Thinking of what could possibly kill hundreds, thousands, and millions of people, battles in which many die of dozens of bullets bruising their bodies and nuclear bombs frying their skins crossed my mind.

Nonetheless, reality begs to differ as history repeats itself. We are living the carbon-copy of the unanticipated nightmare we had during the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic which killed 11,310 masses.

The 1918-1920 Spanish flu pandemic which decimated approximately 50 million people, the 1889-1890 Flu pandemic which killed a million people, the 1770-1772 Russian plague that killed 100,000 people, the 1665-1666 Great Plague of London that executed 100,000 people and the 1545-1548 Cocoliztli epidemic which wiped out 15 million people.

Thus, proving the unpreparedness of the world each time an epidemic strikes, as we have invested more in nuclear research to create the most deadly atomic bombs and other lethal weapons and less in medical research to stop an epidemic.

In the end, the prevailing virus will leave one of the biggest scars behind but is the big push most world’s leaders need to snap out of their trance and start investing less in the creation of destructive weapons and more in vaccine research to save lives once other similar cases arise.

When I first heard of corona, later named COVID-19 by WHO, I scoffed at the name as it sounded so far-fetched and foreign with China being 5,426 miles from Rwanda and took it to be a storm that many wouldn’t worry over as it became the funniest subject for the meme world.

Proving me wrong, the virus fast and furiously acquired a global passport, now in more than 150 countries wrecking each and every economy and killing over 890000 people. Did I mention Rwanda wasn't spared? (The shocker!!!), so far encountering over 4000 cases and 19 deaths.

As many contracted the disease, most governments inaugurated social distancing measures, compulsory mask-wearing, washing hands recurrently, and all these supplemented with more frequent testing (a soon to be multimillionaire business), contact tracing, and watching carefully for localized outbreaks and responding swiftly.

And to attain that we had many countries putting citizens under quarantine and shutting down most economic activities.

From schools to markets, offices to hotels, and bars to public toilets, everything was shut down, shedding millions of workers, and leaving many besieged by forlornness. According to the international labor organization, on a global scale, working hours fell by 10.7% wiping out both a decade of employment gains and the livelihoods of 1.6 billion workers. Thus, pushing many back under the poverty line.

"Instead of the Coronavirus we shall die of hunger”, an Indian peasant cried. While developed countries are most worried about who dies of the COVID-19, Yemen, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the West African Sahel, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Haiti with the poorest populations where most families live on less than $2 a day are at risk of facing mass death tolls as they are combating two pandemics at a time: the COVID-19 pandemic and the HUNGER pandemic that was fueled by the lock-downs that were initiated with noble intentions of lessening the prevalence of the virus.

Despite the fact that the whole world is agonizing over both the high risks of health jeopardy everybody’s life is facing and the economic downturn caused by the measures that had to be taken to keep the citizens safe from the virus, I am of the opinion that circumstances that transpired due to the prevailing global pandemic paved safer paths to attain certain important goals, both on an individual and societal level. How? You may wonder.

Firstly, the pandemic is accelerating the decolonization process of African countries and allowing us to terminate what our ancestors instituted. As the west and European countries are stuck worrying about controlling the prevalence of the virus in their counties, African governments took a step and stopped flights from their former colonial masters, put their people under quarantine, and are treating those with the virus successfully by our own means.

This is paving the path in which we will be able to not only make our decisions about the best way to flatten the curve but also those about the way forward to survive the economic crisis shared across the globe.

We are also able to confront the ideology that only the global south is at the mercy of infectious diseases, as the west and other parts of the world are facing worse death tolls than Africa.

This is because many African countries including Rwanda have more efficient measures and were more prepared to keep the effects of the pandemic at bay than the so-called "leaders of the world”.

Furthermore, while the global enemy COVID-19 is creating consternation of being next on the elimination list, blurry futures as the world became crappy with both empty streets and empty toilet paper shelves, and impromptu Vacations to our wealthy fellas, society is having the golden opportunity to achieve essential goals that are to last even after healing from the virus, through:  

·      Getting acquainted to crucial sanitary routines: washing hands frequently and use of sanitary hair caps once using a motorcycle to locomote.

·      Developing a more economically inclusive environment for most people through 1) having more affordable ceremonies like weddings. 2) Technological improvement to reduce office space costs as it fathered zoom and sisters that aid in remote-work from home and hosting virtual conferences.

At the end of the day, as we wait in hope of the one Vaccine that will save humanity from extinction and restore the bruised egos of scientists, we no longer hug or shake hands but rather have to keep 1 meter apart and wear masks that are tight enough to prevent us from the same lethal microscopic enemy that doesn’t care about nationality or ethnicity, age or gender, faith or faction as it makes an onslaught upon everyone ruthlessly.

I also adhere to the importance of viewing this pandemic using both eye lenses with which one doesn’t pay a blind eye to the great situations that the pandemic has transpired despite threatening the existence of mankind.