March 19, 2020 -- Covid-19 Pandemic Update

We’ve been monitoring respiratory diseases at Grace Community Health Center for the past year. Earlier this month, we started bi-weekly checks instead of monthly checks on our patient data to watch for any upticks in respiratory illnesses coming into the clinic. To date we have not seen any changes. Starting Monday, March 23rd, we will move to weekly data checks.

Schools in Malawi are still open as there are no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country at this point. We are working on staggering our lunch line to avoid large groups of children, setting up hand-washing stations and educating our community.

Yesterday, Malawi published this paper to help schools in Malawi know how to handle the coronavirus pandemic. I am so thankful to see such a well-thought through paper with current information and thorough treatment.

The Grace Center department heads and administration are working together to formulate a plan for social distancing, staggering work days or hours, should the need arise or be required by the government of Malawi.

We are praying for our donors and sponsors as economic impact begins to hit. Please let us know how we can pray for you and your family. We are dependent on our donors. We need you. We also want you to know that we are listening to you and we are praying for you.

These verses from Joel 2 struck me this morning in my reading:

vs. 1 Sound the trumpet…Raise the alarm…

We have raised the alarm!

vs. 12 The Lord says, “Turn to me now…Give me your hearts….Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate.

Now we must turn to God, giving him our hearts. He is Mercy. He is Compassion.

My prayer for Africa is that God will have mercy. We are managing in many places around the US to practice social distancing, staying home, flattening the curve in order to spare our healthcare system. To slow the spread of disease so that we don’t overwhelm our hospitals and make the situation worse by not having enough beds for those who need them. The healthcare system in Africa is nothing like ours. It will be overwhelmed immediately.

Please pray for Africa. Jesus, we know you are merciful and compassionate. We turn to you. Lord, have mercy on us. Heal our world, in Jesus’ name. Amen