As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country of Kenya has curfews, travel restrictions, school closings and most businesses are closed. David Magiri, Director of World Reach – Kenya, reports that costs for food and daily necessities have doubled.
Eleven of the 21 orphans that we provide for through the Kenya Orphanage are in secondary school, which is similar to high school. In Kenya, secondary school is actually boarding school. When boarding schools closed in March, these 11 orphans came back to our orphanage campus full-time. World Reach Kenya is faced with providing additional food, sanitizers, soaps, and other necessities for these children, which obviously was not in our budget. This fact, combined with much higher costs for food, has placed a real financial burden on the orphanage and its staff.
Kenya Staff are very restricted in leaving the campus because of the need to protect the children from the virus. World Reach has had to cancel its Kenya Bible Institutes classes, where pastors come for theological training and meet together on this campus. Sadly, one of our 2 orphanage housemothers had to resign because she needed to care for her own mother. Staff earn a very meager income and are also struggling financially due to higher costs. In Kenya, citizens generally live paycheck-to-paycheck, and the country itself relies on tourism and agriculture. Unfortunately, the tourism industry has come to a halt.
Would you like to help the orphans and staff in Kenya? Any amount will help them buy food and supplies.
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