May 2020 Update: Stay in Faith!
Dear friends,
As always, we love to start our greetings to you with thanks. The JCI children and their families wish to give a hearty grateful THANK YOU to all of you, our generous sponsors who so kindly continue their support even in difficult times. Please know they are praying for you and your families protection & provision at such a time as this.
We just wanted to touch base with you all and let you know what our JCI families are experiencing in this season so you can pray for them and support them financially if you have means to.
Due to the severity of COVID-19, Manila is under very strict quarantine regulations. All the malls are closed and families are to remain inside the house. Only one person is allocated a PASS to go and buy food once every three days. They can buy only from the small local grocery store or the market. There is NO public transport and all tricycles, jeepneys and taxis are banned from operating at this time. There are police and security guards at every corner to ensure that people remain in their own areas. These restrictions have most families struggling for food as they usually live from day to day due to their low income earnings. The government has given some relief packs and foundations such as JCI also giving support where possible. Sadly the lack of finance will find many people without their regular medicines for high blood pressure, diabetes etc. The Philippine Hospitals are already overcrowded and unable to cope with the volume of sick people thus the President has enforced strict quarantine in the hope of controlling any spread of the Corona virus in these densely populated cities of Manila. They don’t have the resources to be able to care for an influx of COVID patients.
JCI is located in Taguig City near to the central business district of Manila. There have been a few cases of COVID in our local area and thus people are afraid to venture outside. The JCI families are living in very small homes and its very hot at this time of year. They have been indoors for 8 weeks and now their lockdown will continue for another month. We are thankful for the generous gifts from our sponsors last month which enabled us to give the JCI families 500 Pesos each to help buy their medicines and needed items for their families.
If you would like to help JCI families in this time, you can give here: joshuacare.org/donatenew
Our JCI family in the house are all well and using this time to memorise scriptures. Older students have online assignments and the younger students have been doing some study as well. Graduates are looking forward to eventually getting their diploma in June after the lockdown is lifted.
We are disappointed that we will not be able to meet with all our sponsors in person and have our usual updates this time round due to the quarantine restrictions, but we are praying for a quick stop to this virus. if you are in a sad place today, our prayer is that the grace and love and kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ will be your portion!
Stay in faith, the BEST is yet to come.
With love,
Sharon, Arturo and the Joshua Care Team
