Be positive

Several weeks ago, due to the luck of fate, I tested "positive" for Covid19. Because of the situation we live in, I felt a lot of fear, but I was also sure that I would have enough support and help because the people closest to me are good people.

The same day I received encouraging messages from Alfredo, Karina, Rumi, Mara, Zelma, Helen, Nathalia, Gaby, Sara, Abel, Nancy, Angela, Jorge… just to mention a few names from this extensive family of Rural Libraries. I also received oils and other necessary ingredients, from Rita and Karin, to get out of the situation soon.

It is incredible, really, the speed with which friends, brothers and sisters of so many years and places run to help. Instantly I knew that market baskets, healing herbs, recipes for infusions and other medicines learned through experience were arriving at my house. In times of so much uncertainty and fear, it was very nice to know that so many people care about you. I cannot complain about the care I received from the medical staff, but it is very gratifying to receive so much attention from those who are not.

And then I thought of all the people who go through this alone, or are so far away that we can't even run to get them something, like many of our brothers and sisters from communities far from the towns. How will they spend their days of quarantine without having the necessary food, disinfectants or medicines, without a pulse oximeter to control their saturation or a simple thermometer, without adequate environments to isolate themselves and avoid infecting the rest of the family, without help caring for children. So, I appreciate my fortune much more, but the positive is passing me by. I am thinking: how long will we continue to live in this unfair situation?

Lola Paredes