A pandemic of solidarity: Share kindness not panic
Morung Express Feature
"This is, above all, a human crisis that calls for solidarity," UN Secretary-General António Guterres last week, stating that current global health crisis “spreading human suffering, infecting the global economy and upending people’s lives.”
Apart human lives, the world faces another big challenge - the loss of livelihood. By the end of 2020, International Labour Organisation recently estimated that world could lose as much as 3.4 trillion US dollars in income.
Amid the gloomy scenario, there are numerous heart-warming across the globe as citizens and governments join hands to combat the pandemic.
In Nagaland, two colleges produced sanitisers and donated the same to others, while another made it available to its fraternity.
Reports of public distributing hand sanitsers as well as keeping hand-washing spots in several locations are across the state are being shared on social and local media.
Fight at the epicentre
On 23 January 2020, China imposed a lockdown in Wuhan and other cities in Hubei province effectively quarantining close to 60 million people at the centre of the outbreak of COVID-19.
In an article in The Conversation, Belinda Kong, Professor of Asian Studies, Bowdoin College wrote that “conditions of obligatory isolation and social distancing, common people invented new kinds of sociality and new genres of epidemic expressions.”
Of many, one she highlighted was how residents of Wuhan encouraged each other while under strict quarantine on the early onset of lockdown.
On the night of Jan. 27, residents shouted “jiayou” – literally “add oil,” meaning “hang in there” or “don’t give up”– out their apartment windows, in a spontaneous burst of solidarity.
“It was a demonstration of collective strength and defiance, of people’s refusal to be quelled by the virus and the quarantine, and their desire to cheer each other on,” she maintained.
Numerous citizens from Asian countries echoed “Wuhan jiayou!” in encouragement.
Masks also become a powerful vehicle for enacting goodwill, generosity and fellowship. In one viral video from Anhui, an anonymous Good Samaritan was captured on surveillance camera dropping off 500 masks at a local police station.
‘As he hurried away, two officers ran outside to salute him.’
It inspired Hong Kong-based singer G.E.M. (Gloria Tang/Deng Ziqi) to compose “Angels” dictated to “ordinary people’s small acts of fortitude and kindness.”
This spirit of reciprocal support extends to the care of animals, Kong added. Lao Mao (“Old Cat”), who heads a team of volunteer animal rescuers roamed the city and sometimes break into deserted homes to feed abandoned cats and dogs. Outside Hubei, other animal lovers likewise help those stuck inside the province.
On Weibo, WeChat and Douyin, memes of quarantine boredom and stir-craziness proliferate.
“Collectively, these chronicles attest to the idea of pandemic resilience – the possibility that disease outbreaks can be lived through with empathy, ingenuity and sheer human ordinariness,” Kong noted.
Hailing health workers and front liners
Of numerous individuals battling the pandemic, perhaps the health workers are busiest of them lot and working under most risky situation.
Such efforts have not been gone unappreciated. In India, during a voluntary curfew on March 22, the citizens joined hands saluting the health workers for five minutes.
However, it was not uniquely Indian. Public across the globe have developed a new-found respect for the health workers and others on the frontline in the recent past.
Across Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Turkey, Israel and so on, residents are applauding and encouraging those on the frontline.
Societies that stand together are more resilient in times of crisis, a group of human rights heads stated recently.
Voluntary efforts
Similar stories of individual and voluntary initiatives are aplenty. According to a CNN report, the staff at a popular Houston restaurant got a $9,400 tip for a $90.1 bill from couple who wanted to help them get by during the COVID-19 shutdown and remain anonymous.
Where people are free to provide practical help, community groups are mobilizing to deliver supplies to elderly people and other vulnerable groups that have been advised to stay indoors to minimize the risk of infection, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported.
As panic-buying strips the shelves in many stores around the world, Australian retailer Woolworths has announced it will open its stores an hour early to allow elderly and vulnerable people to shop in seclusion. UK grocery chain Iceland has taken a similar decision.
Local cafes and hotels are deliver food to people unable to leave their homes in many places.
In Scotland, a corner shop in Stenhousemuir are giving free COVID-19 kits to their elderly neighbours while Chinese Red Cross sent a team of nine medical staff and 30 tonnes of equipment to Italy.
On March 18, Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue is lit up with the flags of countries currently afflicted by the COVID-19.
Celebrities to sportspersons are joining the fight. Among others, Rihanna donated $5mn to combat pandemic while Gary Neville opened up 176 rooms in his Hotel Football up for free to NHS staff and promising ‘no job cuts’. Ditto for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
Many sports players and clubs are donating their salaries or raising funds.
Indian sports personalities from Sachin Tendulkar to Hima Das are joining the effort. Tendulkar donated Rs Rs 50 lakh while Sindhu donated Rs 10 lakh; Hima Das gave here one month’s salary while Bajrang Punia donated six-month’s salary; Gautam Gambhir pleaded Rs 50 lakh while Pathan brothers -- Irfan and Yusuf -- donated 4,000 face masks and so on.
“Gestures of empathy and solidarity are multiplying at a local level – medical students volunteering to help hospitals, or neighbours helping the elderly get food,” WEF noted.
Big Businesses
From Alibaba to Zomato, big names in the world of business either sending medical help or donating cash.
Highlighting such initiatives, the WEF informed that online retail giant Amazon donated $5 million to local businesses based near its Seattle headquarters while co-creating with Microsoft a COVID-19 Response Fund, targeting hard-hit Washington State.
Facebook committed $20 million and mask to support relief efforts and Apple chipped in $15 million with masks. Pharmaceutical giant Roche has started shipping tests to the US and plans to get at least 400,000 out every week.
Earlier this week, Ali Baba founder Jack Ma donated over one million face masks and 500,00 test kits to the US. He also sent 20,000 testing kits to 54 African nations along with 100,000 face masks and 1000 medical hazmat suits with face shields.
In the UK, the government has turned to some of the country's biggest industrial names, including Rolls Royce and the electronics manufacturer Dyson to start producing life-saving ventilators.
French luxury powerhouse LVMH has now ventured into the hand-sanitizer sector and distilleries in the US and Europe were reportedly adding hand sanitizer to their usual product ranges of rum and whiskey.
The Gates Foundation has pledged a $100 million donation to virus research while Netflix established a $100 million relief fund. There are many other instances.
Indian Industries and companies too are pitching in. Food delivery giant Zomato is trying to make sure that India’s daily wage workers and their families don't go without food during the ongoing national lockdown. It has started an initiative called 'Feeding India' to collect funds to get food supplies for such workers in collaboration with with various Indian NGOs
Mukesh Ambani through Reliance Foundation has announced to set up India’s first dedicated COVID-19 center with 100 beds in Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai while Jio Haptik Technologies, the company’s digital unit, has built a chatbot for free for the government called MyGov Corona Helpdesk that’s available on WhatsApp.
Anand Mahindra pledged to find a way for the Mahindra Group’s manufacturing facilities to be used for producing them while the group’s hospitality arm Mahindra Holidays’ resorts as temporary care centers for COVID-19 patients.
Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources has announced the setting up of a $13 million fund.; Vijay Shekar Sharma, of Paytm, has pledged Rs. 50 million Byju’s is offering free access to the learning app.
As the UN Chief stressed, Global solidarity is not only a moral imperative, it is in everyone’s interests.
“More than ever before, we need solidarity, hope and the political will to see this crisis through together.”
