After a difficult past month in which the second wave of COVID19 peaked in several of our focus countries, August brought with it some much needed reprieve in form of declined infections. As countries scale up vaccination efforts, it is our hope that this pandemic will soon be behind us, and that brighter days lie on the horizon.

July was a bittersweet month for us at DefendDefenders. Like everywhere else, COVID19 continued to wreck our lives. On the evening of 26 July, we tragically lost one of us – Mariam Nakibuuka, to the pandemic. Mariam was a valued member of our team, who, until her passing, served as a senior protection associate with our protection and security department.