Saturday-Sunday
21st and 22nd March 2020
Well, Most of you would be forgiven for thinking the world has gone totally mad in the last few months. If you had of told me that my first blog for 2020 would be about a killer flu virus that seems to be taking over the world a little more each day I would of said something like "Not even my creative mind could come up with such a tale of craziness", but here we are.
I, like most people first heard about the Corona Virus or Covid-19 as its known now first in December last year. I must admit, at first I didn't think to much about it as I had other things happening in my life at that point. Life was as good as it could be, my career was going well and I was for the first time in years in a relationship that was mutually respectful and I was lost in feelings that I hadn't felt in years. The last thing I had on my mind was a killer virus.
As December and 2019 drew to a close, the country was facing a far more pressing threat in the way of Bushfires. Due to the lack of rain in many of our rural areas across the country and the miss management of the federal government in respect to managing fuel reduction in the area's that needed it the most, not to mention, ignoring plea's from fire chiefs to invest more money into the respective fire services and purchasing more aerial firefighting water bombers to help combat the threat of bushfire. Fires broke out in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania and as the fires began burning down and destroying lives and Australian livelihoods, the Prime Minster of this country decided to fly off with his family to Hawaii for a holiday leaving the country with a rather large smoke cloud hanging overhead.
After cries of "Scomo, where the bloody hell are you?" he, the Prime Minster finally decided to pack his suitcase and head home to face the music. Let me just tell you, the orchestra had been fine tuning their instruments and ready to unleash a crescendo the likes before have never been heard. Scomo copped it from fellow politicians, everyday Australians and of course the people on the front line that where putting their own lives at risk each time they went out to face the threat day after day. The heat boiled out into the streets and unfortunately, Mr. Morrison wasn't doing himself any favors by forcing victims of the bushfires to shake his hand for a cheap photo opportunity for the morning papers.
I've always said that I'm non-political, to be honest, the subject boars me to tears. There are some politicians that I watch and think really, how is this meant to help the average Australian in their day to day life? I believe that Donald Trump is a misogynist who needs to be relieved from his duties as soon as possible because for the last 3-4 years, he has turned his country into a laughing stock and only served his own purposes by stroking his own massive ego. As far as Scomo goes, his kind of conservative politics with a touch of radical Christianity thrown in is never going to be a good fit for anyone that he doesn't agree with, people like myself. Dan Andrews at least seems to have his finger on the pulse of all Victorians especially the LGBTQI community in our state but that's as political as I get. At the end of the day, I keep my head down and try not to ruffle any feathers and concentrate on what I do best, teaching and nurturing children and educators.
So eventually the bushfires stopped attacking our country and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was time to step back and consider the cost of what just happened. The fires burned for 5 months and caused the death of 33 people with almost 3000 houses destroyed. The fires also decimated 7.7 million hectares of Australia that once housed over 1 billion animals that lost their lives. It is estimated that in monetary terms, it has cost in excess of 100 Billion dollars but in real human terms, sadly we will never know. Each one of those 33 people who lost their lives left someone behind. Each one of those 3000 houses destroyed left a family homeless and having to start their lives from scratch.
It was a time that we witnessed amazing community involvement with everyone pitching in to try and help the victims that lost everything. Donations of food, clothing and money rolled in on a daily basis. Bushfire relief concerts were held across the country to aid in the effort which led to everyday Australians giving whatever they could. Farmers where sending their own stock feed to other farmers that were suffering and with nothing to feed their animals. Everyday, we woke up to a smoke haze that reminded us that our fellow Australians were going through hell at the moment and anything that we could do to help take that pain away would be appreciated. I can't begin to describe the pride I felt in our own local community when I would see pages on Facebook looking for donations of toys, clothing and food to take up to the hotspots of some of the worst affected. Our own Sikh community decided to pack up their food van and head to the worst affect places and cook and donate free food to the volunteers and victims of the fires. This is what our country has been about for many years. When Australians are down and hurting, we pass the hat around to help them out.
Sadly, in recent days, with the Corona Virus, this has not always been the case. Unfortunately we have seen not only Australians do a total backflip, but also the rest of the world. Everyone seems to be thinking about their own needs and wants and leaving nothing for the country's most vulnerable who can't afford to panic buy even the necessities let alone the luxuries.
Lets go back to the beginning of this whole pandemic thing and start from the start. The Corona virus as I said earlier had first come to my attention back in December, didn't think for a minute that it would be something like it is today. Once the threat of the bushfires had dissipated and it was found that the virus was beginning to spread from country to country, that's when I sat up and took notice. Up until that point if anyone was sick around me I would joke about and say things like "You better not have Corona virus". I'd even tell them I would spray them with disinfectant on them if they sneezed near me. I don't joke about it anymore, I actually find myself taking a step back from people now whether it be subconsciously or not, I just do it. I panic when I cough too much or discover that my throat seems a little sore, but then it gets better overnight and I put it down to coughing to much the day before.
As it stands as I write this, the total worldwide stands at 307,037 cases confirmed with 13,034 deaths. In Australia there has been 1072 cases confirmed with 7 people dying as a result. On the grand scale of things, our country is seemingly riding the storm out quite well compared to some of the European countries who have had to go into lock down. Having said that, we aren't predicted to hit our peak until around June so I guess I should reserve my judgement a little while longer.
Once again, I feel that the Australian governments position is not strong enough at them moment. I understand that the country can't just stop for two weeks because it's not a viable solution to keep the company going but keeping schools and childcare centers open is a bit problematic when where banning public gatherings of over 500 and indoor events to some other mathematical equation depending on the size of the room. Social distancing is not something that can be achieved effectively in a childcare center because we are constantly nurturing and supporting these children with social and emotional communication. If a child falls over and hurts themselves, they instinctively go to an educator for support of the educator will go to them. The child doesn't understand social distancing and it creates more confusion and anxiety for the child if they can't be comforted with a simple hug. I understand that keeping children is in centers is to protect the elderly from coming into contact with children who make have colds but if this is the case, they should be in self-quarantine with their parents, not out and about visiting grandma at the retirement village or nursing home. The other situation is that I understand that some Grandparents to have custody or have their Grandchildren in their care due to different circumstances but if the children are sick, they all should be in self-quarantine.
Educators have families of their own and as much as they don't want to walk away from their services, they also don't want to contract anything from the children and pass it on to their own families and putting them at risk. I guess I'm lucky in this respect because I live alone and don't need to worry about passing anything on to anyone else. If I'm not feeling 100%, I stay home and not go anywhere till I'm feeling all good again. Usually my problem is exhaustion because I always give everything I have to my work both during the day and at night. It's just what I do because I love what I do.
So, here we are at the end of another Blog, a little different than my usual content I know but with this thing happening all around us I thought it was a blog that needed to be written to show the contrast between the community spirit during one major event and this event happening now. We all need to calm down and stop panic buying from shops because it is hurting the most disadvantaged people in our community, the elderly, the unemployed, the single parents out there fighting to put something on the tables for their kids to eat each night and more than likely going without themselves. We have warehouses of food and supplies ready for the shops so we need to slow down and stop buying it all before it hits the shelves and leaving nothing for others. Things like Toilet Paper, Hand sanitizer, tissues, feminine sanitary products, rice, pasta, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, meat and milk. Its all waiting to go onto our shelves if shoppers allowed the stores to put it out for everyone. We shouldn't have to fight and brawl in shopping centers over toilet paper.
One think I want to add before I close this one off. A big part of my work and any educators work for that matter, should be critical reflection. It's something I do quite a bit in my day to day life and conversations I have with fellow educators. In the beginning of this, I was talking about how I didn't take it seriously because it was overseas and not effecting the rest of the world at that point. Besides, the bushfires were more of a pressing issue at the time. I was making light of the situation and saying when someone sneezed around that you better not have corona virus. The person I said this most to was an Educator of Asian decent. She wasn't from China but it's irrelevant. The point is I said something that was meant to be funny without realizing that comments like this could be considered hurtful if not racist. Of course that was never my intension as I've built a career on being inclusive of all nationalities, religions and cultural differences but my comments were wrong.
I find myself getting mad a phrases like "The China Virus" uttered by dimwitted politicians who have no grasp of reality. It saddens me when I hear how some Asian restaurants are having to close down because patrons are frightened to go out to them for fear that they might get Corona Virus. Asians are being verbally attacked and spat on in public while being blamed for this outbreak when their no more to blame than the rest of the world.
The phrase Covid-19, sounds like the name of some rogue undercover agent with a license to kill. Up until now, it has had that opportunity but they only way we are going to stop this thing is by working together to defeat it. That means placing yourself in self-isolation if your not well, wash your hands regularly and be kind to each other.
Sharon
