Throughout our world, classrooms once full of children’s voices, sit silent. Our Christian compound in rural Ethiopia no longer holds church services and the school is empty until Fall. We fervently hope and pray that this quarantine won’t be necessary for long. It is still a “wait and see” as to how the virus will affect Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, children are home helping with the chores of gathering fire material, hauling water from the water station and, if the family is blessed enough to have them, helping with livestock or preparing their small plot of land for planting. The rains will come (hopefully!!) in another month, so this is the time for plowing.
Water is a very precious commodity and soap is almost unheard of. The money we would be using for school upkeep and hot lunches is now diverted to providing some basic food staples as well as soap for the kindergarten families.
The children coming to our Joyful Place Kindergarten are from some of the poorest families in the village. The lunch we provide for them is sometimes the most nutritious food they get all day. As our workers visit the families of our students bringing food and soap, they also take the time to educate about the Coronavirus and ways to stay safe, proper handwashing being paramount.
We are so grateful for the continued support of our kindergarten sponsors during these challenging times. They are providing the means to reach out to the families while there is no school to reinforce our care for them ~ all done because we love Jesus.
Enjoy these photos taken of the cutest kids during the 2019-20 school year!
