By Jerome Ogola
Poverty is worse than coronavirus. My heart bleeds for this lady being baptised on hot busaa – see photo below, she was probably brewing to fend for her children. The event reportedly happened in Kaplelach in Uasin Gishu
My two friends Tom and Jerry (not their real names) are also friends. They both partake sisal juice, at times together and at times separately. At times both are intoxicated and at times both are sober and at times one is sober
One particular day, Tom was drunk, but Jerry was very sober. Tom had imbibed an overdose of Jug Daniels. He struggled to wobble around, but finally gravity overwhelmed him throwing him to the ground
Jerry happened to pass by that road. On noticing his friend lying on the road, he opted to check on him and probably help him get on his feet
Even before he could do this, Tom (who was down and too intoxicated to do anything apart from releasing a little liquid urea on himself) advised Jerry, who was sober and standing on his feet to reduce his consumption of alcohol
“Punguza pombe” he mumbled, as he was being helped to stand up “hii kitu itakumaliza”
A drunkard is advising a sober man to stop or reduce his drinking, sounds a little crazy
This Tom and Jerry scenario is what is been happening to Africa in the COVID-19 epidemic. At least five European countries, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and UK, has recorded more than 100k cases each
The US alone has slightly more than 500k cases. Whereas people are dying in dozens of thousands each day in these countries, everyone is worried about Africa
There are only three countries in Africa with over a thousand cases, so far and they are South Africa, Egypt and Algeria. So far Algeria has recorded the highest number of deaths, at 270
It had been predicted that the scourge will annihilate Africa, but this is yet to happen and may not happen, considering that the virus has been with here for more than a month
The name Africa and death may look so sexy in the same sentence but, as far as of now, it appears Africans have refused to die
Like the drunk Tom, an affected Europe fears for unaffected Africa instead of fearing for herself. It could be too early to celebrate anything, but so far, every indication is that Africa has escaped this epidemic, almost unscathed
Of course this isn’t because of any deliberate preventive measures, but chances
Lastly, still on COVID-19, man has never panicked this much, before. What no one is telling you is that the very worst eventually that can befall man, in any circumstances, is death, which will still visit every human being alive, with or without coronavirus
People have been dying even before coronavirus and they will still die after it. The world loses upto 100k people daily and in Kenya alone, up-to 700 people die daily, without coronavirus only that you’ve never been scared because no one brings you hourly updates on TV and social media
Good morning my fellow Southerners!!