People Group Update
Mission in a Pandemic
The impact of the virus is opening new opportunities for the team in South East Asia to engage with their community and share Jesus ’ love . Team Leader Dave shares how the team ’ s innovative response is bearing fruit .
Like the rest of the world ,
the country in which we live and serve has been greatly impacted by the COVID pandemic . Official cases continue rise by around 3,000 per day but the true number is probably four to five times the official count because of the lack of testing . There is no JobKeeper program here and though there is some minimal government assistance , tens of millions of people are being impacted economically as jobs have disappeared .
The various platforms in which the team serves have had to adjust and be creative as we have faced the new challenges . The Education Foundation which employs over 40 local staff had to go online in the middle of March . The Creation Care initiative , in which the team serves with six local staff , has continued to be engaged in various community development activities , including assisting disadvantaged scavenger communities . The café which the team runs with around 15 local staff had to close for a few weeks due to government regulations related to lockdown restrictions but is now operating again with extra precautions . We are grateful that we have been able to keep all the local staff working in these platforms employed during this challenging time .
These three platforms have also partnered to engage in various humanitarian initiatives . Local staff and Global Interaction team members set up a special working group to assist people in need . Funds have been donated by local staff , Global Interaction team members and supporters . Along with partners we have supplied several thousand PPE suits to medical workers in remote locations who would otherwise have gone without . We have included notes of hope and prayer with these suits .
Packages of food staples have been supplied to people affected by the economic downturn . Help has been provided to scavenger communities , aged care and orphanage facilities , impoverished rural communities and to day labourer communities . We have carried out 24 different projects in 13 provinces , assisting around 5,000 people .
Photo taken of a family in South East Asia by Hayley-Jayne Bernhardt .
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