El Salvador and Tanzania both have the distinction of frequently making international news due to the ways their controversial presidents have chosen to react to the pandemic.
On one end of the spectrum, El Salvador has been in lockdown. Only one person is allowed to leave the home to go to the grocery store. Currently each day has a number assigned to it, and if that number is the last digit of your national id, you may leave the house to go to the store on that day. But if your family runs out of food on Monday and your id number day isn’t until Wednesday, your family will go without food until Wednesday. These decisions have all been made by their president, often via tweet, without support of the congress, so there is concern about El Salvador returning to authoritarianism.
Tanzania has been receiving attention because their president has been on the other end of the spectrum. Although schools and some businesses were closed, the president decreed churches and mosques must stay open since prayer was the most likely way to combat the virus. In the last few weeks, he has declared the virus to be something of a hoax brought into the country on contaminated facemasks. In addition to prayer, he has added drinking lime juice, honey and ginger as the answer to recovering from the virus. While Tanzania has not closed their borders, most of the surrounding countries have, so there are many shortages in the markets. The economy is devastated by the loss of tourism.
Like in the US, parents in both countries are struggling with childcare with schools being closed. Education has come to a stop in Tanzania due to lack of education in the communities and resources. In El Salvador, they are trying to do online school. In nearly all cases, this means the family shares the one smart phone in the house to find the school work their teacher posted on a Facebook or WhatsApp group message.
Another common issue we have heard about from both partners are concerns about getting around. In both places, people are highly dependent on public transportation. In El Salvador, there is no public transportation running. So even on your day to go to the store, a person might have no way to get to the store. In Tanzania, there is still some public transportation running. We have heard from our partners that they are personally afraid to use public transportation right now due to crowded conditions.
Ascension has been working with Pastor Julio to help with salaries for the unemployed church hardware workers. We’ve also been working with Pastora Blanca to provide a basket of basic food staples for every family in San Jorge. With documents from Ascension in hand, she was able to get special permission from the police to deliver the baskets.
We are also working with Pastor Makenge and Eliudi (the chair of their sister parish committee) for the best way for us to support the people of Samaria. They will be giving us a report at the end of May. Typically during May we do our special offerings to support school lunches, but we want to make sure we are providing them with the help that is most needed during these historic times.
Sarah Aparicio
Global Mission Team Leader
No comment yet, add your voice below!