As we face the daunting challenges posed by Covid-19, one of the issues we are grappling with is balancing the need (and desire) to support our partner schools and community now with the need to make sure we are still around for them (and others) on the other side of this crisis.
Not knowing when that will be, nor for how long and to what extent our fundraising activities will be impacted in the meantime, is necessitating some difficult internal discussions about our priorities and how we allocate our funds.
We have already postponed the majority of non-essential capital projects for which we do not have ring-fenced funding and it is with a heavy and conflicted heart that we have taken the difficult decision to suspend our feeding programme until such a time that schools reopen, rather than to continue with it in an amended form by distributing foodstuffs directly to children and their families.
By doing so we hope to ease the expected pressure on our funds later in the year (even after some generous donations over the last few weeks) and to protect our budgets against likely future increases in food prices.
At the same time we are redeploying funds towards guaranteeing staff salaries and, where we can secure funding, looking at bringing forward projects, such as hand-washing facilities, which will directly assist with the control of Covid-19 once schools do reopen.
None of this is easy (there is no manual to tell us what to do) and we are grateful to our partner schools for their understanding, and to those of you that continue to stand with us, and them, during this difficult time.
Stay safe.