The View from Abroad
The global pandemic of 2020 has affected every ALO-supported ministry in various ways. Some experiences are universal; others are unique.
Enforced lockdowns hampered all ministries. The relative isolation of the orphanage in Nias, Indonesia, protected kids and workers from infection but cut them off from resources and funds. Meanwhile, the restrictions completely halted the feeding programs of Childcare Community Ministry Philippines (CCMP), and they struggled to maintain staff and pay bills. Yet the needs of the hungry in the community did not stop but grew alarmingly during lockdown, greatly increasing demand for CCMP’s help.
Sickness sidelined key leaders. Due to the lack of testing and, in some cases, inadequate medical systems, we may never know definitively whether any affiliated workers or children had COVID‑19. But even those with no medical access were tended by our Great Physician.
Children and staff endured too much togetherness—or not enough. Heroic staff, stretched thin, stayed with the children 24/7 for weeks or months at homes such as the Philippines’ Happy Horizons and King’s Garden, as well as in Indonesia’s Nias orphanage. Other programs were forced to close or downsize operations. Chiang Rai Children’s Home had to send children home except for kids of prisoners or those with nowhere to go. Schools and scholastic assistance programs in places unprepared for home or distance learning have struggled to make contact with students forced to stay home, cut off from the schooling, skills classes, and nutritional support they typically receive.
The future remains uncertain, but God’s faithfulness is not. Economies are crashing, prices are skyrocketing, and no government safety net will catch poor families losing income. An economic crisis greater than that of the virus is coming. The global nature of these crises means that more help is needed, while less is available. These ministries, programs, workers, and children need God’s help more than ever. God is using support from Asia’s Little Ones—and friends like you—to help these vulnerable children and programs make it through this time of crisis. Your generous gifts can change lives forever.
By the end of 2020, more than 260 million people could face starvation—double last year’s figures.
—World Food Programme (WFP)
More people could potentially die from the economic impact of COVID-19 than from the virus itself.
—WFP Director David Beasley