Newsletter March 2020

Coronavirus

The new corona virus has also reached Honduras... Fortunately, we have been spared so far, but there are now 9 confirmed cases here too.

The government has reacted immediately and since March 15 the following measures have been put in place for the next 7 days on a countrywide level:

  1. Work in the public and private sectors is suspended.
  2. Events of any kind and number of people are prohibited.
  3. All sporting, cultural and social events are cancelled.
  4. The use of public transport is prohibited.
  5. Religious celebrations are suspended.
  6. All shops - including shopping centres - are closed.
  7. Air, land and sea borders are closed throughout the country, no entry or exit is allowed.
  8. In the four major cities, including San Pedro Sula, where there are already COVID-19 patients, there is a strict curfew.

Why such drastic measures already now?

Everyone is aware that the Honduran health system would collapse if the virus would start to spread rapidly. The president of the Colegio Médico de Honduras says: "There are less than 50 intensive care units (ICU) throughout the country and a total of less than 500 beds for intensive care patients. We live with a health system that has already collapsed and is not even able to meet normal demand. There is never enough material, never enough staff. The country is facing a very serious problem. We only have about 60 ventilators in all of Honduras. Furthermore, there are only about 25 intensive care units, which are already fully booked. So there is no room for anyone coming in with respiratory failure from Covid-19."

How much are we affected by this in the children's home?

According to typical Swiss thinking, we have bought enough stock of food, cleaning agents, Pampers, baby powder milk, medicines, etc. for about 1 month. Therefore, we are prepared for everything and the absolute curfew does not bother us regarding our supplies.

Furthermore, we have already put together an emergency plan, which defines what actions we must take in case one of our children or one of our employees came into contact with infected people.

The children have had no school and no lectures at the university since March 13.

Yulissa, who had started a six-month internship as a laboratory assistant at Ruth-Paz Hospital three months ago, was called back by the university because due to the high-risk environment at the hospital.

Our big challenge now is to keep everyone busy. All employees who live away from home can no longer come to work. Therefore, our older girls are our saving grace in this situation and take over the tasks of the employees.

We have put together a special program and following activities are on it:

  • In the morning we do cleaning chores and some tidying up, like cleaning the pantries and cleaning the forecourt.
  • In the afternoon we have to do homework and support tasks for school.
  • Afterwards there are small "game tournaments" like table football, ping-pong, football and hockey and our youngest children of the Sala Cuna enjoy overall carefree holidays on our playground...
  • In the evening they are allowed to watch a film. But the best thing about this whole situation for our children is, that we can all sleep in in the morning. It seems that our children are not aware of the dimension of the problem and feel therefore not burdened with this problem.