How Coca Cola Saves Lives in Africa
When Simon Berry travelled through north-eastern Zambia in 1988 it was one of the poorest places in the world. 20% of all children died before they reached the age of five, mostly from illnesses like diarrhoea and others. But he was fascinated by the fact that even in this remote part of the world, where there is not enough medicine, you could get Coca Cola everywhere.
When he came back to Africa twenty years later nothing had changed. Berry saw the same poor people and young pregnant women. And Coca-Cola could still be bought everywhere. He thought, “If you can get Coca Cola here, why not medicine”? Berry had a great idea. He started putting medicine in crates of Coca Cola. ColaLife was born.
The concept is simple. You can use the unused space of Coca Cola crates to fit in plastic bottles of medicine. Simon Berry developed a special case called AidPods which fit into Coca Cola crates . The crates are not much heavier and you can get the medicine everywhere.
They bottles contain rehydration salts ,vitamins and tablets to make water cleaner. ColaLife focuses on bringing medicine to pregnant women in order to help fight dehydration and to improve the overall needs of mothers.
Since 2008 Berry has been trying to get support for this project from all over the world. He started a Facebook campaign , which already has 8,000 members. Berry has also made contact with Coca Cola to get the company to help in bringing medical aid to those who need it in Africa.
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Words
- campaign = movement, operation
- case = container, box
- concept = plan, idea
- contain = has in it
- crate = large box made of plastic In which you can put in bottles
- dehydration = if your body loses too much water
- develop = design, make
- diarrhoea = an illness in which the solid waste of your body comes out in a watery form
- focus on = concentrate on
- illness = disease
- overall needs = all the important things that you need to survive
- pregnant = to expect a baby
- reach = get to
- rehydration salt = powder that you put into water ; it has salt in it and is used in the fight against diarrhoea
- remote = far away from towns and cities
- support = help
- unused = not used