Help And Feed Our Indonesian and Thai Friends

What do the Indonesian orphans, widows, families and sick people we have been supporting for more than a year all have in common?  Their lives and their livelihoods are increasingly threatened because of the spread of the coronavirus in Indonesia-especially the Delta variant.  As Indonesia charted 54,000 reported cases a day on Wednesday this week, it surpassed India as the fastest growing Covid hotspot in the world.  The statistics don’t speak to the full extent of the present crisis.  Why?  Because the Indonesian government does not provide Covid-19 testing for its population and the cost of a PCR test is 80% of the average monthly salary for a pre-pandemic worker in Jakarta.  Others estimate that actually one half of the capital city of 10 million are Covid-19 positive and that the inability of the average person to get tested around the country means that they are neither getting treated nor quarantined.  The result is that the virus is spreading out of control.

Yesterday, I spent the day trying to help eight friends in Jakarta and Bali who have since tested positive for Covid-19.  As the numbers of sick people increase, so do the requests for financial help and medical assistance.  While I was writing this paragraph, I received a call from one more friend in Jakarta to ask me what to do now that she and her mother tested positive today for the Delta variant.  We have committed to supporting dozens of families, orphans, widows and covid-19 patients until the end of the pandemic.  There are days, like yesterday, where I confess that the magnitude of the crisis combined with the totality of the need seems almost overwhelming. Currently, in addition to the ongoing need for food, one of the greatest needs is for financial help for testing and medical treatment.  If you are in a position to help, then gifts of any amount toward our Covid-19 Connecting Families GoFundMe would be most appreciative to help those whom we are offering a life-line during an ever-worsening crisis.  Thanks and blessings,  Tim