Christmas will be different for all of us this year. Many will be grieving lost loved ones, people will be unable to see family and friends and hundreds of thousands of people have seen their health and livelihoods impacted.

Paz y Esperanza will be providing support this Christmas to families in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru whose lives have been affected by the coronavirus. Their focus is on the most vulnerable communities: migrants from Venezuela, internally displaced people, informal sector workers, indigenous communities and people with disabilities.

COLOMBIA - hundreds of thousands of families in Colombia live in vulnerable communities under conditions of exclusion and extreme poverty due to the years of internal conflict. In recent years, more than 1.6 million Venezuelans have migrated to Colombia, escaping from their own political and economic crisis. Many have settled in marginal communities. Their dire situation has been further aggravated by not being able to go out to work on the streets due to lockdown. PyE in Colombia is helping Colombian and Venezuelan families with food and other essential provisions.  

BRAZIL - Brazil has been severely affected by Covid-19, which has also been compounded by misinformation. PyE has been leading churches in prayer for the nation and has launched a website to tackle misinformation, reaching 100,000 visits so far. Two PyE team members are pastors in a church in the city of Salvador, in the north, based in a poor community which lacks basic sanitation, access to healthcare and social rights. The pastors are mobilising the community and fundraising to provide food and basic personal hygiene and cleaning supplies for the poorest families.