Africa-Press – Uganda. President Museveni’s address on Friday night amid the rising Covid-19 cases in the country left many feeling empty as a 42-day lockdown was announced.
Pounded with a 17 per cent flash of accelerated fast-spreading Covid-19 cases, Uganda has between May 18 and June 18 also recorded 25, 685 new infections.
In order to curb the spread, public transport, often seen as a super-spreader of the virus, was suspended and shops closed, among other measures announced earlier in June.
The health system is soon breaking if it hasn’t already. We all know the ongoing shortfall in oxygen supply and other logistics such as personal protective equipment (PPE).
And not every patient will have the luxury of accessing an ambulance and rushing to a hospital. Some will not make it there as some families will see their people sink before them.
The health workers are doing everything they can as we have seen with a high recovery rate. For those who recover, psychosocial support is important.
If you are able to read this, it’s likely that you are among those lucky enough to escape the fangs of the rampaging virus. In the meantime, livelihoods are being obliterated.
The economy has been struggling for a long time now and there’s no respite. All we can do is stay alive and hope to come out on the other side scathed, bruised but not beaten.
In all our communities, there is bound to be someone we know who is going to struggle more than others. Now is the time for Ubuntu. If you are reading it for the first time, here is the lesson. Ubuntu is a Bantu term meaning “humanity”.
It is sometimes translated as “I am because we are”, or “humanity towards others”. It is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.”
It’s time to look for others. Extend a hand to someone who would otherwise have nothing without your kind heart. This is not idealistic.
We suggest that humanity is not embedded in my person solely as an individual; my humanity is co-substantively bestowed upon the other and me.
Humanity is a quality we owe to each other. We create each other and need to sustain this otherness creation. The little you have now once shared will be plenty.
Presently, the government has not announced any measures to help the vulnerable people in our communities. It’s now me and you.
