COVID 19 Pandemic in Kenya
The whole world is currently going through difficult moments of the COVID 19 pandemic. It started in china and quickly spread to the rest of the world, every country counting deaths in thousands for victims of COVID 19. As the disease spread quickly in the western countries, a lot of fear engulfed among the African nations as the number of COVID 19 victims grew every day in the affected countries as various governments watched helplessly.
Here in Kenya, the ministry of health was always in the media warning citizens to change their ways, wash hands, wear masks, observe social distance and many people adopted the new rules from fear of the pandemic.
The government started buying more land for mass graves, as more hospital branches were opened in preparedness for influx and COVID 19 patients. The immediate step that the government took was abrupt closure of educational institutions on March 15th 2020 and a curfew placed on Nairobi and Mombasa cities, where a few numbers had been reported already. Dwellers of Nairobi and Mombasa were restricted to move beyond city borders and other populations outside could not enter Nairobi and Mombasa for a couple of months apart from foodstuff and parcels.
Again within Nairobi city there were some estates where COVID 19 pandemic number of patients seemed to grow steadily. Estates like Eastleigh, South B and C, where people of Somali origin dominate were more affected.
VPM closed down our school program in Korogocho on 24th March 2020. We retained the feeding program for the children who still depend on our feeding programme to survive in Korogocho.
The feeding program itself was strictly manned to control who are coming in for the food because the number of starving people kept swelling each day beyond what VPM can accommodate. All schools stopped altogether their sessions awaiting government directives. Schools have started to resume but the government plans to re-open in phases beginning with grade 4 and class 8.
Children in our Vision Children’s Home were locked in on the 24th March 2020, no one was allowed into the orphanage without proper reason and the kids restricted to get out. Any assignments by teachers were being given through the matron as the mediator between the children and the teachers as they continued with tuition privately.
