Covid-19 in Africa: Joab's letter from Kenya

Joab Omoto is the Valter Baldaccini Foundation contact for the remote adoptions program operating in Kenya. In recent days he wrote us a letter telling us how Kenya is facing the Covid-19 emergency and how families and children followed by the Valter Baldaccini Foundation are experiencing these difficult days.

Schools and workplaces are closed, the government has set up a curfew and food is difficult for many families. The hope is that the situation will improve soon and the children can continue to build their future with the help of the Foundation, which will not leave them alone because we are now a big family.

Thanks to the support of many donors, 40 children have the opportunity to access education, which otherwise they could not afford. With a donation you can continue to support children in Kenya and offer them the opportunity to learn. Please donate now.

This is the letter that Joab sent us:

Dear friends,

Greetings from Nairobi. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the situation in Kenya at this moment. As of last night (14th April 2020) we had 159 confirmed coronavirus cases and 9 deaths. The number has started to rise and we are worried because our people in the slums have no medical coverage and the environment in which they live it will be a disaster when this virus attacks the slums.

The Valter Baldaccini Foundation family in Kenya is still safe at the moment. The 40 children and their parents/ guardians are fine.

Since the schools were closed down over three weeks ago we are trying to monitor the situation of our children on daily basis. We are a family so there is need of staying together during these difficult moments by checking on each other as much as we can.

My biggest worry is that our children are better off in school than at home because in school they have space to play to learn and they are assured of a meal.

At home the situation is very difficult because the Government has restricted peoples’ movement. We have curfew from 7 pm to 5 am. Many jobs are closed so parents who were getting some casual jobs in order to get their daily bread are now just staying in their small rooms in the slums together with the children. Remember, some families are big, single mothers with 4,5 or even 6 children.

We are praying that the situation improves soon so that these children can go back to school and start building their future. They are full of life and always very grateful for this opportunity that the Foundation has given them.

God bless us all, Joab

P.S. We have been talking and giving the food to the parents. They are happy because we bought them maize flour, sugar, cooking oil and soap for 34 parents. They really have food problems. Please find attached some of the photos of the parents, each package can last them three to four days.