What a spectacular year 2020 has been; we have Covid to thank for it

Ah, yes, time for a year in review piece, neh? Okay. I had a promising start to the year 2020, the best one in a very long time. I was fit, trim, healthy, alert, energetic, enthusiastic and most of all optimistic. How could it fail to be spectacular?

Indeed, January showed up and planned projects took off well and three months in, someone coughed in China. If you are reading this, I don’t need to explain what happened next. Let me focus on the global-local dynamic of it from a Tanzanian perspective.

I have never felt more connected to people and humanity in my life. Watershed events like 9/11 happen in one locality even if its effects spread outwards and touch us all. As a citizen of a developing country, I am used to being at the periphery of world events. Covid-19 however is everywhere. In the initial days I debated wearing a mask. The condom of the face, they are uncomfortable and highly visible. When I tried it out comments and reactions added a social disincentive.

But when Covid-19 really hit and we all had to make decisions on the basis of public policy and personal circumstances, I was compliant. Not hard to do when you are a reclusive wordsmith: I worked in relative isolation, washed my hands,...