How the pandemic is affecting the children we minister to

The overall situation

• Generally speaking, all of the countries we work in are in a similar position to the UK, with most communities in a lockdown state to prevent the virus spreading. This includes schools, non-essential businesses, events, restaurants, etc, with borders typically being closed as well.
• As a result, all of our schools are closed, and our residential sites are on lockdown.
• This is obviously having a huge impact on our work, and we are having to adjust quickly in all of the regions and countries we work in.
• In particular, we are hard at work ensuring our children are safe, reassured, and even galvanised to help their own communities by maintaining distance and practicing rigorous hygiene.
• We are pleased to say we are not aware of any of our children or staff overseas having contracted the virus. Praise the Lord!
  

Some of the ways we are responding

We are responding in a range of different ways from country to country and to give you a flavour, here are some examples.

• In Lebanon we’re contacting parents of our school kids with devotional texts, health information, and homework assignments. Our counsellor is working on sending short videos to the families and for children on how to handle stress and many other topics for parents, as well as videos of activities they can do with their kids.
• In Kenya, our staff and kids took part in a National Day of Prayer for their country. 
• In both Zambia and Kenya, health authorities came and spoke with our staff about how to effectively train our kids to avoid contracting or spreading the virus. 
• In Guatemala, we’ve come up with a range of initiatives to get around various problems: getting the older girls to help with cooking when our own catering staff can’t get in – we’ve created a calendar of educational and fun events in the absence of school – created a new cleaning schedule and rota systems. And much more.
• In Romania, we are helping kids with their homework over the internet, as well as providing healthy routine schedules, eg exercising in the yard, eating healthily, reading the Bible, praying, etc.
• In Peru and Myanmar, we’re using posters in key areas, teaching the correct procedures for handwashing, precautions when sneezing and coughing. 
• In Dominican Republic, we created a Coronavirus WhatsApp group of all ministry site directors to communicate and implement appropriate measures. It is especially difficult to adjust to the new measures in the DR, as theirs is a culture of hugging and handshakes, with sick people always being visited by friends, family and neighbours. Not ideal at this time!