Staying connected – COVID-19 Lessons we can learn

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Balgovind Rd Satsang Ramayan Mandali Nadawa members sort out food items which will be packed and distributed to people struggling during this lockdown. Picture: SUPPLIED

The side effects of the coronavirus pandemic will leave many memories, stories and hardship that will be talked about in years to come.

Fiji has experienced a pandemic that had a devastating impact on our economy, on families and individuals, and primarily on the education, agriculture and health system.

Bulk of our population experienced a pandemic like this for the first time, and it is imperative that we take out valuable lessons from the pandemic that has derailed most countries in the world.

The first wave tore economies apart, but the second wave was a disaster as experienced by countries such as Fiji, Brazil and India.

However, all is not bad, as the pandemic has left behind valuable lessons for leaders and individuals. What we’ve learned during this pandemic could pay off for years to come.

For the past year, Fiji has been mired in a deep crisis of an economic meltdown, and dealing with this pandemic has dominated much of our energy, attention and, for many Fijians, even our emotions.

As a nation, we are moving past the worst moments which make it a good time to take a deep breath and then assess the changes that have occurred.

While no one would be displeased, if we could magically erase this whole pandemic experience, it has been the crucible of our lives for a year, and we have much to learn from it and even much to gain.

One biggest lesson that the pandemic offered was humanity, sharing and caring, offering help to the needy and reaching out to the most desperate.

Individuals, groups, religious and faith-based groups, NGOs and business houses became engaged in distributing food packs, sanitary pads, medicines and other essential items.

FRIEND Fiji, WE Fiji, Allen Lockington, Navnit Ram and his group, Mohinesh Singh and his group, Roshil Kumar and his group from Lautoka Scouts and many other organisations reached families that needed help.

My team from Nadawa (dad Ram Lingam, brother Rohit Lingam, James Swamy and Kartik Raj) did the same, and we developed a relationship with our donors, many of whom we had never met before.

Now we have become friends even on social media and through our communication, we were able to reach others who needed assistance.

We visited HARTS in Valelevu, Narere, Korovou and Nasole and residential areas such as Muanikoso, Newtown, Mamas Place in Caubati, Vatuwaqa, Nadawa, Nadera, Cunningham, River Rd in Narere and Khalsa Rd. The support from our donors was tremendous.

We have completed phase five and so far have assisted 233 families with $50 packs amounting to $11,650.

Our donors for phase five included Dr Govinda Lingam and Shalen Raghuwaiya (USP Lecturers), Makereta Tuinabuna (staff of Nabua Secondary School), Balwant Singh (retired head teacher), Dr Ashneel Singh, Ronesh and Bhavishna (Australia), Rafael and Shazmina Kamal (Nepani), Mr Dickson, Mr Jainesh (Credit Corp), Cheap Games, Shaleeni Pratap (USA) and Heena Chagganlal (Suva).

As far as phase six is concerned, our target is 40 packs to be distributed to Narere and Nakasi HARTs. We have received cash from the following donors: Rajeshwar Prasad (MGM High School vice-principal) and his beautiful family, Avishay Raj (Namadi Heights), Deepak and Namrata Chand (Savusavu), Abikash Anul Prasad (Dilkusha High School), Karam Chand and his family (Auckland), Retasha Nunnink (NZ), Rajnesh Sami (Ezy Car Rentals), Mahika and Akshainie (students of Rishikul Primary School) Savinesh Mudiliar (Harcourts), Navneet Raj (Australia).

This COVID-19 pandemic has taught my team that through connectivity things are possible. Hence, it is important to stay connected with friends, family members and loved ones, as their support is important when distribution of food packs become a necessity.

I approached my friends, family members and former students whom I taught at Savusavu Secondary School and their support was overwhelming and touching.

The areas that we visited had different scenes, and the recipients had stories to share. We learnt things and we were happy that our little help was able to provide something for a family for at least two weeks.

Moreover, this pandemic has taught individuals that their family matters more than they realised. The pandemic allowed people to spend quality family time – something which was missing. Parents had quality time with their children, and this was an opportune time for them to renew family ties and relationships.

Apart from supervising children with their school work, they were presented an opportunity to share moral values stories and lessons, teach their children non-formal skills such as gardening, weaving and cooking and work with their children on basic hygiene skills.

Another lesson learnt is that people must prepare themselves for the rainy days, and they must have a stash ready for the next crisis. The pandemic caught many napping, and FNPF was used to provide for family needs and wants.

Alarm bells were already ringing, but many workers were caught off guard without emergency savings. The pandemic has laid bare so many weaknesses in our safety net (FNPF).

One solution could be a workplace innovation that’s just beginning to catch on an employee-sponsored rainy-day savings account funded with payroll deductions.

By creating a dedicated pot of savings, the thinking goes that workers are less likely to tap retirement accounts in an emergency. This could be much better from a behavioural standpoint to separate short-term savings from workers long-term savings.

Furthermore, the adage “age is just a number” has a new meaning, as our health is directly related to lifestyle – nutrition, physical activities, a healthy weight and restorative sleep.

This pandemic gave Fijians time to work on their backyard garden and indulge in farming. The agriculture sector boomed. Even civil servants, who had space around their homes, turned those spaces into gardens. Containers, plastic bottles, basins, buckets and tyres were converted into gardens and sown with seedlings.

They say that the harvest from your own effort will always be sweet and fresh. My wife, who is a midwife at CWM Hospital, has developed a lot of interest towards planting flowers, and now she shares seedlings with my neighbours.

Fijians also spent their valuable time doing physical exercise – morning and afternoon walk and jogging.

In addition, the saying, “necessity is the mother of reinvention” was in the limelight. Forced to work remotely since the onset of the pandemic, workers and their managers learned they could be just as productive as they were at the office, thanks to video conferencing, high-speed internet and other technologies, as they were motivated to learn new technologies that, in many cases, have been the only safe way to continue to live our lives and stay connected to loved ones during the pandemic.

Zoom meetings and conferences were also organised.

The Education Ministry used online lessons to reach out to students. Teachers also emailed worksheets to their parents for their students to complete, as schools were closed.

Another valuable lesson was that our trust in one another had frayed, but it was slowly restored during the pandemic. As the pandemic tightened its grip, Fijians learnt to trust each other with things such as bartering needs and groceries.

Sharing and caring and taking care of each other became paramount. At the same time, Fijians must appreciate every little support that is given to them.

Having faith in Lord has also been learnt, apart following instructions given by relevant authorities on social gathering and social distancing and maintaining basic hygienic needs,something we learnt way back in primary school.

Another important lesson learnt is to share information which is reliable and valid, and I’m glad that I was part of the The Fiji Times that delivered accurate information, news and stories.

The pandemic has had a negative impact, but it has also taught us to value life and the things that matter to us – our family and loved ones, our resources and those who care for us.

This pandemic will be remembered in years to come, but I’m adamant that lessons learnt at the height of this COVID-19 crisis will be utilised to better our lives.

  • RAJNESH LINGAM is a usual contributor to this newspaper. The views are his and not of this newspaper.
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