Dear Reader,
There has been a lot to learn in the past couple of years. In the ever-changing circumstances, we have been constantly reminded to love ourselves and cherish those around us. Since I joined World Vision, I am learning to better attend to other people’s needs, both those who are near and those who are further. I am learning to understand the circumstances that they are in and how to serve them with a humble heart.
The ongoing pandemic has made all of us stressed and fatigued. However, even though they themselves have also been affected, our staff worldwide continue to listen and care for the immediate needs of children and families in the communities where they serve. In our multiple research studies over the last two years, we have found that 70% of children living in conflict-affected countries have expressed that they needed psychosocial support. In the Asia Pacific region that we live in, 1 in 7 children have said that they felt so afraid nothing could calm them down most or all of the time. While childhood is supposed to be worry-free, the reality is that children are being severely affected psychologically.
Furthermore, child marriage more than doubled in many communities between 2019 and 2020. We believe that the pandemic is going to force even more parents to marry off their young daughters so as to lessen their families’ financial burden. However, the impact that child marriage leaves on girls is lifelong. This is why, in spite of the pandemic, we have focused on reaching 72 million people in need across more than 70 countries with education, sanitation and hygiene, and child protection interventions. We have also collaborated with local churches, charities and professional entities to start a new ministry, serving families in need with assistance in food, nutrition and mental health. We are convinced that this will help us restart our local ministry and enable us to make better plans for our local projects in the future.
I would like to leave you with a few lines from a motivating poem that I read recently, written by a 15-year-old girl in Kenya called Eulalie.
COVID-19 has threatened to put us down.
And now we are slowly but surely rising from the ashes of this pandemic.
Tough times never last but tough people do.
So, as surely as the sun rises each morning, we shall arise and overcome this pandemic.
Yours truly,
Amy Fung
Chief Executive Officer
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.
2 Corinthians 2:14