While in lockdown now, our practitioners are calling their previous clients to hear how they are getting along. Are they managing to safely and independently get themselves to the spaza or supermarket to get food? How are they experiencing their new-found independence? Do they know that they should not use the normal sighted guide techniques? And on top of anything, the call is about showing the blind people whom we trained that we care. Care in extraordinary times.
One elderly man who we recently trained, lives in a rural village. When Beauty, our practitioner called him this week to hear how he was keeping safe, he gave a worrying response….
No he said, he was not afraid of the #coronavirus or #COVID-19 since he was going to die anyway. No he was not taking any of these safety measures seriously he said. And no he did not take heed of the Mr Ramaphosa’s call for lockdown. And anyway, should he infect someone, he would anyway prefer not to die alone.
Fortunately this man’s response was an exception amongst Beauty clients. The others reported that the gates to their yards and to that of their neighbours are locked. And when they do go to the shops they take extra precautionary measures with hand washing.
Maybe this one gentleman’s response is no different to any other segment of 12 people. The majority would take and heed of the rules around lockdown and social distancing, while some would flaunt them. And the majority adhering, makes for flattening of the curve.
