I write this note with a broken heart and a load of fear that sits on my shoulders. I cannot shake it off and if I come out of this pandemic sane then someone out there has my name tattooed on their chest.

On Monday, we got the news that a young man by the name of Zororo Makamba (may he rest in peace) lost his life, he had been infected with the virus. I can not sit here and tell the full story because there are three sides, his & his families, the governments and the actual truth. I have conspiracies of my own, but they do not matter in this piece, what matters is our reality as Africa. That incident opened the eyes of Zimbabweans on how unready the country is for this disease, they lied to the people and got caught in their own lie.

This morning I came across a tweet of a father whose son has a pre-existing condition and was wheezing. They took him to the hospital that has always treated him and they were turned away. Three more hospitals turned him down too, this is yet another account that shows that nothing has been done to prepare facilities to fight the virus. Cry with me.

Africa is the equivalent of a broken ship stuck in the sea, and I speak of the people not the leaders because they are on dry land. Every day they steal from us, they take our lives and our riches. I try to keep myself from crying when I realize how doomed we are, the greed that lives in our leaders knows no sympathy or empathy.

A part of me wishes our hearts as the people could turn to stone and our fear just evaporates so we can fight for what we deserve. I wish we could stop fighting for crumbs and hating each other when the problem is way bigger than this.

I have seen people churn xenophobic tweets since the virus hit African countries and my blood boiled because we are the definition of stupid. Top two and not number two either. We are going to die, thousands at a time because the money that should be used in such situations bought one too many homes and luxury cars. The provided donations will not land in hospitals because your leaders will take care of themselves first, they obviously haven’t looted enough.

I do not know when our nightmare will end but here we are, deep into it. We are helpless, I remember lyrics by a young artist by the name of Sharky, he said, ‘ my people the lost sheep, shallow minds and fake deep, you really thinking you can bring change if you coin a couple of phrases and put them in a tweet?’ (You can listen to the song on youtube, link below)

Many have died before the pandemic and a lot more will die now, some from starvation and some from the virus. That is Africa, doomed either way. I do not know when we will have freedom, not the one they sold us, the one we actually deserve.

For now, let us all stay at home. Wash your hands regularly, sanitize. It is the only way to save our lives and maybe just maybe fight for our freedom back after (if the virus doesn’t intervene on our behalf.) CIAO!