Conversations..Covid 19

I am still on my conversation trip. The recent conversation I am having at the moment is the concept of being a human being. I ask myself, hat it really means to me to be a human being. I don’t think I am an alien but I am simply worried at the level of our thought processes.
Just before the year ended and we were flung into 2020, the news got to us about Covid 19. I think it was because the pandemic started about that time in that year that they called it COVID 19. The point is, the figures started to rise into the thousands. It looked then like a Chinese problem. Some weeks later it became the problem of other countries and seemed to have ignored Africa.
We read about the story that the African was going to be immune to covid19. I remember the discussion within family and friends. We remembered the unease of the Ebola virus. I felt that when bad things roam the world, they tend to leave the worst part of themselves for Africans to grapple with. China came all over Africa I thought to spite the Americans. I am not into the politics of racism and generally feel that the Almighty has His own reasons for making me a Nigerian. I am not against saying hello to other races but I generally always wanted my own corner of the world. I always wanted to be back home within the four walls of my own home. I went to school in Lagos, had my first set of children there, but I knew when it was time to leave Lagos as it progressed from city to megapolis, so did it become less human and I wanted to remain a human being. See what I mean?
I have worked outside Nigeria, studied outside it and once lived for a while outside Nigeria, but I always wanted to be home. I never understood the craze of my friends to relocate, I thought that if I needed another country then the Almighty Father knows and would have done something about it. Used to tell my children that, and I think they decided what was best for them. They travel out and always came back home to Nigeria, not necessarily my corner. How did we get to talking about me, I said I was having a conversation with me, my thoughts, my worries as a Nigerian with COVID 19
The earlier stories we were told was that this virus was a respiratory thing. You needed to be sure it did not get through your nose. So you needed to cover your nose all the time, particularly if you were for any reason outside your own home. Keep to a regimen of washing your hands with running water, The first joke was when they showed the video of some guy washing his hands with running water. I pictured my home town and wondered if most of them ever saw what a running tap looked like. I live in the suburbs of the state capital, I have never seen a tap running water supplied by the government. When you see a tap, it is either a rich man’s place or those boreholes that are placed at strategic places at random places. Not every street has a borehole placed for you to know what tap running water looked like. Sure, we have taps in the homes but they were generally decorative. The truth of the matter is we evolved our own technology to make running water. Little buckets that had taps fixed at the bottom. We fetched the water and filled it. Twenty seconds? No, just wash your darn hands and get out. More times the public places don’t have it. I sighed. We had bought sanitizers during the Ebola scare, I never liked monkeys and do not eat bush meat generally so I was okay and safe. Strangely though, they said nothing about monkeys this time.
They only said the virus-like Ebola, came from monkeys. Then the Italian landed and Coronavirus also came with the Italian. When the Italian left, Coronavirus stayed back. The figures of the dead started getting higher. Our doubts deepened as we knew our politicians were never known for being altruistic. Some people survived, more people got infected, more people started dying. Running water, the cost of getting nose masks, went through the roof. Suddenly you became afraid of being old. You woke up each morning wondering how many more days. Palliatives? The government just heard those words and they used them freely not understanding the words and its attendant responsibilities. Being independent of depending on your government for anything became a reality that stared at you more urgently. The supposed safety nets from the government were either politicised or non-existent.
How do you test if you have COVID 19? You do not dare sneeze or cough because your scared neighbor might report you to the authorities. Do you have COVID 19 or you had malaria? In the tradition of our herbal pharmacy, you could consult those women in the market for them to prepare herbs for you to treat your cold or malaria, but the radio announcer is hysterical with the warning that you are not to self- medicate. Funny that is how we did before get the herbal drink or soup to treat malaria or cold? You hear in the news that very important personalities had succumbed to COVID 19 and you wonder. You hold this conversation, how will the inadequacies of government, their greed, dishonesty and thieving ways help you overcome your reasonable doubt about the veracity of COVID 19?
Your fear is spiced with anger and doubt as common sense tells you to stay well away from them and ask Mother Nature to show you what you must do to protect yourself from the baggage of the visitor who refused to leave even as you tell it that it was never invited. The stench of COVID 19 is why you cover your noses and face.