By Halima Imam
December 2019, there were reports on international news outlets of cases of extreme pneumonia in China. As I heard it on the news, I couldn’t help but feel bad for people that were already infected at the time, and that a lot of other people had to wear facemasks to protect themselves. I instantly married the situation to climate change and thought of how governments of the world were doing little to help solve this crisis.
Three months ago, we all watched Dr Tedrosmake the following announcement, “Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen, which has escalated into an unprecedented outbreak, and which has been met by an unprecedented response”. He talked about 98cases in countries outside China, but they were people who either had travel history to Wuhan or knew someone that was or had been there and so on. The Director General of the World Health Organization therefore declared the Novel Coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern.
One Month ago the World Health Organization declared the Covid19 a pandemic. Since January 2020, the world as most of us alive today have known it changed forever, we started hearing of cases of infected persons with Coronavirus in their thousands and the numbers have not slowed down ever since. Just like the movies where we see the world coming to an end with deserted streets, we began to live that in our reality. Supermarkets, shops and all retail outlets emptied due to panic shopping.
Governments of the world began to lockdown their countries and by extension everything in it. The fear for the coronavirus grew by the day, and why not, it is a silent killer, silently infecting anyone it comes across and even taking the lives of a lot of its victims. Healthworkers took to the fore of the battle against this deadly virus, many giving their lives in the course of their duty to their fellow human beings. Everyone became a potential carrier and a threat to both themselves and people around, hence everyone is told to “stay at home to save lives”.
Facing a situation that is unprecedented has done something to humanity, it taught us all something, it’s that we are here for all of us, we all need one another afterall. Tales of kindness has filled the air ever since, and a lot of people began to have hope again. Grocery stores decided to designate specific hours of the day for senior citizens to do their own shopping. Older adults are more at risk of being infected by the coronavirus. Volunteers also stepped in in many parts of the world to help both elderly people and those self-isolating from the virus buy goods that they might need.
A restaurant in Berlin although closed were helping to cook and give out food to nearby hospitals. While schools were shut in many parts of the United States, bus drivers were still on duty ensuring students got hot meals while their parents were at work. Some Musicians set up hand washing stations to protect the homeless people. Police in many parts of the world rang the alarm many times in honour and salutation of health workers.
Taking care of each other in the phase we are in now, a Vietnam woman stood on a busy street to give facemasks to people who need them, putting herself at risk. A big heart on a building in the United States is lit up every night to give hope to someone. In the United Kingdom, the number of volunteers willing to help the National Health Service as at three weeks ago surpassed 750,000. A lot of people have been giving up time and money to those who need it the most.
Online restaurant clubs have been helping to fund meals for hospital staffs from restaurants. Random acts of coronavirus kindness everywhere. Children playing musical instruments, for elderly neighbours, who have shut themselves in, from the coronavirus. In Italy and Spain were so many have died and a lot others isolating, people have been singing from their balconies with others cheering health workers on and giving hope to the sick.
In Houston, a couple left a 9,400 dollar tip with a note that says “to pay your guys over the next few weeks”. Another restaurant had a customer give 2500 dollars, with a note “to split with the staff”. An NBA staff in the U.S donated 100,000 dollars from his foundation to the arena staff that have been left without work, which translates to no pay. Teachers have been on social media and on the internet teaching people and taking questions.
The Novel coronavirus is out to push us all apart, but in so many ways it’s been bringing us all closer than we have ever been. There’s been a lot of movements about staying “together apart”, a lot others have received overwhelming love. People having drive through birthdays, for children, and the elderly. People all over the world, lighting up their homes, to help cheer others up. Musicians have been playing music online for their fans; painters have also taken to social media to teach young enthusiasts how to get better in the art of painting.
A youth group in Kenya, donated facemasks in their local neighbourhood to people who cannot afford them. The police in Turkey have been knocking on the doors of elderly people to help taketheir list and help get them groceries that they might need. In India, an elderly man who lives alone was in awe to see the police knock on his door to sing a birthday song to him, and then offer him a birthday hat and a cake. Tales of a landlord of a critical care resident, welcoming his tenant with hot meals each day he got home, also brings a smile to our faces.
The police in India also helped deliver a cake to a 15year old boy, whose father could not make it back to India, before suspension of incoming flights. Amid singing and clapping, the teenager had cut his cake on the burnet of a police vehicle. People have taken to sewing face masks and giving out to people. A tweet by a 75 year old woman goes thus “ My Muslim neighbour dropped two packs on my front porch and knocked at my door, as I opened the door, I saw her walking away, I yelled out after her, how much do I owe you, she smiled and walked away. As I got in, I saw that she got me groceries with a note that said, we are neighbours and that makes you my responsibility, and below it, she says, you owe me nothing”.
A school in South Korea, donated snacks, drinks, shampoo, soap and handmade cards to different hospitals around the country. A Zimbabwean woman donated half her salary, to neighbours in need. A doctor in the United Arab Emirates had posted a tweet talking about how on her way from work at night, a police officer had stopped her to check why she was out late, “I told him I am a doctor and was reaching for all my means of identification, when all of a sudden he saluted me, it seemed so surreal”, that show of appreciation instantly brought tears to my eyes she said.
The armed forces, Police, Fire-fighters in the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world had all come out to salute for healthcare workers while everyone on the streets and in their homes, including the Foreign Minister of the UK, came out to give a round of applause to them. How the enemy brought out the human in all of us. A bakery owner gave free bread to people in a part of Lagos. We have people giving food to less privileged people in Lekki. The twitter giveaways are unprecedented. Everyone believes that the other man is their responsibility.
Once the numbers of infection began to rise in Nigeria, Entrepreneurs, corporate bodies, philanthropists, private organizations, etcetera rose to the occasion donating monies in millions and billions to help assist the government in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The spirit of solidarity, the show of statesmanship and the empathy for fellow humans is the story that the post covid19 era waits to tell. Some landlords gave food stuffs to their tenants as we saw on the internet. People gave the little they could to their neighbours.
Jack Ma had donated protective equipment’s to Africa and other parts of the world, Lady Gaga had organized an online concert themed “One world together at home”, along with so many artists from the entertainment industry in collaboration with the United Nations, it raised 127.9 million dollars for coronavirus relief. That was amazing. The TufaceIdibia online concert is to raise about 10 million Naira to help support the, Nigerian Centre for Disease Control. Every single person has found a purpose in this period,it’s one of care, kindness and love.
From the people who are giving in billions to those that give in hundreds, giving has not stopped. The pandemic is shaking economies of countries, but so is it opening up our hearts. Everyone doing their quota, from the Nigerian ministers giving fifty per cent of their salaries to us hearing that, those in the National assembly will be contributing too. It’s all words that heal, bless and cheer. A choir in South Africa (AGT Contestants), is lifting spirits with a we will beat coronavirus song.
In Singapore, the President and his cabinet are taking a one month pay cut, to show solidarity to workers. A fashion Giant in Africa named LVMH is using their perfume factories to make free hand sanitizers. A 15 year old drops off puzzles and handwritten noted at nursing homes to help cheer residents. A teenager in Texas delivered 10,000 masks to medical workers. A story of a 6 year old setting up a joke stand everyday outside his house is all so amazing.
Two brothers in Houston are making face masks for homeless people in their community. A mailman delivering toilet paper to self-quarantined people and the elderly, and a 6 year old boy making and delivery care packages to the elderly shut in by the coronavirus is another act of immense kindness that melts our hearts. People in Turkey left grocery packages on the streets for those who might need it. The association of traders in Afghanistan left a lot of food supply on the streets for people to pick.
From car companies making ventilators to alcohol companies turning to hand sanitizers, to fashion houses making free face masks, big names in restaurants handing out free meals and coffee to healthcare workers, individuals give food to random people on the streets. The stories of kindness in this period are simply overwhelming. Humanity is always in a crisis, and in recent time, tales of terrorism, war, natural disaster, poverty, climate change and now the novel coronavirus has left us heartbroken.
But just like the air, we rise again, humanity has shown resilience inspite of it all, and in a time when the world keeps learning about a disease that has come with all sorts of theories, we found something new, it’s the fact that inside our houses is our safe haven, and we can stay together apart, but most importantly, we still have a lot of love to give and receive. We have learned a new lesson that I hope we never unlearn.
Halima Imam
Twitter: @sadee_eemam
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Sky Daily
