The corona virus has shut down the American economy, our businesses are closed, and our normal way of life is turned upside down.
In the slums Beyond the Vision Community School watched as the government came in to the slums and shut down the school, removed all the electrical transformers and connections, and placed a 7 pm curfew on the Tassia Community.
Members of the Tassia Community live in 8' x 8' steel corrugated rooms with no food storage, no water, no restroom, and now no power for those who had power. Out teachers and staff quickly recognized a misconception rippling through Tassia that COVID-19 was a disease for the rich.
Without the means to go and gather products to sell for food, without any real food stores in the slums, and with the police beating those who break curfew, Tassia has a greater threat than COVID: starvation.
I asked Jackie what can we do to help since the school has been shut down. Her response was that we can provide food for the families whose children were in the school.
We wanted to keep our children healthy so Beyond Vision sent funding for food purchases, watering stations, and signs that explained COVID. We paid the teachers to continue to teach the graduates and the higher grade students so they will place well in testing.
Doris started a food distribution in Tassia and Meru with our funding, and between Meru, Tassia, and the slum across the river, Beyond Vision Foundation has provided food for around 1000 families. We also have around 1000 people a week getting water from the watering stations.
The teachers have been instrumental in setting this up. They have gone into the slums at all hours to assure water is in the watering containers and they have continued teaching the secondary school students their lessons in small socially distanced settings. Public school is now taking place on the radio but without power in the slums our graduates did not have any way to continue their lessons. Our teachers are making sure they will continue to be educated and get high marks.
What a great group of warriors in these times.
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