THE SILENT WORLD WAR!

I grew up in Uganda during the tumultuous 1980s where you didn’t have to be at fault to be hit by a stray bullet coming from any fracas started by anyone at any time. One time whilst in my primary 3 class, we heard gun shots outside a bit far off from the school. A few seconds afterward, Stephen my neighbor to the right, on the same desk, was hit by something swift; he fell. its only when we saw blood that we knew something had gone terribly wrong! He survived by a whisker as the bullet only glanced his skull and took off a chuck of flesh on his head. So, I totally understand the meaning of the phrase "stray bullet".

In those times basic military safety protocol was tutored into us; if you hear gun shots take cover, do not peer through windows at night, avoid scenarios of chaos wherever you see them, etc. All this became second nature to us to date.

I recall one day (I was 10 years old at the time) as I walked back from school, a pickup truck loaded with Special Forces troops just pulled up swiftly beside me at the road, the soldiers jumped off and made a quick formation and then started offloading their AK47 rifles into the horizon, apparently "in pursuit" of an errant colleague. Nothing like the sound of ten AK47s going off in automatic fire at a go! that was some explosion. I cannot tell you how I ended up in a very safe place behind a big tree, but I can attest to the fact that I dived, hit the deck and rolled. When I came to, I was safely tucked away behind this huge tree 15 meters away.

In those days you could not behave like life was normal. No one convinced you of curfew, told you to to be indoors early and lock up your house or reminded you to follow safety protocols. As a child I saw so many corpses on the streets almost on a daily basis I became immune to them. However, you ignored those SOPs to your own peril. In fact, you were considered a mad man if you started running towards the direction of Gun shots instead of further away from them.

The world is at war right now. There is a World War raging right now. This world war is more subtle but possibly more dangerous than the other two before it. People have died by the thousands daily and continue to die across the globe. What I notice about this war is that it puts you so much at ease even when danger is looming right around your own corner; and that is how many have taken the hit! Many have died and many more will die until the world adjusts to basic protocols for safety. I notice my dear country Uganda is in serious trouble too from this war too.

From piecing up numerous versions of its origins, Covid19 is a weaponised virus. Only evil minds come up with such stuff and evil intent must be presumed on how Covid19 was "accidentally " released into humanity; no one though ever comes up to a firm conclusion on how this "accident" happened. There are some constants in the Covid19 story though; a bunch of American scientists, a city called Wuhan in far East China, and an "accident" at a Chinese lab in Wuhan.

There has been lots of conspiracy theories around Covid19 that it would be unwise to think that all is well; the smoke is simply too much for one to ignore. So, following my simple logic, if we presume that this is a weapon that was "accidentally" deployed, why do we keep behaving like all around us concerning this disease is normal? Why do we not exercise precaution? It is high time we behaved like this is the war that it is. No one in war time goes about hanging out whilst bombs fly over head and keep indiscriminately landing on civilian targets. 

Some key things though to take note of even in war time: The Economy must continue to grow else other gory stuff kicks in; health services must continue as these are the very lifeline of society during the war, and life must go on but definitely cannot remain the same as it was in the beginning. My concern is that people in Uganda keep behaving as though Covid19 is a common cold. A lot has been said about the SOPs but it is alarming how these are breached even by those that are educated enough to read and follow the international news reports; those that can see the carnage of Covid19 almost first hand. Until we begin to treat the Covid19 situation as the war that it is, a lot of our loved ones as a people shall leave us before their time.

I have interacted with lots of people who somehow think it is an act of valiance to defy Covid19 by not following the SOPs; those who think it is an act of weakness. Fine, it is your right to die before your time but do not take others with you who are innocent. If you must defy SOPs, do it in your own private space, but for the sake of those others around you align to the recommended guidelines. Strangely, this disease can be transmitted by asymptomatic persons who then carry it to unsuspecting innocent people that get badly hit. A number of people have been affected this way. Also, as a society we must accept that certain rituals around the dead belong to the past where in respect to what this sneaky enemy Covid19 can do, we must ensure to bury our dead without much fanfare. I have heard a few stories of infections that have happened around funeral vigils leading to further deaths that were not warranted.

I have also heard some folks from a religious perspective who think exercising precautions against Covid19 is a lack of faith in God and His salvation. As a pastor I notice so much troubling presumption among parishioners around this disease even when we sound warnings tirelessly at the pulpit about it. Until similar precautions were followed in the days of pandemics in the past, many men and women of faith were lost to these merciless diseases. Others think exercising precautions is expensive; to those I will say try catching the disease and we compare notes and see which weighs you down more.

We can make this disease get down on its knees and finally knock it out, but it is going to take everyone believing that we are at war, and our enemy is merciless and indiscriminate on whom they knock out. Our enemy Covid19 has nothing to lose, and the sooner we figure this out, the better for us all.

We are at war!!! Wake up and exercise due precautions.