One of the NetAct partners, the Evangelical Reformed College in Angola, sends this report:
“If the lockdown continues it will affect the 2020 harvest because people won’t be able to work in the fields. The products will rot in the field. There will be a shortage of seed for cultivation next year. People are now consuming the seed for planting in 2020-2021. Our denomination has no resources for the vulnerable and the poor, and government support is insufficient for the elderly and the children.
The theological school receives no income from whose who support it because everywhere everything is closed. Teachers and students have returned to their families and congregations.”
Most NetACT partner colleges have no cash reserves, and student fees trickle in throughout the year. So during the lockdown, there is virtually no money coming in and paying salaries becomes a real challenge.
Give thanks for the Barnabas Fund’s BCEN initiative. They are working with NetACT among others to identify and meet needs across Africa. They have paid all the partner colleges’ NetACT fees for 2020, allowing the colleges to divert that money to local needs. They will be making grants to colleges and churches where the need is greatest.
Give thanks that Ruth is much better now.