From a Christian Higher Education Institute
“By God’s grace, this year the crops have a good performance, provided we had a regular raining season; however, the breakout of Covid-19 is likely to change the initial enthusiasm due to the following reasons: in the case of transiting to stage 4 of lockdown, the majority of our people will not be going to their gardens and this will bring an immediate negative impact; because apart from the maize, the majority of people depend on the irrigated gardens for their daily livelihood; the lockdown will prevent people to have basic food like benas, tomatoes and vegetables.
“From the previous point, it is clear that [food security] has already a negative impact; with the current stage 3 of lockdown, many private businesses are going down and people who depend on salaries are critically affected. Apart from the private sector, as described in the previous point, the majority of the population will have no food to support themselves... The church is equally affected; with the restriction of gatherings, our churches are literally closed and pastors are no longer getting any support from church members.
“The government is busy campaigning that everybody takes appropriate measures of prevention; everyone is urged to wash their hands and to stay home; in case of Covid related symptoms, the government encourages people to visit medical units along the country. Each household is encouraged to have a bucket of water and soap for washing hands. Poorest Christians are critically affected, provided the government does not supply any financial or material support in this regard. This means that many will not be able to take the above mentioned preventive measures, due to poverty.
