Fashion To Fight Covid-19

The fashion industry has joined the fight against Covid-19 through the production of essential items at this time – face masks.

Students from The College of the Arts (Cota) are making masks and selling them in their communities through the project which started last week and will carry on until the masks are no longer needed.

Beata Hamalwa, a fashion design lecturer at Cota and project mentor, said she decided to start the mask project to protect students’ close relatives and friends.

“As we know, the virus is spreading all over the world. At this point in time most countries are running out of surgical masks. Namibia might be one of them if the pandemic grows,” she said.

Hamalwa said the masks can protect health workers or any healthy individual from exposure to potentially infectious material.

“I would advise people to wear a mask. Some people can be asymptomatic or presymptomatic, not showing signs of disease but able to transmit it to another person. Therefore anyone would benefit from using the mask aiming to lower the number of infected people,” she said.

Hamalwa adds that a person who is already sick can protect others by wearing the mask.

Hamalwa said all masks are made from 100% cotton fabrics. “Cotton can be boiled at 100ºC. People should boil the masks before the first use and after each use in a public place. They are reusable and very safe,” she said.

Student Maano Ndakondja says working on the project is exciting and keeps her busy.

“Every day I am stitching masks. I am also being updated as I am researching safety tips for using washable masks including the importance of cotton material. It is a great learning opportunity for me,” she said.

So far the project is going well. “I hardly even sleep as I have to deliver orders,” the 22-year-old said.

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