Throughout the African continent, which had been spared thebrunt of COVID-19 pandemic in terms of confirmed cases and death as compared to the United States and Europe, the impact of the coronavirus is making a hard life for impoverished villages and the residents of urban slums even more so. But today, with already rampant inflation in countries where our partners work, such as Zambia and Zimbabwe making it harder and harder with each passing day to provide food to the children in their care, the coronavirus is making significant inroads.

Just over five months ago, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Africa, raising concerns about the continent’s readiness to handle an outbreak, reported the World Bank on August 25. By August 7, Africa’s case-count surpassed one million.

“The economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns and border restrictions have been severe, exacerbating poverty and social impacts,” stated the World Bank. “Compared with pre-crisis forecasts, COVID-19 could push 71 million into extreme poverty by the end of this year. More than a third of the projected poor will be in Sub-Saharan Africa which is facing its first recession in 25 years.”

At Bread and Water for Africa® we are doing all we can to provide emergency assistance to our partners in orphan care, the Kabwata Orphanage and Transit Centre in Zambia, and Shinga Development Trust’s Lerato Children’s Village in Zimbabwe, Lewa Children‘s Home in Kenya, as well as continuing to provide medicines and medical supplies to our partners’ clinics and hospitals in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone – all thanks to our compassionate and generous supporters who make it possible