Lockdown Diaries Nominee#32 Covid-19 Lockdown Diary By Benard Otieno

When the first case of Covid-19 was reported in China, the message impacted nothing on the people’s mind. To many, the case was viewed as a normal condition that was soon going to be curtailed by our medical science experts, and little attention was diverted to the news that would later surmount to the current scourge. Human activities pressed on with ease owing to their social nature and their basic need.

Later, the number of cases increased drastically within China and beyond the scope of its boundaries. This dreadful virus relentlessly continued attacking humans depriving them the ability to inhale oxygen and therefore, succumbing to suffocation as WHO revealed. And as I sat on the couch in the sitting room, watching television disheartening news kept popping up every tick-tock of the clock. The somber atmosphere that these news aroused, caused empathetic emotions deep within my heart, which protruded physically from my eyes as tears.
Then when we least expected, the Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Health in Kenya, announced the first case of the noel virus on 12th March, 2020. Then the schools were closed by an order from the government, and student on session were to miss a term, today a year. However, this news was received differently among us, and some continued with their day to day chores as usual. Consequently, the highly contagious virus started spreading like fire in a bush during summer. A situation that led to the cessation of movement in and out of the areas affected extensively.

Furthermore, the most heartbreaking ordeal, was the increase in the rate of crimes. This unique day will always be etched in my mind. I was watching news together with Hesborn at 7.00 PM as a routine. That day, at that very hour, a story of a mother with a baby-girl suffering from lung cancer with helpless hands to support her treatment abroad was aired. The contemptuous part of the story was that inhumane persons disguised themselves as Citizen TV journalists and charged the mother Ksh 80000 for her situation to be aired on live TV news. And there I was powerless, incapable of giving a hand. Behind this, was unforeseen fact that airplanes were commanded from the office of the president not to carry passengers.

Taking these into account, I prayed that a vaccine would be found soon. It was tantamount to doing nothing while waiting for a possible vaccine to be found by medical gurus, and thereof, I started connecting to University of Oxford through their Facebook page to involve me in their deep research centered on finding a suitable vaccine of coronavirus. As a first year student in Public Health, acting the lab specimen would serve better than a spectator. I was ready to take the risk knowing the danger that is in testing unknown vaccine. If I die, I would die a hero which is better than watching people in great agony impotently.
Then the government unexpectedly moved with the resistant wave of Africa which conform to the idea of racism. To them, vaccine trials in Africa meant the latter. Was the government following my Facebook conversation? And these words of the Cabinet Minister of the Ministry of Health echoed in my pinna, “If we continue to behave normally, this disease will treat us abnormally”. Was there no logic in an attempt to save humanity? After all, Covid-19 is unseen global adversary that prompt such sacrificial efforts intertwined to solve the problem and this isn’t an ultimate sentence to death.

ReachIvy.com organized an online blog/vlog competition to provide people the unique opportunity to share their lockdown stories using their creativity. The competition met with a fantastic response from participants across 4 continents, and our jury has handpicked the Top 50 entries from them for the Popular Choice Award 2020!

The above entry has been submitted by Benard Otieno from Naivasha, Kenya, who is also the winner of the jury award 2020. He is a 26 year old student of Meru University of Science and Technology. Kudos to Benard for this beautiful piece!

Show your support and help Benard win the contest by liking this blog post on all ReachIvy.com’s social media platforms!