What a time to be alive! Uhhhh. I don’t even know where to begin from. One thing i am thankful for right now is having a secure home in a quiet place far from the chaos of town and this has afforded me the privilege of sitting in our porch with a cool breeze and write down my thoughts. I have realised in times of crises like these, where you call home matters a lot.
A lot has happened from the last time i wrote. Today we are in day 7 of the extended two week lock-down and this is the least popular extension of them all; which is sad especially when some are trying to adhere to it but increasing numbers of people are tired and are breaking it. Last week i took a walk to town and was surprised because it was different from the previous time i was there. There were more people in town, many cars in town, shops that were not announced to reopen were all open and a few people i talked to said the same thing- “i have reached the wall and there’s no other option”. Feeding their families is key and a majority of them had run out of options and the only thing left was to risk to go hustle. From the news, it looks like it’s the trend countrywide. Government is still distributing food mainly in the capital and the up-country populace seems to start getting mad why they are left out and yet the lock-down affects even them. So far, i am choosing to refuse to fall into the temptation to drive, because you just never know when the evil day will strike and you get arrested for disobeying the presidential orders as some have been including two members of our household who were apprehended for being out during curfew hours, though of course my circumstances are totally different from what many people are going through.
The worry is the continued rise in positive cases mainly from the truck drivers from the neighbouring countries where the virus seems to be spreading more rapidly. Many people are fearful that the president might extend the lock down again next week; i hope he does not. And then the issue of the face masks that are now compulsory. I am wondering how this is going to be enforced especially in the villages and among those who might have to choose between buying a face mask and buying food. God help us all.
There have been a lot of tears and mourning from the last time i wrote. Our pastor and ministry friend lost his 8 year old son to pneumonia! My co-pastor and his wife also had a miscarriage a couple of days a go, i was in excruciating pain myself from a serious bout of ulcers and still on medication and recovering from it, people that i know have lost children, teenagers and just yesterday another young man in his late twenties died after he collapsed on Saturday. My work mate is currently on drip with malaria, one of girls at home here has her grandmother on a deathbed. Then the continuous calls for help from left, centre and right.
Countrywide the current heavy rains have caused a lot of destruction- houses have been swept away, people killed, roads washed away, crops destroyed in the gardens, etc. Mother nature seems to be very furious with us and is revenging for something that we have done.
Back to the continuation of my experience with the 1993 famine and how it changed our society forever.
Growing up, our families were mainly extended and the pride of a man was having all his sons build their huts around him in the same compound and all their wives would cook, and food would be served and eaten communally with the father and his sons eating at the table, the mother and her daughters in-law would also sit in one group and eat and the children would also have their own group eating together. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Women would cook food in excess knowing anytime anyone would pass by and he or she would be welcome to come and eat. People would eat green vegetables, Beans, and Peas during the day and then Meat or Fish or Chicken or wild game would be for supper when there would be no or minimal chances of anyone passing by and needing to eat! It was a good tactic and some stubborn kids would want to continue playing up to late when they realise their hosts were cooking soup and it was a different story in their own homes. They would be gently nudged to go back to their homes to shower since it was getting late!
However, when the famine struck, everything was turned upside down. Extended families started breaking up with some members accusing the others of not doing enough to bring in food, wives started serving some food and keeping it aside so that their kids would eat later before going to bed since what was served earlier was not enough. There was a famous place where people who had money would go and buy food and it was called “Agip” here in Soroti. If you passed by a home and people were eating, they would tell you “Karibu Agip”, Kiswahili word for “Come to or welcome to Agip”, literally communicating that this food was bought from Agip and it’s small and not enough for even us. They were passing a message that “we are not eating food from our gardens”. From that time till now the extended families have slowly been disappearing and i wonder what will now happen to the Nuclear family after COVID-19 and its effects. The biggest emerging issues already so far is the rise in cases of domestic violence and mental health issues. Families are likely to break up even more as hopelessness breeds more violence and depression.
For now though, the best thing we can do is not to point fingers and play the blame game but to fight for each other’s survival first, then we can go back to our political battles afterwards. Those who have, should not demonise those who don’t have, calling them lazy and reckless and rebuking them for not planning. But help them survive first and then give them “a piece of your mind” later. And those who don’t have should not look at those who have as boasting and showboating and praying for their downfall, but rather be grateful and pray for them and you can go back to calling them whatever names after we have all survived this. We are all His image bearers and ought to honour and value each other rather than jumping at each other’s throats.
May His Amazing grace see you all from going insane. Shalom.
