“The United Nations has launched the appeal: ‘We are on the verge of a global famine of biblical proportions, with over 250 million people at risk’. The African continent has been preserved from the catastrophic effects of Covid -19: infections and deaths are lower in numbers and in proportion to those recorded by other continents, but the other effects, such as economic and social, are already proving to be more deadly than the virus: people are hungry, food is lacking and there is no money for daily needs”, this is what Fr. Marco Prada, priest of the Society for African Missions in Ivory Coast, reports to Fides, who talks about his conversation with two local inhabitants.

“The situation in Abidjan is catastrophic: loss of jobs, unemployed people without any measures of support, prices have soared in the city, the purchasing power of the population has decreased by 80%, the situation of those who live of informal economy is dramatic: these people and their families no longer have money and no longer know what to do to buy food”, reports the missionary.

Alphonse Soro, one of the two local inhabitants who were asked observes:

“It was a great pain to remain without mass (…), praying alone in the house. Of course, faith has remained in the hearts of most of the faithful, but some have said that they have lost faith in God, therefore, after this epidemic, we will have to think about re-evangelization”.