Ethiopian people have been hit with a triple whammy: Covid-19, economic shut-down and internal violence. The two main areas affected by the recent ethnic brutality are located in the heart of where NewLife works with abandoned children, early childhood education, and evangelism.
School is paused for both the virus and the rainy season break. No one can guess when schools will reopen. For NewLife, it means we meet the challenges of Covid-19 and the economic and social challenges head on. It means we continue caring for our school children by actively aiding their families with much-needed food and hygiene supplies. It means our staff visits families and, along with food sustenance, brings hope.
Does it mean that God no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Romans 8:35-37
During a normal school year, the 60 students in our pre-school and kindergarten receive a nutritious hot lunch and daily vitamin provided by their monthly sponsors. With the school shutdown, we use those funds to purchase food staples and soap to help their families.
The Christian compound sits in the midst of a large M*slim village and houses a church, three school buildings and is the site where we are building a bible training center. It is where the poorest villagers come monthly for a food program and where the most vulnerable of their children are educated and fed. During the recent Oromo uprising when the violent mob came to the gate of the compound, the villagers themselves stood as a barrier declaring, “Don’t harm this place. It is ours.”
Covid-19 and the economic and social challenges impact families and children dramatically. God continues to make a way and ministry continues! But two young children are without a sponsor and need your help.
Your faith-in-action truly makes a difference in a child’s life. Thank you!
Prayer is also a must and has long-lasting reverberations. Ethiopia is experiencing great internal political unrest and, with national elections planned in the fall, tensions are running high. Currently there is deep disagreement between Ethiopia and her neighboring countries about the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam (which is almost complete) on the Blue Nile. This conflict has potential to bring even more disruption to the country.
Please pray with us for protection, economic provision and a resolution to ethnic tensions. We know God responds to His people when they pray!