Third Donation From Jack Ma To Kenya And Africa Arrives

The third batch of donation for Africa made by Chinese billionaire philanthropist Jack Ma arrived in Ethiopia on Monday.

The World Food Program (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) assigned the Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics Service as a central supply hub to operate the international COVID-19 support supplies for Africa.

Officials from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WFP, WHO and the Ethiopian government attended the handover of the donation, as the consignment was unloaded from a cargo aircraft of the Ethiopian Airlines.

Our 3rd donation to Africa will immediately be made to @_africanunion and @AfricaCDC. This includes 4.6m masks, 500k swabs & test kits, 300 ventilators, 200k clothing sets, 200k face shields, 2k thermal guns, 100 body temp. scanners and 500k pairs of gloves. #OneWorldOneFight

— Jack Ma (@JackMa) April 20, 2020

Fitsum Abadi, the head of the airline’s cargo and logistics service, said the third batch of materials included 61,000 kilograms (134,482 pounds) of face masks and protective gear as well as ventilators.

“We will begin transporting the donation to 54 African countries beginning Tuesday,” he said.

Keeping afloat

Ethiopian Airlines has been one of the worst-hit airlines in Africa losing $550 to the COVID-19 onslaught.

“Yes we have lost the amount to global travel restrictions owing to the spread of the virus,” Fitsum said, adding “our cargo and aircraft maintenance services, however, have been performing better.”

According to him, 80% of the loss was incurred by the passenger service.

“We have been lifting cargo of agriculture products from African countries to deliver them to destinations to Europe, the Americas, Asia and Middle East,” he said, adding the cargo aircraft were bringing into Africa industrial products from various countries.

Today we received the 3rd round of essential medical supplies from @JackMa including 199,300 protective clothing, 300 ventilators, 708 thermometer guns, 28,500 medical gloves and 3,800 faces shields. Thanks you for continuing to show solidarity with #Africa. pic.twitter.com/O1COAWx9WV

— Abiy Ahmed Ali ?? (@AbiyAhmedAli) April 27, 2020

Responding to a question, Fitsum said “our cargo was doing its best to keep the airline afloat,” adding: but “we cannot say we are compensating for all the 80% of the loss incurred by our passenger service.”

Africa so far recorded more than 1,400 deaths from the coronavirus, with nearly 32,000 cases.