Truth Among Lies: COVID Tales from the Islands

Tom awaiting COVID test

We are in the middle of a major COVID surge on the islands. We went from weeks of no new cases to it seeming like everyone is sick. (Tom tested positive on Friday.) Around the islands, there is so much false information mixed with truths that it feels like we are constantly facing an uphill battle as we try to convince our island friends and neighbors that COVID precautions and testing are needed.

• “This is normal for us. It is the season for fevers. Every year people get sick with fever and some people die. Some years are worse than others. Before they told us that it was malaria, some years they say it is dengue or chikungunya, this year they say coronavirus. It’s the season for fever.” There are a lot of seasonal fevers on the islands, and not everyone with fevers is testing positive for COVID. There probably are other viruses going around right now, after all it’s the season! But that doesn’t mean COVID isn’t here too and that precautions aren’t necessary!

• Our teammate, newly recovered from COVID, greeted some neighbors and told of her restored health. “You didn’t have corona, you’re not dead! In other countries there is coronavirus and everyone dies.” Before it felt like islanders didn’t take COVID seriously enough, so we stressed that people were dying in other countries and that it was serious! Maybe we overplayed it. Now we need to backtrack and let islanders know that just because they aren’t dying doesn’t mean they don’t have COVID and aren’t spreading it to others!

• “There’s not COVID here! It is just normal fevers, like dengue! The government just wants a reason to keep people at home, plus if they say we have COVID then they will get money from other countries. People are sick, but it’s not COVID.” It has been well documented that island government officials regularly skim off the top of any funds that pass through their hands. People list it as one of the main reasons to become a politician!

  

  Our boys playing in quarantine
  

• “My aunt died yesterday. I think it was COVID. No one will say that it was, but they know. They made us wear masks and use hand sanitizer at the funeral. They wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t COVID, they just don’t want to say it was.” Unfortunately COVID on the islands has become politicized and stigmatized. The island president is unpopular on our island. The president says there is COVID here. So, for some, talking about COVID has become synonymous with being a supporter of the island president, so they resist.

• One of our good friends who’s living on the big island sends a voice message, her breathing is a little shallow and she says she is sick. She was in close contact with someone that has tested positive for COVID, but she keeps saying she doesn’t know if it’s COVID, she doesn’t want to get tested. She’s afraid. If she gets tested then they may take her away. She’s living as a single mother. What would happen to her girls? How long would they keep her in some special COVID hospital? She doesn’t feel like she can risk it, so she doesn’t seek medical help. She prays. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were taking everyone who tested positive to another part of the island and quarantining them. There were stories of limited food and water. Now there are too many positive cases. They can’t quarantine everyone, but if she needed oxygen, it is possible that they might take her away and she might not be allowed home for weeks.

  

  Stragglers leaving schools after rumor
  

  
  

• I suddenly see a rush of school kids in the streets. They are yelling. Then there are parents heading towards schools. People are angry. I start to catch snippets. “They are forcing all the kids to get shots.” “The military police are going to make all the students get the COVID vaccine.” Our boys were sent home from school hours early. “Half my class was so scared, they were crying! Others were standing up and yelling at the teacher. I thought they might hit the teacher!,” our son shared.  All schools emptied that morning. Rumors on the islands are dangerous. We’re still not sure how this one came about. One report says they were teaching kids about COVID and that there was a misunderstanding.  Perhaps mention of a hoped for future school-wide vaccination program led to a panic response (island teachers sometimes threaten shots as a form of punishment). As I watched angry parents walking past, I tried to insist that most of Africa doesn’t even have the vaccine yet and it’s only for adults right now! But in the moment, the angry ones weren’t listening.  The rumor shut down schools around our town for the rest of the day.  The next day everyone sheepishly sent their kids back to school.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are very thankful that our new house has been a good fit.  We and the kids seem to be enjoying the new place and our neighbors have been great.  We are thankful that all of our teammates and colleagues who were sick last week with COVID have gotten through it and are recovering nicely and that they have the freedom to leave isolation.  We are happy to see that plans to receive two new members next month continue to move ahead despite the difficulties of the times.  We are thankful that, for whatever reason, talk of political unrest seems to have dissipated recently.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
On Friday, Tom started feeling sick.  We got him tested right away and sure enough, it was COVID.  So this is day 4 of symptoms for him.  We are thankful that his symptoms have been very mild—just a bit of fatigue and low fevers.  Pray that he would continue to have mild symptoms and that he would be symptom free soon. Megan tested negative with the rapid test, but has had some tightness in her chest. The family is isolating, which is hard on the kids.  But we are thankful that everyone else remains healthy and pray for them to continue to be so.  Pray for us to be kind to one another even though we are cooped up in a house together.  Also, one of the children of our colleagues on the big island started showing symptoms just as they were supposed to get out of quarantine.  Pray for a mild case and protection for that family as well.  Continue to pray for islanders—we hear of people  getting sick every day.  May the cases be mild and pass quickly, but may this time of uncertainty also open the doors of their hearts.