KISII REPORT - FACE MASKS OR FOOD?

It was a week ago that I wrote on this blog page about the visit to

the orphanage from the Ministry of Health, who told the church leadership that because of the covid virus threat, the children were sleeping too close together and that the orphanage staff would have to provide better sleeping arrangements for them.

Good advice perhaps, but it also involves some difficult choices. Of course we have no extra buildings where they can sleep, and neither do we have sufficient mattresses and blankets. But that is not the worst of it—the orphanage was also out of food.
 

By the grace of God, I again was able to send a little money this week. I suggested to Joel that he should use it only for food, since it seemed to me that using the money for mattresses and blankets would do little to separate the children. They would be able to sleep only in a slightly more separated fashion. It seemed to me that in those conditions, if the virus became present in the dormitory, sleeping a couple feet more apart would do little good.
 

The Ministry of Health did not agree. Thus, of the $800 that I was able to send, they spent $200 of it buying mattresses and blankets.
 

According to the Africanews.com website, Kenya is impacted by the covid virus more than any of the East African countries. Still, to put this into perspective, as of today the country has recorded only 110 cases of the virus, with three total deaths.
 

But the government officials are hitting it hard from the outset. They are demanding strict social distancing, and hiring more health care workers. From what we have learned from many places, it is probably a very good idea to take the virus seriously even before it seems to be much of a threat.
 

Kenya has secured a $50 million loan from the World Bank to fight this virus. Much of it will also go to produce face masks and other PPE items (an acronym that I would not have understood before this crisis began).
 

Of course this is all good, since the health care system in Kenya could use some help, but when the choice is between fighting the covid virus, or fighting hunger, it puts the choices down to a very basic level.
 

Please remember to pray for these needs. Pray for the children of course, but pray also for the orphanage workers who need to make these types of very difficult decisions almost on a daily basis. Please also pray for the provision from God. These are His children.

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If you would like to help the children of the Log Church Orphanage of Kisii, Kenya, you may make your check out to “The Log Church” and write “Orphans” on the memo line.

 

Send it to:

The Log Church

PO Box 68

Tripoli, Wisconsin 54564

 

Every nickel given in this way will be used for only aid for the orphans. It will be used for purchasing food, clothing, schooling, and other necessities of living. Nothing is held back or diverted for any other purpose