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Coronavirus in Ethiopia. Chronicle from within




By Juan González Núñez, from Ethiopia.



This morning, before I started writing this chronicle, I went for a walk in the "city" where I live, Gilgel Beles. It is March 24. Nothing has changed yet judging by the movement of people on the streets, except that I do not shake hands with the friends and acquaintances I meet. We bow our heads and laugh at the grotesqueness of the gesture, as if we were representing a pantomime. Then comes the name of the happy virus, of which everyone has heard, but which some call corolaviruses , others corimaviruses , others (I don't know if to make a difference) caramelavirus . The word corona , so familiar to a Latino, doesn't ring a bell.

If somewhere on the planet there could be hope that the coronavirus would not arrive, it would be this ramshackle city near the border with Sudan, poorly communicated and with temperatures of 40 degrees, something that the virus does not seem to like.

But no, we are not safe and the virus already affects us, whether it actually arrives or not. The movement of people to cities like Addis Ababa or Bahr Dar is continuous, and it is enough that someone has brought the virus from somewhere, its effect will be like a match that lights a fire of unpredictable proportions. It has been announced and everyone has heard it, take it seriously or not. Is there a clearer and more forceful example to explain what globalization is?

Judging by the official data provided by the Government, there are currently 11 infected in Ethiopia, all of them well located and under control, and we want to believe that this is the case. The authorities have already taken conventional measures for days to stop the spread of the epidemic: closing schools or suspending all mass events. On March 21 he proclaimed much more precise additional measures. Every passenger arriving in Ethiopia must undergo a 14-day quarantine at one of the three designated hotels, and pay for the stay. He makes a particular call to religious institutions - which, in fact, are the most crowded in the nation - to suspend all their mass celebrations and use other means. The Prime Minister himself wrote a letter to the main religious leaders and they have responded positively.

The Government expressly condemned the harassment of all types of foreigners in Ethiopia. Indeed, foreigners - particularly the Chinese - had begun to be treated as guilty of the situation, which translated into more or less veiled verbal attacks, until taxis refused to take them, or businesses they were opposed to selling what they were going to buy.

In the daily life of the capital, the incidence of the measures taken against the virus are much more visible than in the interior. The number of people on the street has been reduced, transport has been reorganized to give priority to people with important public responsibilities, there are plastic jugs with water at many points for people to wash their hands before entering stores , to work, to restaurants ...

Returning to our little world of Gilgel Beles, these measures are less noticeable, since the arrival of the virus sounds more unreal. It is up to those of us with more extensive information to make people aware of how serious and dangerous the situation is. The Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a fairly accurate circular, echoing the norms of the Government and urging Catholics, bishops, priests, and faithful to abide by them as literally as possible. He advises that Masses be celebrated outdoors, increasing their number so that there is less concentration of the faithful. It goes down to such particular details as emptying the holy water basin and giving communion in the hand and under one species, something that goes against the custom, here deeply rooted, of giving it in the mouth and under the species of bread and wine.

Looking at the living conditions of the vast majority of Ethiopians, all these measures, unquestionably necessary, give the impression that they are equivalent to closing a window to the virus, when there are three open doors through which you can enter at your leisure. How to confine six, seven or eight people living in a house with only one room? How to tell others to be at home, if they only go home to sleep or simply have no home? Or how to offer medical assistance to those affected when the entire health system does not provide enough to cover basic needs in good times? If the virus was not really as circumscribed and controlled as official data reflects, or if it escaped from Pandora's box to spread among the 110 million inhabitants of this nation, lives would fall before him like the tender hay before the scythe. of the reaper.

Should this chronicle end like a simple forecast of dire events? Doesn't the people's interpretation of these facts also belong to the chronicle? One of the most heard around here is that all this is a punishment from God for our sins. It is the legitimate and seeming interpretation of the Old Testament. But Jesus has opened up a much wider range of interpretations. In fact, in Jesus, God chose to share our sorrows rather than get rid of them. God is mystery and can only be understood from faith. And this is, by definition, "dark clarity." It is like a dim light that envelops each one who tries to believe and makes him see the meaning of that to which his reason finds no meaning.

http://mundonegro.es/coronavirus-en-eti ... ialnetwork

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[Mahlana]

Really really really really really interesting!!!!!!!!

This thing made me reconsider my current opinion about Ethiopians. I see wisdom, generosity, brotherhood, courage, humility in them. Actually, i was about to cry when I was reading it and when I realized that they were desperately trying to save their owns and their peoples lives with no any other help from any body!!! While in shock, they really displayed an incredibly strong spirit and courage to face the plague and at the same time to help those ones in need!! Unbelievable!!! Great people!!!!! Great people!!!! I also realized that many of the loyalties, the Dejazmaches and so on, were determined to die while helping their people!! They were desperately distributing water and food while at the same trying to protect their aides!!
what an altruism!!!! I have no words!!! I also see the Alga werash. I see his photo and i can read alotttt of things from his face!! courage!! humility!! shock!! again courage!!! helplessness!! confusion!! again courage!!! altruism!!! hope!!!
Man!!! this thing made me emotional!!! I love them!!!!

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