More fear of starvation than of coronavirus itself
One dear friend writes:
Coronavirus ( COVID-19) is also in Nigeria. The number of people being infected are growing daily. Confirmed cases stands at about 500 people. Now the country is on lockdown in many States. Plateau State, Our state too. Everyone lives in fear. Rumours are doing more damage than good. Many cure doctors untrained are peddling wrong medication. False prophets are on the increase. We warn people to stay away from fake prophets. …
Wicked ungodly people who know they have it do not observe the rules of ‘stay at home’. …
The rural villages are finding it hard to comply. Getting food items is getting harder for most of us. What the church is doing is to embark on educating the people door to door. African countries being very social in Nature find it very difficult. We know you love and care about us. That means a lot to us. Thanks very much. Continue to pray for us. We too will pray for you.
Urban beggars may be among the hardest hit, especially the Sufi disciples or almajirai. Hesed’s partners have contributed to the poster above left in the language and script they most commonly use.
East Asia, Europe and now America have been badly hit by the Coronavirus; now it is spreading also in Africa. For the best advice, see the World Health Organisation website, where there is also information on the global spread of the disease:
When you are browsing the web, please listen to experts! To learn about theology, listen to theologians; but to learn about science and health, please listen to scientists and doctors!
The Bible is not a health manual. Nevertheless, it does say some useful things about hygiene. You may like to use this Bible study with your family: Being clean before God and clean before others.
The Hesed Fund would like to urge all visitors to this website to follow the official advice:
stay at home as much as possible
do not go close to or touch anyone who does not live in your house
wash your hands very well whenever you go in and out of your house, and other times in the day too
DO NOT try to treat yourself with bleach, disinfectant, alcohol or any other substance – this may just kill you!
Be patient and wise, and do not be afraid, but trust God!
We have received this report from one of our Nigerian partners:
Thank you for your support which we received from you the last month. The money was well disbursed accordingly as promised. …
Just as we earlier mentioned we visited the Yola specialist hospital Yola, Pediatrics units, children nursery unit, labour ward, intensive baby care unit, 8 wards in all with a total of 100 patients in all the we gave items to, which include all religion Muslims and Christian. Find also the news reported by Adamawa broadcasting corporation (ABC) Yola, a radio station in the state on the impact of the outreach.
“The Sower Ministries International, a nondenominational religious group Yola branch has Monday presented nonfood items including toiletries worth thousands of naira to some patients at specialist hospital Yola. …
Receiving the items at Baby Special Care Unit of the hospital, the in-charge of the unit, Mrs. Lydia Musa appreciated the kind gesture and advised others to emulate. She prayed God to bless the donors.
Speaking to ABC Yola reporter shortly after reaching out to the indigent patients, the Vissioner … expressed worry with the health conditions of the hospital patients. He observed that the hospital needs resuscitation in the areas of manpower and skilled personnel for better service delivery and urged the government and the management to work towards addressing the challenges.
According him, though Sowers Ministries International is an interdenominational religious group but its humanitarian gesture cuts across all boundaries. He noted that the Ministry is operating in line with the mandate given to Christians in the Bible to visit the sick at the hospital, the imprisoned and pray for them.
He called on well meaning and wealthy Nigerians to use their God-given wealth to assist the needy irrespective of their ethnic and religious differences.
Also speaking, a friend to the vissioner and member of the group Mr. Israel Agbara Chinago who commended the the posture of the ministry urged them to maintain the tempo. Mr. Agbara who enjoined other like minded group to do likewise described the gesture as timely and promising.
Items distributed include washing and bathing soaps, rubber buckets, detergents, body creams and toilet tissues among others.”
On a sad note the senior nurse in charge … on behalf of the ward and was the head of the children pediatrics unit, he was our link man to the hospital and was very instrumental and guided us through the outreach, he passed on (Died) a day after our visit mysteriously in his car at the car park. The news was a shock to us all that went for the outreach and met him active and he was since buried last Friday in Yola.
We sincerely appreciate you so much for your commitment to us and for the trust bestowed on us. We pray that God will bless you more in Jesus name. Please extend our regards to the donors. Please feel free to share our story and pictures. Our next program is coming on 15-20/09/2020. … Our outreach shall be to people living with disabilities in the state.
Faith was a little girl in a village in central Nigeria who developed a cancerous growth in her eye. She didn’t live to see her sixth birthday. This week the Hesed Fund received this report:
With a sad eye and a happy eye I am writing to let you know that Faith has passed on to be with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
After the mother had taken her to the native doctor and spent more than 3 weeks there, the cancer in her eye kept growing. The mother did not take her back to the hospital and a friend of ours who is a doctor said that looking at the size of the tumor it would have probably been too late anyways. She got weaker while the tumor grew making her head too heavy to even sit up and leaving her bedridden for her last few weeks on earth. The mother shared Christ with her and talked about meeting Jesus to her before she passed on.
We are sure she is better where she is now. We thank you very much for the support you brought into her life. And we believe that what you have done will stay in her mother’s heart.
The mother gave birth to a healthy baby girl just one day before Faith died.
Faith’s tiny, fragile and short life has flitted off like a sparrow. But she is known to her heavenly Father and honoured by him no less than any great Queen, world leader, rock star or internet sensation.
You can get two sparrows in the market for next to nothing. But your heavenly Father knows each time one such sparrow is killed. And as for you, God keeps account of even how many hairs are on your head. Don’t be scared – you’re worth much more than flocks and flocks of sparrows! (Matthew 10:29-31)
Hesed Fund 