Which Death Do We Prefer?
In late March, I read a horrifying quote in an article from The New Humanitarian about the state of COVID-19 in other countries:
“Most people here live hand to mouth. We would end up having to choose which death we prefer: coronavirus or hunger.”
What a humbling thought. While the pandemic here in the US is vast and cruel, it is rarely a question of which poison. Yet, as I video conference called with partners around the globe, I learned that this was not unusual. Many of their stories were similar to that of Tanzania:
So many people live on less than a dollar a day and depend on daily income to survive. A lockdown might have been necessary but many people would have died of hunger if the country were closed. We are grateful that the covid-19 cases are being contained although we don’t know what winter will bring. -Malawi
We have a curfew that goes from 7 p.m. at night to __ in the morning. Nobody can enter or leave Nairobi. Unfortunately, many people are not taking precautions because they feel as though there are bigger problems to deal with. They’ve been through so much difficulty already; this is not as big of a deal for them. -Kenya
All the isolation beds are full. -Somalia
My team is not able to even greet our community leaders, WASH committee members, pump operators and Hygiene volunteers. We feel like we're losing our close friendships that have been key to our WASH programming. They are pure volunteers... so we cherish personal relationships. C-19 is slowly separating us and we fear it might affect their commitment. -Nigeria
Over the past months, hearing and seeing these testimonies from other aid organization staff has only reinforced our belief in the powerful effect of video in this stage of human history. Video does more than just transfer information; it gives the ability to see real human expressions. It promotes human connectedness. We believe in a connected humanity where we learn not just from processing information but from seeing the human behind the message.
Once we see humanity, we can start making a difference.