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Suddenly the house became truly a ‘domestic church’ with daily online Eucharist, the Paschal Triduum being celebrated in the house. Creatively to keep the solemnity of each feast and yet be faithful to social distancing…to protect self and others. It was a new way of praying the liturgy, of being ‘Church’, of being connected as never before by technology…for prayer, for studies, for news updates. And on the national level, the fear is if covid-19 begins to infect people living in Nairobi’s slums. Kibera is the biggest slum for the whole of Africa and it is not the only one in Nairobi. There is no possibility of social distancing for people living in the slums. And it is in these slums that most of the people living with HIV-AIDS stay. With their immune systems already compromised, it would be an immense catastrophe to have them exposed to and infected by the virus. With our health system in poor shape it is no wonder the government is doing all it can to impose a lockdown. It is already preventing movement outside counties with infected cases to contain the spread of the virus.
Corona virus, Covid19, is a refrain repeated by all people, rich and poor, developed countries and third world countries, literate and illiterate, young and old abled and disabled. The virus affects all. Despite the crisis, there are positive things that have come up. Unity among people of all works of life, great awareness of the use of sanitary health care especially washing of hands several times in a day, wars have stopped, turning to God, the All Powerful to save our world, less unnecessary movements, different companies and NGO’s in greater solidarity with the government in providing assistance, for example buckets sanitizers, masks and personnel to give education on the prevention of the disease.The government of Tanzania in fighting the disease, first declared the closure of all primary, secondary, colleges and universities until further notice, insisted on sanitary care at all public places, bus stations, hotels, markets, shops, banks, Churches and families. People are allowed to meet for worship in churches and mosques but with precautions of keeping distance and shorter time of worship. So far no gatherings are allowed, for example weddings, small Christian communities, catechesis and parties. Funerals are attended by few people. Due to their low immunity children, the sick and aged are not allowed to go to worship gatherings. The events of the year 2020 have been affected by the crisis. No teaching or studies as all the schools are closed, no visiting of the sick, no meetings as gathering have been banned, more time is dedicated to prayer especially adoration in our communities, learning is being done through use of internet, areas with no internet cannot access learning materials.The life of our communities has been affected by the increasing rate of Covid19 victims which creates fear and anxiety but with great hope of the power of God and our Risen Lord. All the apostolate have slowed down, increased moments of prayer and community life remains a place of sharing our feelings on the crisis and how to carry our world.There are concerns that remain with us: The Social Life. Fear of being detected of the virus and kept for quarantine for 14 days at one’s expense, fear of being in contact with those healed of the virus which portrays a kind of discrimination. Economic Dimension: Agricultural products cannot be harvested and sold, in tourism; hotels, game parks, beaches, airport and some industries are closed. Education: The National examination of; Form VI which are due on 2nd May 2020, Form II and IV which are due in November 2020 and the syllabus of other studies may not be covered by the end of the year. Environment: Misuse and overuse of chemical used in fighting the corona virus may affect our environment. GOD SAVE US!!