GFRAS-YPARD Competition “Coping with COVID-19: Stories from the Field”
This story won the 1st Place in the General Category in Kenya
By Hudson Wereh Shiraku
“If we continue to behave normally, this disease will treat us abnormally. Behaving normal under these circumstances is akin to having a death wish” These were the heart-wrenching words of the Kenyan Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe to a highly apprehensive nation in the wake of Covid 19 outbreak.
We are facing an unprecedented health challenge due to the pandemic and with the virus having no specific treatment or vaccine, the only way out is to institute measures that would curb its spread. Meas ures that would change our normal way of doing things in the words of the minister.
As a country, measures instituted to curb spread of the virus include cessation of movement into and out of worst hit towns; dusk-to-dawn curfew; closure of our international boarders; and closure of open-air markets. Measures that will impact in every sector of our economy but the biggest casualty being the agricultural sector which is key to our economy – with the measures, a much lethal killer has cropped up – hunger.
