MY COVID-19 EXPERIENCE
By Atwijukire Trust
It was in March when the President His Excellency Museveni announced that all public gatherings had to be stopped with immediate effect because of the corona pandemic.
‘Why should this happen; it’s going to cost me a lot in as far as my career as an usher is concerned!’ I said to myself frustratedly as thoughts raced in my mind like fire eating up dry grass. I started doing ushering to earn a living last year with PEAK USHERING AGENCY, based in Mukono Municipality, and this has been going on well until the outbreak of corona virus which blocked public gatherings. These public gatherings included church gatherings, hotels, all kinds of parties, functions and all the other events that bring people together with give us financial opportunities to explore. Which was followed by closure of the institutions of learning including universities and territories. ” We shall have to stay home for fourteen days so that we can be able to identify who has the corona virus, keeping social distance and all the other directives form the ministry of health” the president remarked. With all the zeal we decided to stay home knowing that fourteen days would end and we would definitely resume our usual routine but Little did we know that the situation would get worse up to today as the ministry of health came up with more directives including the lockdown.
As arising youth the outbreak of corona virus and the subsequent lockdown has shut down a number of opportunities I should have had since people have been home so no events that require ushers are allowed to take place as people have resorted to zoom and other different platforms of meetings and not forgetting the weddings which have been turned into scientific weddings which are supposed to be attended by not more than ten people and the reception is to a limited number of people thus requiring no ushering because of the less number of people who are supposed to attend the function.
In one way or the other my life has been altered because there are no opportunities to work anymore as for now thus no money and this has costed my standards of living and even struggling to meet the needs of life and all I have to do is to wholly depend on my parents for survival which does not come out easily because these parents had to as well stay home during the lockdown.
This whole situation has caused me a great deal of unemployment, a lot of frustration and unnecessary stress given the fact that even if the vaccine of corona is discovered today, some people have postponed or even cancelled out events and to those who may want to continue with these functions the government would still ask the organizers to observe the guidelines given by the ministry of health such as social distance with limits the number of people on an events and thus no need of ushers as the keep moving around the whole place which is risky. Even for fear of our lives if anyone calls on us for our ushering services we are as well scared of acquiring this corona virus from the mass gathering. Given the fact that I must depend on my parents for even the smallest things it has a lot turned out to be a burden.
The government should put in place more funds to support the youth because if such funds are available and even easier to get I would apply for such funds and venture into an economic activity which I can do from home as for now so that I can earn a living as we wait for this corona situation to end which no one has any idea about when it’s ending instead of remaining at home seated without what to do. More so, our leaders should stand in the gap to ensure that the funds allocated to develop the youth in the annual budget are properly utilised by the youth to end unemployment among the youth. This can be through providing the necessary information and guidance on how to access the money and the necessary requirements. Leaders may also help the youth in identifying the different areas of investment available.
Hoping that my story will be considered, I believe my voice will have a far-reaching impact in the face of this coronavirus pandemic.