This One is For Grandma
The Netherlands went into a hard lockdown on December 19th in response to the Omicron COVID-19 wave sweeping through Europe. Everything shut down except for provisional shops, supermarkets, grocery stores and pharmacies. This comes as we officially begin the winter season, dumping sombreness on the Christmas cheer with the restriction on house guests. The government directive on the number of guests permitted into a home has been reduced from four to two visitors with the exception of children under the age of 13. Outdoors, three is a crowd. Two is the magic number.
At a press conference announcing the new lockdown measures, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stressed that despite the difficulty in observing the 1.5 metre social distance rule, people should limit direct contact between persons aged over 70 and children as much as possible. He pleaded with the elders, “…do not hug the grandchildren under the Christmas tree”.
I wanted to tell the PM, “If only he knew what I would do to hug my grandmother, one last time’’.
Three days prior to this announcement, I received a text message from my mother who lives in a little village in Siaya County in Kenya.
“Dani Wahonya passed away this morning at Sagam hospital. Her body is at the hospital morgue”.
(more…)