Without prompt, or any requests, our partner NGO, Eco Himal Nepal sent us seven essays written by their staff and asked us to publish them for the world to read. We present them here, in raw unedited form. They are beautifully written, informative and moving. The Coronavirus pandemic is a truly global challenge.
My experience regarding the Current Situation
by Pratik Timalsina
Firstly, I would like to thank a lot to our management team and our respected sir Mr. Narayan Dhakal for taking a prompt action regarding the COVID-19 precaution and supporting work from home method. These days have been worrying me quite a bit because of the current chaos all over the world regarding the newly found corona virus. I am Pratik Timalsina and I am assigned as a civil engineer in our organization. My permanent home is in Birganj, Parsa and I live temporarily in Chardobato, Bhaktapur. As the news of the lockdown was formally announced by the government, our organization took an immediate decision to enforce the work from home mechanism regarding the safety of its staff. After the decision from the government I decided to go to my permanent home Birganj. I travelled Birganj on Sunday on my bike as I could not get the tickets and also thought that it would be safer in bike rather than going in a crowded vehicle where social distance couldn’t be maintained. It was a 6-hour ride from Kathmandu and I arrived home safely on the same day.
Present Scenario of My Place
I live in a community where there are people of mixed religion like Hindu, Muslim and Christian. In my community majority of the people are Muslims and then comes Hindu and there are also few Christians. On the first day of the lock down, as I gazed outside of my balcony, I could see people were not taking the pandemic seriously. People were roaming outside as in normal days without any masks and without social distancing. I could see people gathering in tea shops. The lack of awareness among the people left me quite dazzled and worried while the major part of the world was threatened by the pandemic COVID-19. Maybe due to the illiteracy and lack of awareness among the people resulted in the ignorance of the people. On the second day of the lockdown, the people seen in the road were less. Maybe it was due to the announcement that was done a day before by the local government regarding the precaution to be taken to be away from corona virus, symptoms shown during its impact and its effect.
The local government did a commendable job as they distributed one mask, one sanitizer and one soap per household. I asked the distributing team that we have three members in the family, why are you providing just one set. They kindly said that only one member of the family was allowed to go outside for buying of necessary stuffs. I was impressed that the local government was acting quite responsibly now. However, during evening some people were seen outside of their house maybe to purchase their required goods. Good thing is that people were wearing masks and were out in less numbers. Till today, most of the people are following the lockdown but some people can be seen outside may be to purchase the required goods. Another commendable job is been done today by the local government. I heard that they are distributing the required goods like rice, lentil and vegetable to the poor family. The situation is improving here. The seriousness regarding the lockdown is increasing among people. But being in border area it is always risky that infected people from India may migrate here due to lack of proper security in border area.
How I feel
I have been feeling traumatic seeing the world fall apart to the COVID-19. It indicates how uncertain life is and how we are just a normal creation of the earth that is impotent to a small virus. On a positive side I have read much news which says that mother earth is healing and the ozone layer of earth is getting cured. I feel really sad hearing the number of victims increasing of suffering from corona virus. European countries that have the best medical facilities have been unable to find the way to mitigate the spread of corona virus. So, seeing the present condition of our countries medical treatment facilities it is really dreadful imagining the case like Italy, China, USA and other European countries that are being epicenter for the corona virus. So, it would be much better if we are able to stop its spread in initial stage. I want to give my condolence to all the people who died of the virus.
I want to thank all the medical personals who are risking their life in order to save the mankind from this inevitable pandemic. I just wish that they are safe and they keep the world safe. Indeed, they are the present god in life form. I feel like when this all will be over and we will be free to breathe and walk again. This isolation is hard but together we can. Since the cure is not found yet the only way to stop it is to break the link of it from spreading. And the best way to stop its spread is by staying at home. I feel exhausted being in a lockdown as well as feel determined that this all will be over soon and we will be back in our normal life.
28th March 2020
Pratik Timalsina
Technical Officer
EcoHimal Nepal
Bhaktapur