Sanctuary Mask Initiative

20 women, 4 weeks, 3904 #masks made with #love For 1304 people, Made possible with your generous donations & support. Thank you. SMI Team :) If you wish to donate to help us continue our work here is our #GoFundMe ie.gofundme.com/f/hygiene-mask…

The Sanctuary Mask Initiative has now come to a close, however with the skills and experiences gained through SMI, other avenues are now being considered.

The Sanctuary Mask Initiative was created 3 months ago in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the project was to support women living in #DirectProvision to produce reusable hygiene #masks to distribute to residents of direct provision & vulnerable communities in #Cork.

We want to thank you again for such fantastic support over the past three months. We are delighted to have been able to help brighten up this challenging time with our beautifully made, colourful masks.

SMI has reached its goal of providing masks to residents of direct provision centres, identified vulnerable communities and volunteers across county Cork, we are therefore drawing the project to a close.

As well as this we were able to #donate a further 6000 masks to #community groups, volunteers and community supporters in #Cork. 100% of the donations we received were directly used in the design, packaging, construction and distribution of masks for this project.

In just three months, thanks to your support, we were able to produce 9000 reusable hygiene masks. This allowed us to #donate over 3000 masks to residents living in Direct Provision across Cork, giving three #masks to every man, woman and child.

"This was an #initiative that was addressing both personal and community #empowerment and I was really glad to play a part in."

Meet the SMI Team. Naomi Masheti is one of our project Managers for the Sanctuary Mask Initiative. Naomi runs the @CorkMigrant , @NanoNaglePlace . She is also a guest lecturer both in #UCC and #UCD psychology departments.

"#Covid-19 crises and subsequent #lockdown added yet another layer to their constant state of ‘isolation, fear, uncertainty, and powerlessness’. These amazing women that are involved in this project did not give in to helplessness but stepped up to help themselves and others."

"Getting involved in the Sanctuary Initiative was as a response to expressed need by the direct provision centres mothers that we work with."

Creative Teen Colman Frank from Macroom: "I found myself loving drawing.. I may pass through happy or difficult moments in my life+I want to put them in an art piece, to keep a memory of it.." See Colman's video here: corkprintmakers.ie/cruinniu #CreativeIreland #CruinniúnanÓg

Last month, the @DeptJusticeIRL told the Dáil that they contacted Direct Provision centre managers to enquire about the need for laptops for children and they said there is no need (translation: we don't give af). m.independent.ie/regionals/bray…

What a great inspiration <3

Artist Elton Sibanda discusses his creative process in making his submission for the @SanctuaryMask design competition featured in @corkprintmakers online exhibition today as part of Cruinniú na nÓg in with @CorkMigrant @NanoNaglePlace #creativeireland

Such a creative group of artists making art with meaning with stories to tell

Seeing it as a means to help protect people living in the appalling Direct Provision institutions from Covid19, while providing work for people within the system left him with little option but to get engaged in any way he could with this.

Meet the SMI Volunteers: Mike FitzGibbon lectures in International Development in the Dept of Food Business and Development, #UCC. He responded to an invitation in late March from @B_Together and @CorkMigrant to get involved and support the Sanctuary Mask Initiative.

"SMI has been able to showcase the strengths of women living in Direct provision and highlight their agency and willingness to help in response to #COVID19."

Meet the SMI #Volunteers. Vera, one of the founders & project managers of SMI, has been working directly with women & children living in #DirectProvision since 2016. Vera is a 2nd year social science student at #UCC.

I feel one of the most important aspects of the project is that we were able to help change the narrative around residence of #directprovision People living in #DP are often viewed in a negative light."

She is also involved in the Cork City of Sanctuary and UCC University of Sanctuary movements. "The Sanctuary Mask Initiative has been one of the most rewarding projects I have had the pleasure to be involved in."

"We have been able to achieve so much is such a short amount of time, producing 9000 #masks to distribute to #vulnerable #communities communities in #Cork. Our team is made up of the most extraordinary people, working around the clock to make this project possible."