Coronavirus Stories - Reaching Out From Isolation

Edited BY G P Kennedy Gul - istanbul, Turkey  For the past three weeks we have been living in our new normal life in the Aegean Coast of Turkey. We feel safe and more protected here. However , it also feels very strange that how we reconstruct a new sense of normal, rearranging our lives to fit to a new normal life. We wear our mask every time we go out. We use cotton easy use mask for walk, surgical mask for other places. We wash our groceries. Wipe down everything we touch. Wash hands incessantly .    Compulsory mask wearing still a problem in the country and police started fining people for not wearing them in public and the same message is around; I wear a mask to protect you. You wear a mask to protect me.    Living with the virus has showed us new tricks, teaching us to come up with new ways of shopping, socializing and the way we live. We’re on holiday but still enjoying eating at home, drinking at our own garden rather than going to trendy bars and ...

Edited BY G P Kennedy  We are in Week 13 of tracking the personal stories and national pictures of our Storytellers around the world. Many countries that acted quickly and decisively, then stuck to a plan, are experiencing very low numbers of cases and deaths from COVID-19. Sadly, others were slower and more equivocal in their reactions and as a result many countries' citizens are suffering. Russia, Brazil, USA, India and Pakistan are among the places where the virus seems to be winning the battle while a war still rages. Tassy - Karachi, Pakistan  Here in Pakistan cases continue to peak with no end in sight. In a measly effort to combat the virus, the federal government decided to impose what they called ‘smart lockdown’ of selected areas where there was an unprecedented rise in cases within cities. This plan completely flopped as rules weren’t enforced and people continued with their business as usual. What has also been alarming is the news that international flights, which...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Sally - London, UK #blacklivesmatter  The death of George Floyd has been a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement to be brought for the forefront of the news.  The color of someone’s skin should not matter in 2020 but for many ignorant, racist, prejudiced, ill-informed people, it still does?  Seeing and reading some of the stuff on the news and on social media, it is unbelievable to see that we are still living in a hugely racist world.     I admit that I thought it was getting better as I tend to surround myself with people that are similar to me, people that do not judge others by their color, their appearance, their sexual preference but by what kind of human being you are, but I have realized this is not a realistic view of the world.    I am from a predominantly white family but I have close relatives that are black so I know about racism through them and am disgusted at how cruel some people can be.    S...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Peace - Lagos, Nigeria  HUMANITY NEEDS A LARGE DOSE OF LOVE  As numbers reached 20,000 and Lagos state having more than 9,000 of the COVID-19 patients the Government this week started enforcing the use of Masks in public spaces and face shields to try to flatten the Curve many people don’t understand that COVID-19 is increasing in our communities as local transmission rates are at 50%.    The Black lives matter BLM around the world continued to make a point of asking Governments to realize that all humans are equal. The world over color, religion and tribe are issues. Tribalism is a big issue in my country Nigeria as well, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa being the predominant tribes have deep issues amongst themselves.    The world needs a load of love, the whole world is at war with itself, the lockdown brought out a lot of pent up anger triggered by the killing of George Floyd and that seemed to spark the anger that many people had decided it wa...

Edited BY G P Kennedy   Ellie - Milan, Italy 1. Photo by Angelo Amboldi  Just like many other social waves, Italy is now also swept by the protests and debates on racism that started in the United States over the past month. At first, events and public discussions were simply meant to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter. However, very quickly the attention shifted to racism in Italian society itself, which has seen its significant share of violence and injustice. Racism here often is seen through the lens of the refugee crisis and so it can be masked as some other kind of social tension. However, let it not be mistaken: it is racism.     One of the focal points in which this has been manifested is the figure of Indro Montanelli, an influential journalist active between 1930-2000 and the subject of the monument in the photo above, placed in the public park in Milan also named after him. Montanelli volunteered as a conscript for Mussolini's colonizing campaign...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Ian and Minako - Tokyo, Japan  The tragic event of George Floyd’s death has raised awareness about the BLM movement and institutional racism in the U.S. more than ever before in Japan.    This has left us upset and angry about what happened and that urged us to learn about the historical/social background and the reality. Tokyo police beat a Kurdish man during a traffic stop  Five days later, there was news about a Kurdish man who was held down and brutally treated by a police officer after he refused a police search of his car in downtown Tokyo.    This case has brought home, for many people, that racial injustice is not irrelevant to Japan, and that triggered a call for change. Peaceful demonstrations and marches took place in major cities in Japan in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and protest against racism.    In Tokyo 3,500 people joined the march and in Osaka and Kyoto 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silenc...

Edited BY G P Kennedy Simon...somewhere in Western Australia  This is a photo of me at work the other day.    It looks like I might be in disguise but actually I’m just protecting myself from sun, dust and flies.    Still, it’s pretty difficult to see anything about me and therefore to make any assumptions or kick start any racial or other prejudices.    As soon as I take of my hat, my sunglasses, my head sock there I am for all to see.    Truth is I am 51, white, bit scruffy looking and basically an average looking male for where I live, Australia.    However, there are a people who were here way before Captain Cook and the others. And I can I assure you that if I was an Aboriginal male of the same age many people in this country would have a very different, instantaneous opinion about me.    I’m sure it’s the same in North America with the Native Americans and in South America with the indigenous tribes. All this hate, a...