Brussels Suburb Deploys Arabic-Speaking Patrols to Promote Mask Wearing

16 August 2020 – byBladi.net · 1 min read

In Anderlecht, a Brussels municipality, the local authorities have opted for awareness-raising among the inhabitants. In order to reach all the communities present in this locality, including the Arab community, patrols are organized with an intercultural mediator to raise awareness about wearing masks.

This special brigade is making the rounds in the streets of Anderlecht, accompanied by the cultural mediator to raise awareness among the populations about the new preventive measures enacted by the health authorities to counter the Coronavirus, reports bx1.be.

In the video report of less than 2 minutes, the awareness-raising focused mainly on wearing masks. In Arabic, the intercultural mediator gets his message across. "Hello, this is the prevention service. It’s about wearing masks. As of today, it has become mandatory in Brussels," he explains to an Arab family surprised without a mask in a park.

For the cultural mediator, the target audience manages to understand the message and adopt the wearing of masks in the streets. "There was good compliance with this new measure," he adds. In Cureghem, where a Syrian community has settled, Yazem Yabroudi also raised awareness about wearing masks. "We have a double tool: the linguistic tool and a cultural tool because a very specific group has a very different behavior and we need to understand before acting," he added.