In January 2025, it will be five years since COVID was declared an international public health emergency.  

For many communities, the pandemic had a devastating impact on people’s health and livelihoods. Families were pushed further into poverty, and children were unable to continue their education even at a basic level. The most vulnerable communities also lacked the resources to protect themselves from the disease. 

That’s why our local Christian Partners’ COVID-related programs—made possible through generous supporters like you—have been so vital.   

Between 2019-2023, our supporters gave $2,168,433 to help communities around the world survive the impact of COVID.  

This helped our Partners directly assist 455,721 people in Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Lebanon, Yemen, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines. 

Together, we helped families protect themselves from infection and rebuild their lives by providing:

  • COVID health messaging for marginalised communities 
  • Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 
  • Home-based learning for children unable to attend school 
  • Mental health support for people impacted by COVID 
  • Necessities such as food packages, hygiene kits and basic supplies 
  • Personal protective equipment for health workers
  • COVID-response training for health workers.

Our Partners no longer need any funding for COVID-related initiatives, so we have closed our COVID-19 Global Emergency Appeal. But we’re so thankful for supporters like you who responded to our appeal and helped vulnerable communities recover from the impact of COVID. 

Here are just two stories from the many ways our Partners’ work made a difference.

Helping Children Learn In Nepal 

In Nepal, many schools lacked the resources needed to keep students safe from COVID which meant they were faced with closing prematurely, even before lockdowns. This left children already at risk of missing out on an education in danger of becoming further entrenched into poverty. 

Through your faithful giving, our Partner helped 69 government schools stay open for as long as possible, so children didn’t miss out on learning important skills. They provided schools with safety materials (for example, handwashing facilities, sanitiser, masks, cleaning equipment, non-contact thermometers and gloves) so that they could set up COVID-safe learning areas for the children and teachers. 

When schools were closed during the 2021 lockdown, Child Clubs were mostly still able to meet by observing strict safety measures. These meetings were helpful in promoting continued learning and education of children while the schools were closed, and have contributed to the children’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.   

Our Partner also helped local child protection committees organise a campaign around COVID safety and prevention. They reached 1,941 community members through COVID-safe information sessions. This helped increase understanding around vaccination and safety measures to protect against infection. 

Soap Saves Livelihoods In Kenya

Deborah lives in Kenya, and is married with three children. She’s been a member of our Partner’s Village Saving and Loan group since 2019. The group provided her with access to funds to start a shop in the local markets to supplement the income that the family earns through their small farm. 

Deborah was easily paying back her loan with earnings from her shop, but then the pandemic hit. In March 2020, social restrictions drastically impacted her sales, making it difficult to repay her loan.   

When the Village Saving and Loan group were able to meet again after restrictions were relaxed, our Partner trained the members in soap making. 

Seeing the opportunity to diversify her business, Deborah used some of her earnings to buy soap-making ingredients. She started selling soap to customers at her shop, but also to hospitals, schools and offices. ‘I’m now paying my loan comfortably,’ Deborah said. 

I’m happy that even during this time of pandemic, I have been able to make ends meet through soap making.

Deborah making soap for selling, thank to our Partner’s training and the faithful support of donors like yourself.

‘In my location, the availability of handwashing soap and masks—which I’m retailing at affordable price—is making all residents wash hands with soap and wear masks to prevent spread of COVID-19.’  

‘COVID-19 has led to harsh economic times forcing communities to adapt to a new normal. However, we as a community should be flexible enough and change with the times,’ Deborah said. 

According to our Partner, Deborah is ‘a ray of hope in times of crisis’ as she not only provided an essential commodity in the market, but also used her ingenuity to provide for her family.  

We continue to pray for families around the world as they recover from the impact of COVID—that they would take the steps needed to experience fullness of life as God intends.