It is no longer news that a virus has invaded the world, it is not new that people die everyday due to the outbreak, it is no longer a thing that fear is now a companion. We have gone through many trying moments as a nation, but this pandemic has shown us the good and the bad of governance. Death is a thing everyone must experience, how we are going to die we do not know but one thing is clear and which is; the pandemic is either going to kill many if they do not stay safe and adhere to the instructions of the WHO and also the government or many would die of hunger because our leaders are short sighted and many citizens are suffering.

Hunger becomes a thing most people are afraid of, they break rules to feed the worms in their stomachs saying, no be the virus we dey fear, we dey fear wetin pass the virus” we fear hunger because it could kill us before the virus gets to us. As they lament they throw stones at the leaders for making life miserable for them, for failing in their duties, for being selfish and negligent of the pains and cries of the people. Well, we are so used to the complaints made against our leaders. We begin to be like our leaders when we have something we could offer to remedy the situation to an extent but yet waste our time and energy complaining instead of becoming the difference and the change many yearn for.

I sat back to think of ways to solve the problem of hunger, then it occurred to me that I have to move out of my comfort and face the reality of the poor. The reality that some are living in the slums, some are starving, some sustain themselves by the daily hustle and tussle around the streets. As I pondered about bread for the next day for the man who couldn’t go out because the pandemic has invaded our streets, man is now afraid of man. My face became gloomy, thoughts were roaming in search of connection, finding a better spot to feed their hunger.

Well the government said it’s for our safety but the truth is they would die anyway, knowing they won’t get bread if they stayed at home, their survival is determined by their daily struggle in the streets, so I decided to Reach out to this people knowing that the best language they could hear and understand is when you provide for them their daily bread then be rest assured they would stay at home while it lasts.

There is a reason for everything, maybe nature wants us to stop blaming our leaders and think towards helping others the little way we can. We should no longer wait for when we would have a full day to reach out to the vulnerable, large accounts to extend help, we should take advantage of the moment and mingle with people who over time have been neglected in our society. Since the government cannot bond with her people, individuals could do that, it is no longer time to think of “me” “I” it is time for us to build a communal spirit because indeed “I am because we are and we are because I am” no one should be left to suffer alone in this period, we should join hands to pick the carcasses left of our society, when we wait for the government or ignore the vulnerable out there things only get worst, we loose people, the labour force drains the more.

Character development, cultivating good values and virtues, making clear differences could be the lesson the pandemic has come to teach us. Indeed the change that we desire of the government we can teach them through our attitudes and actions in this period. Judgement isn’t what we need now but we have to maximize this opportunity by making our society better individually.

I call on everyone to reach out to others the little way we can, indeed we are in this together, we are all coming out of this together, so let’s fight to conquer this pandemic in unity, peace and love rather than apportioning blames on our leaders and how they haven’t done so well to make life easy for the people, how it took the virus for them to realize how much they have failed, we should look at ways to make life bearable for the person next to us by reaching out to them. The REACH becomes a call out to all those who can help, let’s join our hands together and make our society better. Reach out to the most vulnerable.