“Since the beginning of January, there have been so many attacks by Boko Haram that we can’t even number them. We have a lot of displaced refugees who are struggling everywhere … they do not know where to go …
“It was on 17th March 2020 that the government imposed [Covid] restrictions, so with these difficulties … the Church is now facing a lot of challenges … the price of crops in the marketplace has doubled.
“Another problem we are facing in the far north is malaria. Some members are unable to buy drugs because of the persecution that is going on ...”
So said a church leader from Cameroon last week, in a Barnabas Fund webinar with over 60 of our project partners from 27 countries. All testified to the growing effects of Covid-19 on their churches, ministries and communities.
The situation in 2021 in some parts of the world has been described as “an escalating hunger catastrophe” with some 270 million people “on the brink of starvation” due to the combined effects of Covid-19, conflict and weather extremes.
In the Central African Republic, torn by fresh violence, 2.3 million people are projected to need food. UN assessments show “alarming figures of severe malnutrition among the newly displaced”.
This is the situation now facing many of our Christian brothers and sisters, particularly in Africa, parts of Asia and parts of the Middle East.
Whilst Covid-19 itself had a relatively light impact on African societies in 2020, their extreme lockdowns last year were devastating, leading to severe hunger. At the beginning of 2021 this is reversed. Covid-19 and its variants are now spreading rapidly in Africa, which is being neglected in terms of vaccines and humanitarian aid. How much worse can it get?
With your help, Barnabas Fund provided emergency food for more than 800,000 Christians in 2020. We are now responding again with more food, more hygiene items, more medical supplies for 2021, which is expected to be much worse than 2020.
Costs vary from place to place but here are some typical figures:
ePap porridge, enriched with protein, vitamins and minerals, for one child for one month costs £4.50 ($6; €5)
A 25kg sack of maize meal to feed a family in southern Africa for a month costs £7 ($10; €8)
50kg of seed for one famer to plant (rice, maize, sorghum or groundnuts) costs £15 ($21; €17.50)
Five mosquito nets cost £20 ($27; €23)
Will you help our Christian family in 2021?
