While I was waiting for an early morning takeaway coffee this week at our local cafe, a nurse from the local hospital wandered in for her pre-shift caffeine hit. We got to talking and I thanked her for serving so generously in what is likely to become a very hectic season.
She’s on the front lines. And indirectly, her family are too.
As a part-time maths teacher, i’ve chatted with colleagues at school and followed the commentary in the news these last few days around whether schools should stay open, and whether it’s fair to ask teachers to show up each day to gatherings of more than 500 people. Surely we’re more likely to contract the virus given how hard it is to isolate from students who don’t know better?
Let’s save that debate for another time and space.
My point being that while we’re not on the front lines like the nurse I chatted to, we’re far from working from home too. Our families are also more exposed.
But I can’t help thinking about my other part-time role at Forever Projects, and as this pandemic begins to spread in Tanzania, i’m thinking about who’s on the front lines there too.
There’s my friend Hassan, who’s the community development officer for our local NGO partner, Forever Angels Baby Home, in Mwanza in Western Tanzania. People call him superman, and rightfully so. He’s a beautiful human, highly capable, full of kindness, generosity, and wisdom.
Each week, local staff like Hassan engage with hundreds of people – some of the most exposed and vulnerable on our planet. Our team on the ground provide nutrition to at-risk babies, provide crisis support to immediately improve the whole family’s quality of life, and then journey with them for 12-months as they are empowered to set up small businesses and step into independence.
Hassan and all of our local partners are on the front lines of this pandemic.
They can’t work from home.
Yet they bravely step up.
They may not work for a hospital.
But they may as well. Because Tanzanian hospitals aren’t equipped to deal with malnourishment, so they refer these vulnerable children to our local partners anyway.
They’re on the front lines as the pandemic approaches.
And their bravery and generosity inspires me to shine a light on their work, communicate the obstacles they face to our community back home, and inspire people to join us as we remove them.
Together, we can back brave legends like Hassan on the front lines.
Potentially Kinetic 