I’m on my laptop in a coffee shop. It’s a place not far from where we live and they have this great African music playlist. Much of the music I know. Some I don’t. But whoever put it together has similar tastes to mine.
It’s also a pleasant experience because it means I’m out of the house. I love being at home but the return to lockdown this past month felt particularly suffocating. It was as if so much effort was put into respecting the protocols of the previous lockdown, gaining some freedom, only to be smitten down once again – likely by the selfishness of the minority who thumbed their noses at the pandemic protocols (reports in Kenya indicate that it’s likely those on the upper end of society that are having the biggest impact on the spread of Covid).
Having said that, and as I’ve said before, Kenyans have generally done well throughout the pandemic. The impact on society has been much less than in other countries around the world. In fact Africa as a whole has done better than other continents. I saw a comment this morning where someone said that people predicted doom for Africa last year and it never happened. Watching what’s happening in India right now, people are predicting doom for the continent again this year - that it's only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose in African countries. Sadly no one is acknowledging these countries’ relative success in managing the pandemic, largely because it doesn’t fit their narrative of how they view Africa. And they’ve done it in spite of the vaccine nationalism in the West and weaker health care systems. It’s pretty amazing if you think about it.
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