Chronicle Editor
Stephen Mpofu
THE sudden, dizzying coronavirus upsurge in this country threatens to turn ululations and whistling of women and men singing and dancing around heaps of small grains being thrashed for storage before the next rainy season sets in into sombre moments of tears.
Those whose umbilical cords are interred out there in the sticks; as Rhodesian racist colonisers of our country pejoratively described rural areas, know that after bumper harvests of, say, amabele/mapfunde/sorghum, inyawuthi/mhunga, uphoko/rukweza/rapoko, brew beer for sale to raise money for their children’s school fees as well as for the general upkeep of their families, or to just celebrate their labour with relatives and friends.
Tragically ironic, however, only some mourners from urban centres among the large gatherings reportedly wear face masks for protection against Covid-19, while the others are apparently unaware of World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols that include social distancing, avoiding large gatherings and washing hands, among other protective measures.
This frightening scenario against a virus known to be decimating lives across the globe cannot be a more urgent need for the powers that be to move in to reinforce safety measures to save countless village lives now imperilled by the deadly virus.
It is also known from reports reaching urban areas from the countryside that some areas are not properly catered for in terms of vaccinations and awareness campaigns, with some chiefs and their headmen not playing any significant roles in coronavirus awareness campaigns.
Which behoves on health authorities to urgently step in with requisite measures to protect lives now under threats of decimation by Covid-19.
Some of the traditional leaders out there are semi-literate or blind to spread requisite literature about anti-Covid-19 protective measures for people under their jurisdiction.
It also appears paramount therefore for the powers that be to saturate rural areas with literature in the form of booklets or leaflets written in indigenous languages to help raise awareness against the coronavirus.
Some might argue that Covid-19 messages broadcast on radio are enough to fill the gap in villagers’ knowledge about safety measures against Covid-19.
But the challenges here are that not many villagers possess radio sets, with those that have them unable to access the information in question due to poor reception caused in some cases by signal failures.
With all those challenges no doubt rendering effective communication through radio sets the Government is delivering to rural areas to enable students out there to access broadcast lessons following the closure of schools, is also difficult.
Back to urban centres, drastic measures appear necessary to stop once and for all the scandal under which some people have been caught selling dubious Covid-19 vaccination cards or documents to prospective travellers.
Apparently impelled by the love of dirty money the culprits, some of whom are reportedly health care workers, are in fact selling death to the buyers of those dubious documents and must be caught and made to wish they were never born in this world in the first place.
That, in this communicologist’s belief, might serve as a deterrent to others getting involved in the scam and in that way save lives now in great danger of destruction due to prevailing ignorance about the annihilative nature of the Covid-19 pandemic to both people and economies.
Online Reporter