The ravaging Coronavirus is no doubt a Pandemic that has brought the world, our world to her knees! It should be no longer news that the virus is contagious and rapidly spread through contacts with infected persons etc. Unfortunately, it seems not so many of our people are well informed about the potency of the danger Coronavirus poses, or let's just say many are partly informed, partly ignorant at the least, while so many are at worst, scarily complacent about it! From the various viral video clips and somewhat comedy skits portraying misinterpretation of the pandemic or even the inability of many to pronounce it's name correctly, to the day to day interactions with fellow Nigerians, it is fair to conclude that majority of us are yet to come to terms with the risk, nay, danger we have with us... Recently, I saw this on a friend's Facebook wall, and I'm sharing it here ( with his permission) so that we can gear up efforts to disseminate the right information to the right audience in the right format, which can bring the right import home to both the ignorant and the complacent... We have a task at hand...
So, I decided to trash boredom a little today by taking a drive to town. I'd thought it will be fine to check my barber for a quick trim...
I arrived his salon, thinking it was going to be a breeze-in breeze-out thing, but to my surprise, the shop was packed full of people! I instinctively paused at the entrance, signalling him that I'll be waiting around outside (at least until the reasonable social distance can be attained in the cluster). He nodded.
As the time swept by, I began to lose my patience; why is this guy so slow at work today? Or why is the shop not decongesting fast?
So, I made a second approach, this time taking the details in as much as I could, as I scanned through the idling set of people in the shop... "Wetin dey happen nah?" I queried. "No vex sir, after this guy na ya turn" he responded.
OMG! You mean all those occupying the seats have no business with a hair cut! Not even to shave! And yet they find it 'safe' to Hangout at such odd cube!
Well, somehow, they seemed to notice my displeasure or so I thought, for one after the other they started filing out...
When the shop was sparsely populated to about 3 persons, I entered.
I didn't even bother sparing a second for banters before I started chiding him (you'll think I am his boss)! I asked if he was aware of the social distancing policy in force geared towards mitigating the spread of the coronavirus? His first reaction was rather egoistic. He asked if I had a problem with his friends and neighbors relaxing in his shop. I countered him by pointing out that they had no meaningful business here, yet they wouldn't allow those of us who are here to profit him even have a space to seat! At this point, he became a bit sympathetic and tendered an apology.
I went further to explain to him that I am not suggesting he banished his acquaintances from his shop just because a customer doesn't like their faces, but that he needed to establish understanding with them - I told him that all he needed to do was explain to them that nothing has changed about him and them, only the times!
The expediency of the times demand that everyone should be on their own except where really necessary. I went on to harp on the statistics being rolled out by the NCDC and further explaining the implications to him. That was when he flipped and gave me that all time rationalization "something must kill a man"!
Now, I was dumbfounded!
I retorted, " something must kill a man but not his carelessness"...
I decided to engage him positively, and that was when it dawned on me that the sensitization on this Pandemic has not been adequate!
Many people out there still have very poor impressions about COVID-19!
I only made to enlighten my barber, but it turned out that almost everyone present at the shop were stupefied by my explanations... They wanted to know more, it was a Q&A session...
I left after about an hour of talking, and as I drove home, I couldn't help but ruminate over some of the impressions the people at the barber's shop made on me! Many of them opined that it was merely a ploy by the government to loot, some doubted that the virus was real!
By and large, It just occurred to me that those of us who are well informed about this Coronavirus need to do more to sensitive our immediate community. The ignorance out there is just unprecedented! Ladies and Gentlemen Nairalanders, please let's take this charge as a clarion call to enlighten our communities and social circles. Thank you. |
