Barnabas Aid Forms COVID-19 Emergency Fund to Help Impoverished Christians in Developing Countries
As Americans share memes on social media with jokes about how much weight they have gained while under “Stay at Home” orders, Christians in many parts of the world face a different reality. Millions now struggle with food insecurity as they are not working during nationwide lockdowns.
To help Christians grappling with hunger and need, Barnabas Aid is preparing to deploy relief and assistance throughout the developing world. They work through GAFCON, the Global Anglican Future Conference, which is committed to “retain and restore the Bible to the heart of the Anglican Communion.”
Barnabas Aid formed an emergency committee “to monitor the evolving situation as the virus spreads globally and how it impacts our project partners around the world, assessing how to best support them.” They said they are also preparing a committee to specifically handle requests from African nations. As they receive requests and gather information on the needs, they will distribute aid through a network of seminaries, colleges, and universities who “are in a position to help on the ground.”
They will also focus on aid for “Poor and Persecuted Christians.” Barnabas Aid shared the story of a Christian widow living in a central Asian nation who works as a domestic helper along with her three daughters. However, their nation is in lockdown and none of them are able to work. Soon, “the meager food stocks in their home will be finished.”
Barnabas Aid also shared how American Christians can help families like these for less than the cost of eating out through their COVID-19 Emergency Fund. For example, $8.50 would provide soap, ethanol wipes, and face masks for a family of seven in Uganda. A family of four in Sri Lanka could have meals for a month for only $13.00. $29.50 would buy 44 pounds of rice for poor Christians in Laos and $36.00 could feed a poor Christian in Armenia for a month.
Anyone who is interested in helping to provide for those in need may do so by contacting Barnabas Aid.
Scott Slayton writes at “One Degree to Another.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Stas V
