“And the people stayed home. And I read books and listened. And he rested and exercised. And I created art and played. And he learned new ways of being, of being still. And it stopped. And I listened more deeply. Some meditated. Some prayed. Some danced. Some found their shadows. And people started to think differently.
And the people were healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorance and danger, senseless and heartless, the Earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people united again, they regretted their losses, they made new decisions, they dreamed new images, they created new ways of living and they completely healed the Earth, just as they had been healed. “
This is what Kitty O’Meara, an American teacher, wrote on her personal blog in March 2020. That month, the worldwide tragedy of COVID-19 began. Thousands of sick, dead and affected.
Bolivia was not an exception. On the 12th the Fe y Alegría de Buen Retiro school closed, it was Thursday and we all thought that in less than a month we would return to normal. I am writing this on April 26 and the only thing that is clear to me today is that nothing will return to normal.
I came to Cochabamba on March 15 because I knew that soon the mobilities would be banned from the towns since I could see how everything was evolving in Spain. The messages from my family and friends demonstrated the health emergency they were experiencing “There are no masks”, “there are soldiers in the streets”, “there is not even bread in the store”.
The first two weeks of confinement that I imposed for my own health and for the health of the
Sisters I lived with became hard on me. The sisters gave me homework, entertainment and humor, but I was in a foreign country, without my family and friends and without the possibility of returning. I painted t-shirts, I helped in the garden, I made biscuits and I helped the sisters with problems with technology.
By the beginning of April my anxiety disappeared, my brain got used to the idea that this was going to last. The sisters and I discussed the Coronavirus in Bolivia, Colombia, Spain, Italy, China, and many other countries. We speak with other sisters who are suffering the same as us and we inform ourselves about the situation they are experiencing.
We all take care of each other, we all cheer up and we all have words of encouragement for each other. It is time to stay together and think about your neighbor. Within this historic moment I am very lucky to live it with the sisters who are in Cochabamba, they have become an essential family here.
From Cochabamba I want to send a message of hope to all, tell you that this will happen and that when we leave home we can give each other all the hugs and kisses we want. Although we are separated now is when we should be more united. Many forces to all.
