This blog post was written by our Director of Fundraising, Sue Johns.
A long road towards Marsabit, Kenya.
I think we are all discovering that we have quite different needs in the face of this pandemic. Lockdown elicits a whole new range of emotional and physical needs. Many have found their mental health has suffered, others are beginning to encounter a real sense of deprivation from not being able to meet socially. For the vast majority of parents with young children, this is a time of considerable stress and utter exhaustion as they grapple with home-schooling and the challenges of not being able to leave their house. We are fortunate that life is beginning to return to ‘normal’. But what exactly does that mean? What have we learnt from this? How will we implement real changes to our lifestyles that will directly benefit the poor and marginalised?
Presently, it feels like the whole world is convulsing having been hit by a second wave of ‘dis-ease’ as a consequence of the horrific death of George Floyd. The outpouring of decades, even centuries, of suppressed hurt has swept through us like a tsunami challenging each and every one of us to examine ourselves. I am sure that you, like me, have read articles, listened to interviews, watched marches and protests - and pondered where this will end.
It got me thinking about what makes me who I am, or my children who they are, or you the person I know. Is it nature? Is it nurture? It is not simple is it? It has certainly challenged us as a Team to think very hard about how we operate and why we make the decisions/act the way we do.
Coming now, when we’re in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, makes this challenge to re-examine our own thinking all the more powerful. We’ve read countless articles on the effects coronavirus may have in Africa. I’d like to share two excerpts of an article below:
“Predictions of mass deaths in Africa are problematic for reasons beyond inaccuracy. They assume that nothing that African countries do can mitigate the spread of the disease and prevent high death tolls. They presuppose that Africans will be just passive victims of yet another viral outbreak. But many African countries have long experience in dealing with infectious diseases and by now have developed know-how that many Western countries might not have. And many African leaders are also not unaware of their fragile healthcare systems - unlike some of their Western counterparts.”
“The problem with the projections of the impact Coronavirus will have on the African continent is that they strip African countries of their agency and redirect focus on providing charity rather than supporting already existing and well-functioning epidemiological responses.”
That last sentence echoes so much of what we see - and not just in these times of pandemic. Our Savings Group members are strong and determined; their purpose is a better life for their family. We are often struck by their resilience and, whilst the above piece speaks of nations, we too prefer to support members’ enterprise rather than patronise with aid - although this pandemic reminds us all that there are times of crisis when determination and enterprise don’t put food on the table.
We hope the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement will change perceptions of the Global South permanently. We must speak out in support of all who are marginalised and discriminated against, and we must learn to confront our unconscious bias. We have felt challenged through this period to do that ourselves at Five Talents, and we hope Five Talents will help the new ‘normal’ become a better normal - for all.