Dear friends,
All around the world we are going to through a difficult time at moment as result of the COVID-19 virus. Here in South Africa, our President has declared our country a State of Disaster on the 15th of March. They started to implement rules such as closing most of our countries border posts (including the one here in Onseepkans) and extending the March school holidays from one to four weeks. On Monday, President Ramaphosa ordered a nation-wide lockdown for 3 weeks starting on the 26th of March and continuing until the 16th of April. Only the necessary businesses such as in the food and health sectors may continue to operate during the lockdown.
We are thankful for the strict measures our President is taking to protect our country from the COVID-19 pandemic as far as possible. We realize that the coronavirus could have even worse devastating effects in our country than in other developed countries. The main reason for this being that many of the citizens of South Africa are already suffering immune breakdowns because of HIV, AIDS, TB, extremely bad diets, and others. Under these difficult conditions, the coronavirus could cause havoc if it will take hold of the communities in the Northern Cape such as Onseepkans and others.
Although we only have two cases of the Corona virus reported in our province (in Kimberly and Hartswater), we as a mission, are preparing ourselves for the worst-case scenario. This we do not only for our own protection, but also for of our congregation members and the community who look to us for help. We try to limit travelling to only for necessary supplies. We also try to implement the necessary hygiene measurements. Furthermore, we try to harvest as much moringa as possible from our moringa trees to boost our immune systems as well as those of our congregation members. We also try to focus our attention on planting as much vegetables as possible as a source of food for us, our congregation and the community around us.
In these days we were encouraged by a story we heard. Many years ago there was a missionary teacher who took care of young girls at a mission school in Palestine. One day the news came that cholera broke out in their village and that many people had already died. The teacher did not know what to do to protect her girls. There was no doctor nearby to whom she could go for advice. So, not knowing what else to do, she took her trouble to the Lord Jesus, who is the Great Physician. She asked Him to protect the mission school, because after all it was His school. Then she called the girls together and told them about the grave danger that they were in, and together they read the 91st Psalm every morning and evening while the plague lasted. The cholera plague became worse and many people died around them, but in the mission school the teacher and her girls were claiming the promise,” There shall no evil befall thee, and no plague came near thy dwelling.” The Lord kept His word. None of the girls died, because they had made the Lord their refuge.
May all of us remember our Refuge in this time of uncertainty. May we make the Most High our Protector, then we will have nothing to fear for He hath said,” I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”
We sincerely appreciate and value all your prayers during this time. Above all, we know that God is in control of everything and that we can rest in Him and His care. We think of you and pray that God will protect you and your families during this difficult time.
God’s richest blessings,
Gerhard, Elmané and Children
