On the lips, on the news and on the meeting agenda of many is COVID-19. It has turned intensive care units into war zones, converted health uniforms into PPEs and introduced nose masks as the newest accessory for the whole world.

On the lips of every president is the painful singular honour of declaring a lockdown. Trotos’ famous chants of Accra, Circle, Kasoa, Lapaz are missing and the market woman’s shouts in the markets gone silent. And for the Kayayei, her head is free but her pocket empty. All thanks to the Corona Virus, aka COVID- 19, aka ‘Aunty Coro’.

Thanks to the Corona Virus, the home is no more a hotel where we spend the night but a place where we spend a full circle of 24 hours. Today, there’s no other place to be than home and no one to see except your spouse and kids. All of a sudden, your home is the place to be, willingly or unwillingly.

Thanks to COVID-19, we now have an Easter wrapped in solemnity and introspection instead of one filled with competing noises and heightened self-expression. Today nature can relax from the noise and pollution of the world.

Thanks to ‘Auntie Coro’, the world has gone back to the basics of personal hygiene, good nutrition, adequate rest and active exercise. All of a sudden, we know the value of orange and lemon and the blessing called vegetables. Now we know we have an immune system that is not really immune after all.

Thanks to Corona Virus, health care has now taken over the direction of many nations and for the first time PPEs, ventilators and isolation centres are now more important than nuclear and trade wars. Today building and strengthening our health care systems have now become more important than building weapon depots.

Thanks to COVID-19, we can now see what LIFE is and how important it is.

Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, nephews, nieces, grandfathers and grandmothers have died from this disease and we are no different than them; except for the fact that you can read this piece and don’t have the summary of your life on a tombstone.

Many died, lost their jobs and loved ones but directed us to the knees of thanksgiving. It has taught us to grateful for the oxygen we breathe, thankful for a second chance to do things right and the opportunity to always live in the present.

And thanks to COVID-19, I can write this piece for your attention.

What’s your COVID story?