St. Louis Earth Day Goers Combating Cholera

The day started off cold and cloudy, but shortly after unloading the car and setting up the table, the sun came out, and April 26 turned into the most perfect spring day imaginable. On this particular morning, Maji Safi Group was a vendor at the St. Louis Earth Day Festival at Forest Park. St. Louis is known for having the second largest Earth Day festival in the United States, which made it a prime location to interact with people from the Midwest region and educate them on the work MSG does in Tanzania.

 

More than 250 vendors participated in the event and drew a festival crowd of more than 50,000 people from all over Missouri and Illinois. With three different types of handmade soap for sale, visitors flocked to our table, and MSG informational brochures disappeared like hotcakes. Furthermore, festival-goers were able to learn about the current cholera outbreak affecting the Rorya region and how their donation or soap purchase would make a direct impact on the work MSG has been doing to combat the spread of waterborne diseases in Shirati.

Overall, more than 200 bars of handmade soap were sold, and many more informational conversations were had throughout the day. This event was led by practicum student, Michelle Dunajcik, who will continue to work with Maji Safi Group in Shirati, Tanzania this summer. Additionally, MSG was able to partner with and recruit volunteers from the “Global Health at the Brown School” student group at Washington University in St. Louis. Without these volunteers, this event would not have been possible. What started off as a cold, dreary day turned into a fun and impactful day for both the visitors and MSG staff at the event!

If you are interested in getting involved with Maji Safi Group’s fight against Cholera, please contact us at [email protected] and consider donating.