All I was waiting for when Uhuru was speaking yesterday was two words: Food and Rent. Everything else is almost useless to me. I don’t have a fixed income and the lockdown is already affecting me. I am not sure how things will work if this goes on for longer.
Africa was set to be on a growth trajectory that was faster than the rest of the world. People had slowly started investing after the last economic crush and there was hope.
Right now, it is back to square one. Loans have been taken. Assets have been liquified. Business capital has been spent. Everyone has been affected and things may get worse even after a cure or vaccine.
We should have the difficult conversation about survival over fear of the virus. I’m afraid our animal survival instinct will kick in and violence may erupt. Let’s hope it doesn’t.
Lucy Muthoni
Getting laid off is crazy enough on its own , but in addition to everything going on around the world , its crazy like its totally insane. I think we are all sort of in our pajamas glued to our computers trying to figure out what to do. Some of us who ventured into making money online seem to be benefiting . However no one knows how longer we have to wait for everything to go back to normal, we are all hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. Pretty Sad.
Martyn Seruni
Thank you. In the end, things will work out. If they don’t work out, it is not yet the end.
Joyce Wanjeri
Even with online jobs, the internet in most of our places is either too expensive or slow. If it works for you, can you feed your whole family and pay rent with it? I don’t think so. Either way, we are screwed. This just needs to end soon.
Moranga Innocent
The most important thing right now is to accept and not be in denial about what’s happening around the world and in your life, then, adapt really fast and ask the tuff questions.
For example, how do you make sure that when such a thing ever happens again, you can afford it? The answer is not employment, the answer is innovation and enterprise development.
Pain is temporary, challenges are temporary and obstacles are temporary. What matters is being strong and prepared enough to overcome. This too shall come to an end, where will you be when it does?
Whatever is happening around the world currently as much as it is a challenge it’s an opportunity for you to reflect and position yourself strategically.
Where will you be when this crisis is over? Will you be unemployed, will you be out of business or will you be ahead of the curve and thrive at the end of the storm
Don’t ask what should be done for the people, the people should do something for themselves. It’s our responsibility to uplift our lives no matter the circumstances and what it tames. At the end of the day, you sleep alone
Martyn Seruni
This may be the right thing but it is also hard. Not everyone is on the same level, mindset, access to information, etc. Some people in the slums are not even aware of the severity of the whole situation. Others have been overloaded with too much info to the point that they don’t even know what to believe in and you can’t blame them.
Phanice Wamukota
I wish I could say “lets just focus on surviving this”. Except to survive, we will need food, shelter and maybe clothes. Most of us depend on our daily incomes to foot these bills. They say necessity is the mother of invetion, right? We have no choice but to start getting creative. Just don’t kill someone while at it, right?
Martyn Seruni
This quarantine has taught me that there are many things I do not need in this life, but food is not one of them. With food all things are possible.