The school year of 2020 was very different, especially because of COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole world. But we can say EBENEZER, because the Lord has helped us to continue the activities to help our children, through visitation and calls. He also allowed us to start the classes in October and November with more units in some countries of the region. Therefore, we see a great effort to keep PEPE working in different contexts. Due to the current situation, we are facing many challenges in our units, such as:
1. Lack of space to fit all children:
Thanks to the great results PEPE has brought every year, many parents come to register their children with us. This year, due to social distancing, we are facing difficulties in receiving all children in our units. It means that many of them will not be able to sign up at PEPE, which is really sad. Many units decreased their activities time to allow other children to participate. The groups were divided into two groups: the first one study from 8:00 to 10:00a.m and the other from 10:00 to 12:00 p.m.
2. Lack of bio safety materials:
Most of our children come from needy families and it is really difficult for some parents to buy protective masks for their children every day, although we always encourage them to put on masks on their children. But, thanks to God the local church started to sew masks for the children overcoming this difficulty.
3. Lack of food in the homes:
There is still a difficulty for parents to provide basic and nutritional needs for their children. Due to pandemic, many parents lost their jobs as a result many of them cannot feed their children as well as before. That is why malnutrition among children has increased. Many initiatives were taken to provide food for children. Unfortunately, the pandemic is lasting too long, making the socio-economic lives of families even worse.
Our prayer is that in this difficult time our children have the opportunity to live the changing power of the Gospel.
Christance Babene
Regional Coordinator of Western Africa 1
