Uganda and COVID-19

As part of missions at Refuge, we partner with missionaries. One such partnership is with Andy + Kathy Soderstrom. You can read about our partnership with them here. Recently, Andy wrote an update on their newsletter sharing some news regarding their ministry in Uganda and how it’s been affected by COVID-19. Andy writes,

“I was listening to an old surf/rock song from the 60’s called “Secret Agent Man”  and one of the lines has stuck in my head.  “They’ve given you a number and taken away your name”.  Every morning I hear numbers, numbers and more numbers in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Total cases, new cases, stock market gains and losses, how many masks, how many ventilators, deaths….. 

Numbers are important in dealing with a world wide pandemic but each of these numbers is somehow related to a name, a story, real people.  The effects of the pandemic effect all of us in one way or another and we understand it is different for everyone but I want to share with you some of what I am hearing from our ministry teams in Uganda.  The virus hasn’t hit equatorial Africa very hard yet, but the reality of it is impacting the people we know and love.

President Yoweri Musevni of Uganda recently put Uganda under lock down and has limited public gatherings, stores and factories and transportation.  Churches are closed and meetings limited to 10 or less.  I asked Cyprian how this was impacting our FFCM churches and found that plans were already in motion.