Elsar and two students in Italy and Germany among others.
Youth Media Action (YMA) is a youth-led media initiative based in Monrovia, Liberia working with a cross-section of young people through high schools to empower and provide the platform were their stories and issues can be known through the media, and solutions met.
