5 Things I learned in this Covid19 Crisis

Hospitals are filing up with sick people, the economy is crashing, there are a lot of unemployed workers, hungry people here and there. These are just a few of the things that his Covid-19 pandemic has brought us.

My husband and I are both working from home, we are also homeschooling our son so we thought that it would be easy for us to adjust in the call to stay at home in this crisis.

We were luckier than others perhaps because we got the hang of being in the house for a long period of time, BUT we still feel anxious not only for our family’s well being but most especially for others who are greatly affected.

I miss my mom so much, as of now I haven’t seen here for 3 months already. Compared to us, she is the one that is affected the most because she is used to socializing outside and going from one place to another. Since she’s a senior, she can’t do that now even though we are already in GCQ.

5 Things I learned in this Covid19 Crisis

• C– onnect deeply with others. Our humanity is the one thing that we all have in common.
  
  It breaks my heart when I saw a man in the news who almost jump on the bridge because he doesn’t know where to get money to feed for his family. It’s a good thing na hindi nya natuloy, pero sobrang nadurog ang puso ko sa balitang yun. It was only 2 weeks from the time the ECQ was announced and yet people are breaking down already. That’s when I decided to post a #PantawidGutomProject on my page to help people in need. The P200.00 amount that I planned to give away may be small to you, but for others it can already buy them 3-4 kilos of rice and some canned goods.
  
  When I posted it last March 30, I only planned to sponsor around 10 families because of budget constraints. But upon reading a lot of heart breaking stories (tricycle drivers/construction workers/ who can’t work to provide for their families, single mom/dad who lost their jobs, seniors who are asking for help for their meds etc.) I decided to ask for donations from other people.
  
  I am blessed to have friends and families who donated money. It even surprised me that some strangers also sent their donations to help more people that are deeply affected by this pandemic. From the original plan of 10 families, we were able to help a total of 380 families as of now.
  
  I won’t be able to do that alone if not for them. I’m glad too that I was able to inspire other bloggers and friends to do the same act of kindness to others.

• O – rganize a project that will help not only you but most importantly the community
  
  Besides helping strangers, I am one of the admins in our neighborhood to organize a virtual palengke. The goal of this project is to provide palengke items to those who don’t have means of transportation to go out and homeowners who are seniors or have little kids that can’t be left behind to buy supplies outside.
  
  At the same time, this projects aims to help those homeowners who have lost their income and need to earn extra. It’s like hitting 2 birds with one stone.
  
  This project was a hit because through this we were able to limit the people in our subdivision from going out to buy their basic needs outside. Our subdivision remained Covid FREE up until now.
  
  Here’s a video of how we implemented this project inside our subdivision.

• V – alue the ordinary people
  
  Regardless of our culture, religion, occupation, financial situation or how famous we are, in this pandemic we are all vulnerable.
  
  The guards that we neglected before and the garbage collectors became one of the frontliners in the community and we should be thankful that they are still doing their jobs despite the health risk they are facing everyday.
  
  Salute to all frontliners.

• I – mprove yourself and be Industrious
  
  All the material things like expensive bags or shoes did not help us in dealing with this crisis. Instead, to survive, you need to be industrious and creative to earn money.
  
  A lot of us started planting vegetables. I already harvested twice from my kangkong plants and I love the feeling that I was able to save money for not buying it. Some took this opportunity to attend webinars and classes to improve themselves.

• D – ream and believe that we will get through this
  
  This pandemic happened before, but those who survived and pass it continued with their life. Kaya naman let’s think positive that we will also get through this.
  
  Yes I know ang hirap! sobrang hirap… this crisis made a huge impact in our relationship, in our financial status, in our mental health. This is really a test on how strong our faith in God is.
  
  I can’t wait for the time that we will all shout WE DID IT! WE MADE IT

I am not a super religious person, but because of this crisis, I learned to whisper prayers to God more often. Not thinking of yourself only or your family is one of my take away in this crisis. I’ve become more compassionate with other people.

This story is an entry to ComCo Southeast Asia’s “Write to Ignite Blogging Project”. The initiative is a response to the need of our times, as every story comes a long way during this period of crisis. Igniting and championing the human spirit, “Write to Ignite Blog Project” aims to pull and collate powerful stories from the Philippine blogging communities to inspire the nation to rise and move forward amidst the difficult situation. This project is made possible by ComCo Southeast Asia, co-presented by Eastern Communications and sponsored by Electrolux, Jobstreet and Teleperformance.