Praying for Bleach During COVID-19

El Salvador 

“My name is Marta. I am a Christian. The first thing I do before I leave my house is pray."

Marta is a 28-year-old single mom living in El Salvador.  She is raising her 8-month-old daughter with help from her mom.  

“Seeing my baby girl makes me so happy!” Marta beamed as she talked about her. “I ask God to protect us and protect me everywhere I go.”

Marta works on the frontlines in the battle against the COVID virus in a regional hospital near her home.  She’s part of a 70 member custodial staff that cleans the hospital and its ambulance.

“My greatest fear is that I will get sick and also cause my baby to get sick,” she told us. “I long for the end of my shift so I can see her. Knowing that I am providing for her, holding her and hugging her, gives me strength for a new work day.” 

One of the greatest needs at the hospital is chlorine bleach. It is used in nearly every cleaning solution because it kills the Corona virus. The cleaning team adds bleach to buckets and spray bottles, and every surface that can be cleaned with bleach, is disinfected many times a day. They even add bleach to special hand washing stations that they set up for staff.    

“Somedays I am fearful of the disease but I need to work,” said Marta. “Seeing all the sick and critical patients and not knowing if there will be a positive outcome can make me really sad. But if you are able to help someone else you have to do it, not expecting anything in return but because you feel it in your heart. And if you do God will reward you with TWICE as much. I have experienced it!” 

So Marta and the staff were grateful when Operation Blessing arrived with a pick-up truck loaded with chlorine bleach in one and five gallon containers. In fact, Operation Blessing in El Salvador has been manufacturing bleach at its warehouse and has already delivered thousands of gallons to the Ministry of Health to give to hospitals with the greatest need in the capital city. Now Operation Blessing is helping smaller hospitals and clinics by providing them with bleach too. 

And Marta was grateful when we gave her some bleach to take home, and some new n95 masks for her and the team.  

“I am SO thankful to Operation Blessing for providing us with cleaning supplies and the masks to fight COVID-19.  I thank God that He moved your hearts to help us. With this we are able to help so many people to stay safe. Thanks to Operation Blessing we are saving lives in this hospital!"