Covid-19 has nearly turned the life upside down. According to the latest global tally, it so far affected 202 territories with over 5 million infections. The global death toll stands slightly over 350 thousand at the time of writing this piece.
The pandemic substantially
affected our way of living. As curfew, lock downs, social distancing and stay
at home measures take effect, inter-personal relations take strange turns; and
dramatic increase of domestic abuses are reported in many societies.
Changing Modalities
The pandemic has changed
the way we work, learn and integrate for the past two and half
months. Many people have been (and still) telecommuting and working from
home. Schools, chiefly international private ones, adopted a virtual learning
system. Consequently, students continue learning through virtual means, using
different learning/ teaching platforms.
The new modality has its
hiccups as enabling environment is in question. The requisite amenities-
space and resources- such as machines, stable and reliable power and internet
connections are not so widespread, if not in short supply. Sometimes,
power outage disrupts zoom or team meetings and one have to shift to
alternative power to ensure business continuity. In addition, this approach serves
only for students coming from relatively well-off backgrounds and hence it
doesn’t work for education for all goals.
For learners in private
schools to continue education, virtually, parents had to incur additional
expenses by buying tablets, smartphones or any other devices to continue online
learning. Sadly, this is coming at a time, when many parents were affected by
the economic shocks caused by Covid-19 and the associated restrictions.
Although many schools considering the current situation, reviewed fee
structures and as such provided reasonable discounts, the matter couldn’t be
settled amicably in some leaning centers and the issue had to be referred to
courts.
Economic Effect
The pandemic hit hard in
developing countries, where unemployment is rampant and informal economy
provides most of the available job opportunities. Mindful of this, governments
largely refrained from imposing lock downs but rather put in place preventive
measures in a bid to contain the virus.
Yet, all economic sectors
are affected as planes are grounded, travel severely restricted to transporting
essential commodities, restaurants and eateries closed, (partial) curfew
imposed and consequently; local productivity adversely impacted; and all
learning-teaching institutions closed. The governments offered tax relief to
ease the suffering of the local people. Tax exemption is provided to essential
food items and all medical supplies are imported without tax levy. In some
instances, economic stimulant package is introduced in countries like Kenya,
where the government announced a $ 503 million package to save local economy.
Eight crucial sectors will reportedly benefit from this injection. These
include, among other key sectors, infrastructure development, health and
education development, manufacturing and agriculture; and tourism.
Spiritual impact
The pandemic has not only
affected our physical, societal and fiscal aspects of life, but equally
impacted on our spiritual and faith-related rituals. Worth to mention is the
just ended Muslim holy month of Ramadan, where over 1.6 billion Muslims around
the globe had to fast quietly amid unprecedented odd circumstances.
Ramadan is the month of
reflection, caring and sharing. It is considered a spiritual retreat. It
is the month when poor and less fortunate people are taken care of, alms giving
is encouraged to orphans, homeless and all those eligible and vulnerable
community members. From dawn to dusk, every day, Muslims observing the holy
month, strictly abstain from all food and drink, among other things. Until
immemorial time, the day-long fasting is accomplished in a ritualistic, often
communal feasting at evenings. Oddly, this wasn’t the case in this Ramadan and
faithful Muslims had to break fasting lonely and quietly.
Furthermore, Ramadan nights
are famous with colorful rituals; reading holy Quran and with special prayers
known as Taraweeh, all geared to connecting the mind and soul to the creator.
Taraweeh, a congregation meant to perform collectively in every night of
Ramadan was suspended this year as mosques remained closed. People had to
perform this special prayer at home with family members.
Eid el Fitr marks the end
of month-long fasting and families celebrate together, hoping their good deeds
in Ramadan are accepted. However, this year people had to observe odd Eid
celebrations. This meant, performing Eid prayers at home and largely avoiding
visits of loved ones and any meaningful community interactions. Due to Covid-19
containment guidelines, Eid celebrations, without the usual feasting and
fanfare, is essentially reduced to a family affair. No event in the
recent history has affected us and shaped our life so profoundly and
pervasively.
Back home, the situation is
different as people continued to perform Ramadan rituals collectively and
celebrated Eid communally. The virus is spreading aggressively but local people
ironically pay little attention to health advisories. Many continued to defy
government-imposed guidelines whilst some even think the thing is hoax and
therefore, business continues as usual. Though the government had imposed
measures to curb the spread of Covid-19, it is really having tough time in
winning against the disease. Needless to mention the tenuous local capacity to
respond to such calamities.
As time elapses, and local
people better learn the devastating impact of Covid-19, a communal behavior
change- a required crucial element for this unusual fight- coupled with better
response capabilities- must happen, if we want to effectively deal with the
situation.
Abdirahman Adan Mohamoud
abdirahman.adan@gmail.com
