I took the last couple of weeks off. I have not had 2 weeks off in a row in years. Two weeks is a little bit too long to leave a family practise and in previous years I have used vacation time to work with our colleagues in Lesotho. Using vacation time to be there was such a blessing, but this year, we can't travel and COVID 19 has the health care professions more heavily burdened with responsibility and work than ever before. I appreciated and needed the time off but it was challenging. First of all, I did not remember how to do 'nothing'. It took the first week to re-learn how to use leisure time. Secondly, being out there in our usual vacation spots made the many consequences of COVID -19 come into sharp view.
My husband sails. I vomit. He sails. I enjoy the anchorages where I do not vomit and we both swim, hike and kayak. We spend a bit of time at marinas stocking up on provisions and we usually head to the local restaurant for dinner. Killarney and Little Current are beautiful little villages that sit on the shores of Georgian Bay and the North Channel. Some folks say that this is the most beautiful place in the world and is one of the world's top ten sailing destinations. I did not know that before I started traveling there. It is beautiful part of our province.
But this year the anchorages were quiet. Cottages owned by our American friends were shuttered, the marina's were virtually empty, the docs silent. It was awkward passing strangers on the trails moving as far to one side as possible, nodding an apologetic greeting with heads turned down.
Brilliant physical distancing at the Anchor Inn Hotel in Little Current and everyone was wearing masks. The tiny Foodland grocery store was still well stocked. I usually relax there and enjoy the experience, but not now. The masks and the markers on the floor directing traffic and encouraging a 2 m distance take the charm out of grocery shopping in northern Ontario. There were no smiles, no cheery 'hellos', no warm welcomes; just people getting the job done and moving on.
In 2006, before my first trip to Lesotho, a friend of mine encouraged me to learn the formal and informal ways of greeting people in that country along with some basic words/phrases of greeting: "Hello, how are you?", " Nice to meet you", " My name is......" and so on. I learned all this but did not realize how culturally important these words and gestures of greeting friends and strangers really were until I intentionally used them.
After working for a couple of weeks at the HIV clinic in Hloste, Lesotho, all of the medical staff decided to head to Durban, South Africa for the weekend. They were all a decade or more younger than I was and they knew I would not be interested in partying in Durban night clubs so, they left me in charge of the Friday morning clinic. ME. An international medicine newbie who, up until this point, was afraid of walking alone between the clinic an the gated houses the medical team lived in. There ya have it. Jump off one cliff then hurl yourself over the next. Way out of my comfort zone but not much of a choice. As I walked home after running an AIDS clinic alone in a country 10,000 km from home I had this surge of renewed energy and confidence. I told myself, 'If I can do that, I can surely keep my head up and greet people as I walk home, alone'.
Greeting strangers using their culturally appropriate gestures and phrases changes your perception and experience of a place. A place that once made you feel vulnerable and unsafe is now bursting with camaraderie, joy and respect. I greeted every person that walked by and in third world countries the streets and dirt roads in the smallest of towns are packed with people walking. Every person greeted me warmly, almost affectionately in response. From that point on, people knew that I was the middle -aged, Canadian woman doctor that worked at the HIV clinic. I was a part of their community and in community we find safety and security not to mention joy and comfort.
That is what is missing. For a short period of time, COVID 19 has taken hand shakes, hugs, cheek kisses and words of greeting away from us. But, do you know what is really sad? We were already losing these very important culturally appropriate greetings, well before COVID 19 and their loss adds to our sense of loneliness and isolation and our feelings of being disconnected, vulnerable and unsafe.
We will get through this, there is no doubt of that now. Kids head back to school next week and I believe that everyone of every age should wear a mask unless physical distancing is possible in every classroom which seems unlikely at this point, at least in the short term. That mask needs to be double layered and preferably made from cotton or linen. A single layered polyester mask has almost no protective value above wearing no mask at all.
The world is pretty confident that there will be a vaccine in the first quarter of 2021. We will beat this. There will be a tonne of controversy globally, about vaccines and way too much access to bad information. I am rested up and ready to help guide you through.
Oh. And when this is over, I will make a huge effort to find the time to intentionally reach out and greet the people I run into. Intentionally, for the good of their souls and mine.
Anne-Marie
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