A WORLD IS COLLAPSING, THE WORLD IS WATCHING. Part II

Facing the World, looking for a new world

We are thinking, therefore we are. It is not the end of the world. A world is collapsing but the world will remain. We will survive because we are stronger than this monster. We will conquer it because, without nuclear weapons, our medical professionals are saving lives. Yes, we are fighting with simple hygienic gestures. We are saving lives by washing hands, we are stopping the monster with masks, and we are destroying it with sanitizers, we are protecting our communities by staying home. At the front line, our medical doctors, our nurses and millions of volunteers are inflicting the enemy an enormous defeat on every single battle. They are using every single weapon, including ventilators to redeem millions of lives. Scientists are spending sleepless nights in laboratories searching for the strongest weapon. Yes! We are overcoming Covid19.

Our warriors in white, others in blue clothes do not have missiles and heavy weapons. They use thermometers, sphygmomanometers, syringes and medicine. For their safety, they have no sandbags, but masks and gloves, no strategic headquarters, but halls and laboratories.  At times, they run out of everything but they cannot afford to give up when millions of people are on the verge of death and the mouth of the monster is big enough to swallow all of them. Our warriors have no choice but to fight barehandedly, sometimes with no means, left with their sole depleting physical energy, their boiling brains and the passion in their hearts to save lives. This comes at a cost, the cost of their sacrifice and the sacrifice of their families. I wish I had a stronger word to tell them how thankful we are. They are making the toughest choice of their lives. “My husband and my children can wait, I can redeem my absence, and I can apologize to my family. But mum, I cannot redeem my patient’s breath once it is gone. I cannot afford to apologize to the families that have lost their loved ones. Tell my children that I will be back soon, probably after a month and fourteen days. Mum, I cannot come home now because a mere kiss or hug may be fatal for you. I love you” and the nurse tearfully ended the phone conversation and rushed towards a moaning patient to put him on life support for the third time. Death was roaring again. She harried to the medical doctor in their resting room, transformed into an ICU for younger patients. The Doctor was on phone. The nurse only heard the last bit of the conversation; “I don’t know if I will survive this in this foreign land. I have never seen death too close and in fury. I am physically and mentally exhausted but I must keep pushing to save as many lives as I can. I may lose my own in the process. We have lost some colleagues. Be strong and pray for me ho…” Before he finished the “honey I love you” the nurse was already yelling and calling for help.

They rushed back to see to moaning patient on ventilator. He had eternally kept quiet. The nurse felt guilty losing this one like many others. They had become friends when the patient was still able to utter some words. These medical professionals are not supposed to cry. However, for this one, she could not hold her tears. Disappointed, she turned to the doctor and said, “I didn’t know we will lose this one too, he had a smile on his face. He reminded me of my husband.”  The doctor was busy removing the equipment because he knew that another patient was waiting on a bed in the lobby to be put on life support. After he was done, he said to the nurse, “He died with the smile because that was the only way to thank you for the sacrifice”. Indeed, in the mind of the dying patient there were two phrases: “If I survive I will thank this team for their sacrifice. If I don’t, I hope my people will do, instead of complaining about what went wrong.” After a moment of silence, the doctor told the nurse: “Thank God, we have saved many more lives than we have lost. Nevertheless, we must tell those who are back home to be careful”. The nurse picked her smart phone, stood by the window; video called her journalist friend and said, “I have lost another friend. We are overwhelmed here. Stay home to avoid the virus. Help us to help you. If you stay safe, we will save more lives and have enough place for those who are already affected.”

The old woman on a bed behind her smiled. The nurse came closer because she had become suspicious of her patients’ smile. However, this one had some good news. “Call my daughter-in-law for me and tell her that I am feeling better. I know how worried she is. I miss the smile on my grandson’s face and my son’s solicitous attitude.”

Other good news followed. The following day, the hospital registered no death for the first time in the last 30 days. The spirit of life was back in the hospital. The war was over. However, the nurse knew that despite this victory, things would no longer be the same. 

Things have changed; I must change.

Indeed, things have changed; life will no longer be the same. There is a huge gap between before and after Covid19. Now my boss has discovered that even in a critical situation, a smaller team can do what all of us were doing when things were normal. Now my company has understood that field missions are not the last option; we can coordinate operations and have meetings from various places. Now my university knows that I do not need to be in class to learn from the best lecturers in the world we can zoom in and learn. Now my organization has discovered that technologies can offer cheap and accessible alternative to translation and interpretation services. Now I know that nothing can replace my family. Now I know the magnitude of the damage caused by my absence in my family’s life when I was pursuing success. Now I have understood that there is no spare part for a parent’s affection. Now I know that there are friends I should not take for granted. Now my wife has discovered that I did not have digestion problems, I was just sabotaging her cuisine. Now my husband knows that I used to fake headaches, I had secured a husbandable option outside. Now I know that the problem was not the teachers but my own children. Now I know that I can lose everything and remain with myself to start over again.

What will I do? I will learn this new technology my boss has discovered before I am replaced by it. I will give that human touch to my performance to make our clients understand that there is something special they may lose if they decide to simply replace our services with new technologies. I will make good use of classroom time and complement it with distance learning opportunities now that I know it works. I will develop more remote-working skills so that I can be an option when my organization makes it a working style. I will match my language skills with a human smile and alternative thinking so that our clients understand that I am not only a translator or an interpreter who can be replaced by a multilingual technology. I will learn things that give meaning to my life and do business that can have an impact now that I know how simple gestures like staying home can save lives. I will love my family and give them time to enjoy my presence now that I know that they are the only ones who will chose me when nobody else will think about me. I will value my friends now that I know what their presence means in my life. I will invest in education and treat teachers with dignity now that I have learned that without people even nuclear weapons will not save our lives. I will embrace my fears, accept my spouse’s weaknesses and learn to love the people put on my way by destiny.

I am learning from this situation, I am changing and growing. I will strive to make a difference and have an impact in people’s lives because that is what matters in everything I do. Let us learn from this experience, grow and change in order to turn this dark part of history into a click moment for a better world.

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Embark on the growing and changing journey with Jacques MUHINDO VYALIRENDI                                                                

He is Professional Trainer, Conference Interpreter and Researcher.

He speaks French, English, Swahili and Lingala respectively. He is learning Portuguese.

His hobbies include Reading, Acting and charity actions.

He values your feedback. Do you have a personalized feedback? Talk to him on WhatsApp: +254720074063