Items

• 
  2020-01-01

  Travel

  Before the pandemic, my family, friends and I were traveling and getting to see amazing sites! This photo here is from Africa. We were able to have the luxury of going on this trip right before covid. When covid hit, we couldn’t go anywhere. Places got shut down and people were to stay in their homes. During the summer when covid started to get better, we planned a trip to Spain. A few week later I receive a call from my parents telling me our trip has just been cancelled because covid could shut down the borders and we could get stuck. To this day it is still scary to travel. When I used to be able to go and see the world, now I can’t because of covid.
• 
  2021-07-24

  COVID Test in Djibouti

  I travel a lot for my job, which means I have had to get a lot of covid tests. This photograph is the receipt I received from Djiboutian Airport after paying $30 for a covid screening. Even though I landed in Djibouti with a negative covid test, they still required every person to complete an antigen test as they processed customs. Every country is different and we had to remain flexible traveling during the height of the pandemic.
• 
  2020-04-02

  False Rumors

  In Alexis Akwagyiram’s Reuters article named “African governments team up with tech giants to fights coronavirus lies”, she details how African countries are partnering with tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp to ensure citizens are up to date with news on the coronavirus and prevent false rumors from spreading through these channels and eventually causing a spike in cases. In the article, Akwagyiram mentions how “false claims that garlic, beetroot, and lemons are an effective alternative to antiretroviral drugs' ' continued to spread in most African countries. However, those claims reached the African community here in the United States. My mom, a Ghanaian woman, trying to find ways to prevent herself from catching the virus, especially since she had to work during the height of the pandemic, found herself believing these said rumors. I remember entering the kitchen every morning to see her making a mixture of garlic, hibiscus herb, and ginger boiling on the stove and pouring them in cups for the family to drink. This daily routine took a toll on her health as she began to experience symptoms such as trouble swallowing, difficulty sleeping, and irritability after eating which her doctor later diagnosed as acid reflux. With my mom already having an underlying disease and being immuno-compromised, she had to start taking new medications to prevent the reflux from affecting her blood pressure. What was supposed to alleviate stress and prevent us from catching the virus, just brought more trouble to my family with us now having to worry about the effect of this new diagnosis on my mom’s well-being.
• 
  2021-01-23

  Vaccine Rollout in Lower-Middle Income Countries

  Getting vaccines for lower to middle income countries is a challenge. Some experts believe up to 90% in low income countries will not receive the vaccine in 2021. It isn’t just buying the vaccine for them, it is transporting the vaccine safely. The vaccine is incredibly temperature-sensitive. The Moderna vaccine must be kept between -25°C and -15°C (-13°F and 5°F), while the Pfizer vaccine is minus 70°C! The answer for rural areas: solar-powered refrigeration. This “cold chain” of refrigerated vehicles may allow many areas in places like Africa to receive the vaccine. There are still complications and experts think up to 25% of the vaccines will still be wasted until the refrigerators are perfected.
• 
  2020-09-18

  Sex Work in Africa During Covid-19

  As subsaharan Africa already had a pandemic of HIV/AIDS prior to Covid, it has made sex work even more dangerous in Africa. For many, it has also lead to a reduced income and increased harassment.
• 
  06/29/2020

  Richard Wamai Oral History, 2020/06/29

  This is an Oral History interview with Dr. Richard Wamai by interviewer Christina Lefebvre from June 29, 2020. Dr. Wamai speaks about the epidemiology of COVID and the global response to it versus other epidemic, as well response comparisons between Africa and the United States.
• 
  2020-04-18

  African governments mobilise to keep people fed during Covid-19 lockdowns

  "Lagos State Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced an Emergency Food Response as a means of supporting indigenous and other vulnerable persons."
• 
  2020-05-30

  LGBT: Covid-19 forced me back home where I'm 'unwanted'

  This short video discusses the plight of a LGBTQ person who is forced to return to an unaccepting home environment after losing her job due to the pandemic. This is another example of the ways that Covid-19 has impacted the LGBTQ community in struggles unique to the community. I never even thought about this as a potential problem because I am fortunate enough to have a family that accepts me for who I am. It makes me worry for LGBTQ youth who were able to move out on their own and get away from a toxic home life.
• 
  2020-05-19

  LGBT Africans Share Challenges of Life During Pandemic

  From the article: "Protecting LGBT people’s rights during the pandemic will depend on addressing a range of rights issues. A more just world, on all levels, will keep LGBT people safer in future global crises."
• 
  2020-05-13

  Ugandan Police Arrest 19 LGBTQ+ People Under Dubious COVID-19 Charges

  From the article: "Authorities raided an LGBTQ+ group home under dubious claims about social distancing, only to beat and berate occupants about homosexual behavior."
• 
  2020-05-01

  Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC) Statement on Indigenous Peoples of Africa and COVID-19

  “The COVID-19 pandemic poses a great danger to humanity, including the indigenous peoples of Africa. If the spread of the virus is not urgently arrested and is allowed to infect African indigenous communities, the virus may decimate our member communities. Africa’s Indigenous Peoples are extremely vulnerable to the dreaded virus, owing to a lack of essential resources such as clean water, food, housing, medical supplies and even basic information.” IPACC is a network of 135 Indigenous peoples' organizations in 21 African countries.
• 
  2020

  Disney+ Documentary Shows Uselessness of Borders

  Both “Elephants” and “Into the Okavango Delta” follow movement of a herd of Elephants and scientists respectively as they travel about through Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and Zambia. The movement between the countries seemed so effortless that it really got me thinking how useless borders really are.
• 
  2020-04-08

  Protesters destroy Ivory Coast coronavirus testing centre

  Ivorians fear contraction of COVID 19 due to the testing center in Abidjan
• 
  2020-04-13

  Online prayers

  For the past 22 years, Indians in Ghana have performed a weekly prayer meeting. Popularly known as the "Vishnu Group", each family used to book a slot a year in advance to conduct this prayer at their house. The gathering consists of nearly 60 people who gathered at the host family's house every week. During this puja, the gathering recites the traditional Vishnu Sahasranamam, Hanuman Chalisa, and prays to Lakshmi and Shiva. The group then proceeds to an hour long bhajan. After this, they proceed to the potluck dinner made up of traditional items. However, due to COVID-19, the group can no longer meet and have instead shifted their prayers online. The picture shows the prayer area in Mrs Gomati Mohan's house. Garlands are seen decorating the pictures and the host couple is seen performing the traditional aarti. In this new, modern form of praying, each member of the group performs the prayer in their own house and updates the other members in a common WhatsApp group.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Indefinite holidays

  All the school buses remain in a standstill due to Ghana’s lockdown.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Empty flights

  My mom took this photo on their flight from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad to Kotoka International Airport in Ghana, Africa. It looks like people had reduced travelling even before Ghana announced a lockdown. The flight was deserted, and so was the airport. Although the virus hadn’t spread to Ghana at the time, the airport authorities checked the temperature of every disembarked passenger before letting them go.