COVID19, isolation, quarantine, these are all words that we’re all more than familiar with these days. What it looks like in Peru though, might be a bit different than in your part of the world.
We are in a state of emergency, quarantined under martial law. Our boarders have been shut down since the fifteenth - air, land and sea - which means that my mother is quite stuck here with us now! There is no movement allowed between regions, and there is a curfew from 6pm-5am. We have to have special permits to leave our homes within those hours, and on certain days according to our identification numbers to get supplies. The quarantine has been extended to mid-April now (at least) and there are more restrictions added every day. I am grateful that we were able to stock up at the beginning – I have meal-planned and am ready to feed our family for a month or more (with beans and rice every other day).
Our third-world country is not capable of handling normal illnesses much less a pandemic, so there was much wisdom in the President’s decision to shut everything down early, but the economic ramifications are difficult, to say the least. The majority of the population live day to day, hand to mouth, so there’s no way for them to stock up, or to make the money that they need to eat every day. The government is doing what they can, and we are helping our neighbors as much as possible, but this is a hard situation – to put it lightly.
Not a whole lot has changed for our daily lives – except that it’s just so quiet! Vann still has his projects to work on here on base and the children are already used to homeschooling, so it’s business as usual around here. Mostly. It really is a restful time without all of the constant busy with people and needs that normally surround us, and I am quite selfishly grateful for the break. We were tired. Really tired, and God has just provided some solid time to rest while still being productive.
All of the youth from our neighboring tribe came over for a swim in the pool just days before the quarantine. We did get to celebrate Vann’s birthday at the beginning of the month when we could still socialize. Smoked meat, frisbee golf and friends – it doesn’t get much better than that!
Another blessing from this global stand still is that it has made time for a virtual reunion with many of the people that we worked with in Russia in the early 90’s. What a special treat it has been to get to catch up with everyone – someone said that it’s like the high school reunion that we never had as homeschoolers! It has been so good to take time to remember all of the great things that God has done. He is good, always.
Our country’s leaders, the health workers on the frontlines, the sick, the poor, and the lonely are all in our prayers as well as each of you who are so very dear to our hearts. May the Lord bless you and keep you in His loving arms through these strange times.
“Fear God, fear nothing else. Don’t fear God, fear everything else.”-Oswald Chambers