- MISSION TEAMS -The pandemic and quarantine caused the cancelling of all scheduled mission teams to the Lighthouse in 2020 and 2021, which severely limited CASR’s ability to minister to the poor.
- TRAVEL ADVISORY – Updated advisories concerning travel to Rwanda can be viewed at: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/rwanda-travelhttps://-advisory.html
- CLOSURES - The quarantines closed both the university and the churches for most of 2020 and continuing into 2021, limiting ministry in many areas. Many poorer churches were temporarily closed until facilities could be upgraded to meet new quarantine standards. Border closures have caused food costs to inflate and effected the ability of the poor to feed their families.
- CHURCHES - Pastors of all the churches suffered a major loss of income and ability to support themselves and serve their congregations due to church closures.
- RATE OF CASES - Compared to most Western countries, Rwanda has a relatively low rate of confirmed COVID cases and deaths. For the latest information, you can link to: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/rwanda/
- QUARANTINE COMPLIANCE - Rwanda rates very high among countries in their compliance to recommended COVID quarantines. The Australian Lowy Institute rated it first among African counties and sixth in the world in gauging response to the pandemic.
- ECONOMIC IMPACT - However the lock-down has had a devastating economic impact. According to https://tradingeconomics.com/rwanda/gdp-growth-annual , the Rwandan economy was growing at an average rate of about 10% in 2018 and 2019. But in 2020 the Rwandan economy contracted 3.6 %. The dynamic Rwandan economy shows signs of a return to positive growth in 2021
- LONG-TERM IMPACT - Also, the effect of the Western shutdowns on the poorer countries are projected to continue into 2021 and beyond. For an idea of how this impact may play our, you can link to https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/sensible-compassionate-anti-covid-strategy/
