Hosanna-COVID-19 Update

As many countries are working to find ways to keep their citizens safe and free from the spread of the COVID-19 disease, our community center and families has not gone unaffected. This past Monday, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, declared that Ethiopia is closing universities and schools for the next two weeks to try to slow the spread of the disease. There are currently 9 cases that have been found in Ethiopia and the government is taking preventative measures to make sure the case load stays low.

With this being the case, our staff has decided not to continue daily meals in order to follow the governments orders. While this is a safe thing to do it is also a difficult decision, since many, if not all, of our children depend on this daily meal as the only supply of nutrition they receive. Many of our families do not have the means to support a crisis like this and will find it difficult to feed and support their loved ones.

Due to the two week shut down, The Hosanna Project, along with their partners and staff are supplementing with additional rations for the families to make it through these difficult weeks ahead or possibly small stipends for each family.

Our first effort is going to be to secure additional rations for all families, but one of the issues our staff is running into is the fact that many stores in the city are also running out of supplies and doing bulk orders, as we have done in the past, is becoming more and more difficult. If this is not possible we may look into a stipend for our families to help them with this difficult time. We are still trying to determine the best method of supporting our families and will continue to monitor the situation in Hosanna.

I know that this is uncharted waters for all of us, but for some this could be detrimental in their circumstances. For our children and community, two weeks without water and food could be life-changing. If you feel the need to help us provide for those who are affected in Hosanna please go to our website donate what you wish to help us provide the basics for our families.

Thanks,

Mandy Browning

www.hosannaproject.org