We are doing well down here in Nicaragua and we wanted to give all of our friends and supporters an update on how things are going at Club Esperanza with COVID19 being a worldwide pandemic. We just finished Semana Santa (Spring Break for Easter) and our schools are scheduled to re-open in Nicaragua next week. The response to the virus has been strange by the government here. In their effort to avoid panic it feels more like it is intentionally being ignored. So, we have taken our own precautions at the school to protect our staff and teachers. We expect most families to not be sending their kids to school until there is a worldwide consensus on returning to school.
Even before Easter break we saw a dramatic drop in attendance immediately after the virus made international headlines. Most families are deciding themselves to stay home and ride it out. Our excellent teachers have made the efforts to get a version of “homeschooling” implemented. It is very difficult though, mostly because the community we serve is very poor and do not have access to home computers. Please pray for our teachers and students during this time…they will do their best! Computer access is actually a huge need for our school.
Another big are of impact we have on the community is our daily feeding program. We have made a very intentional decision to continue serving lunch everyday. We decided to follow the model of restaurants in the US doing “take out”. Our cooks have been preparing meals daily during this very difficult time and serving them to out of the front gate of the school…sort of a Club Esperanza drive through :-). Praise Jesus for this part of our ministry! To not be hungry in a time of crisis is a HUGE blessing.
Thank you for your prayers and support during this hard time. Below is an excerpt from our recent newsletter to give you further insight on how we are passing this storm, No Fear!…
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
– 2 Timothy 1:7 –
We continue in ministry at Club Esperanza, at our rescue homes, on the Rio Coco, and in local neighborhoods as the Corona Virus pandemic is wreaking havoc on the world. Our school has once again been a haven of hope in the middle of hard times. We have hundreds of children from early childhood education all the way through high school scholarship students who are being cared for and our daily feeding program where we serve nearly 300 families a day!
We are going to be responsible in the way that we continue to serve. We will follow government guidelines and do all of those things. But one thing we will not do is serve our community out of a spirit of fear. God has given us Power and Love that overcomes all fear! So we will cling to that and continue to serve. We so much appreciate all of you who support us financially, pray for us daily and come down to serve hand in hand with us. We hope you will keep supporting us in those ways! At the same time, we do know adjustments will be made. Please stay safe, keep praying and enjoy the time with your families. Hopefully this will pass quickly and we will see some of you down here again!
God Bless and Stay Safe,
Chris & Krista Farrington
