“The Name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10
When Covid-19 hit the world in the early weeks of 2020, Africa once more, came to the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Racists expected a near-complete annihilation of the black race. World Health Organisation predicted a death toll of at least 10 million people within months. Bill Gates was deeply worried about the slums of Lagos, Nigeria. Melinda Gates painted a lurid picture of corpses littering the streets of African nations. Historians recalled the horrid Spanish Flu of 1918, when survivors abandoned the dead in their homes and fled. Expectedly, the meek inhabitants of Africa became terrified, and scrambled for home made remedies and preventives.
Eight months into the pandemic, new evidence shows that Covid-19 is actually in decline on the continent, despite a global surge of a rising curve. Presently, Africa has about a million confirmed cases of Covid-19, with less than 25,000 deaths. For a continent of about 1.2 billion vulnerable people, these figures are miraculously modest. Yes, some people may claim that Africa is under-tested and that cases are under-reported. But they should remember that mass deaths can never go unnoticed. Today, it is a comic relief that Covid-19 is dismissed by Africans, as another fictitious drain pipe for corrupt, government officials.
As the world braces up for a second wave, the scientific community is still unable to explain the ‘African Paradox’.
What exactly happened?
Did Covid-19 bypass the continent of Africa?
Or did God erect a Safety Tower in every African nation?
“The Lord lifteth up the meek; He casteth the wicked down to the ground. “
Psalm 147-6
To most of humanity, Africa is a forbidden ‘planet’ inhabited by apes and savages; a place of misery ravaged by wars, poverty and disease; a home to thriving colonies of unforgiving microbes; a relic of no history, culture or civilisation.
Little wonder that racist writer, Joseph Conrad, described Africa as the ‘Heart of Darkness’ in his infamous novella published in 1902. Africa and the black race have been associated with everything that is considered bad in human history. Religious bigots are not exempt from this unkind prejudice. For example, the Christians depict Angels as white and satan as black. Yet, scientific history has it that our species, the homo sapiens, took origins from the high lands of East Africa. Ancient history chronicles the continent as a cradle to some of the oldest civilisations known to man.
From slave trade to colonialism and neo colonialism, Africa has endured a long history of servitude, subjugation and exploitation. There was the Berlin conference of 1897, whose only agendum was the ‘Scramble for Africa’. Since then, there have been attempts to annihilate the black race and occupy the continent. Between 1904 and 1908, Germans actually carried out their first genocide on two rebellious tribes (Herero and Nama), in present day Namibia. It was part of a racial purification program (Eugenics). The scars of ‘Apartheid’ are still visible in present day South Africa, while the perpetrators are still resident in that country.
In the post colonial era, white people have continued to flock into the continent, in search of opportunities for fast wealth.
What makes Africa so attractive to other races, in spite of all the negative depictions?
Undoubtedly, Africa is the most endowed continent on the planet. It holds in its bowels, more than 40% of the world’s known mineral reserves. These include some of the most sought after elements: cobalt, silicon, copper, lithium, uranium, diamonds and gold. These are in addition to huge oil and gas reserves.
From pristine rivers to spectacular landscapes, Africa is a land of mysterious beauty and iconic wildlife. At 6650 km in length, the Nile is the longest river in the world. With a magical, mist-filled void, Victoria Falls is arguably, the largest and most beautiful curtain of falling water on the planet.
Each planetary system has a star as its primary source of energy. The Sun is our own star. Africa is situated at the center of the habitable zone, between the East and the West; almost equidistant between North Pole and South Pole. This strategic position avails it of more than 80% of the Sun’s energy; an unfair share of the planet’s total energy resource. With its ambient temperatures, Africa is the only continent where inhabitants can freely roam with normal dressing, all year round. These peculiar climatic advantages portend huge potentials for clean energy, extended human habitation and organic agriculture.
The continent is blessed with a stable geological history. Expectedly, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and resultant tsunamis are extremely rare. Africa is located away from the pathways of hurricanes, tropical cyclones and tornadoes. Its tropical, virgin forests attract heavy rainfall every year, making destructive bush fires almost unknown. In addition to all these blessings, industrial underdevelopment has become an unintended advantage. Pollution levels from industrial gases are relatively low. Accordingly, the destructive effects of climate change, have been slow and gentle on the African continent.
Curiously, no pandemic in history ever took origin in Africa. Black death and Burbonic plague were native to Europe. Spanish flu and Swine flu came from North America. Covid-19 originated from China. South America was home to Lassa fever. MERS virus evolved from the Middle East. Ebola and HIV were desperately pinned on Africa, despite dearth of evidence. Thankfully, they never made it to pandemic levels. Africa must be God’s own continent!
In Nature, the Law of Retributive Justice is patient, unfailing and unforgiving.
Action and reaction are always equal and opposite.
In the law of seed and harvest, you always reap what you sow.
Without question, what goes around always comes around.
No good or evil ever goes unrewarded or unpunished, for all times.
It has been superstitiously postulated that Covid-19 is part of Nature’s punishment, for atrocities commited against Africa and the black race. The geographical pattern of the first wave appears to lend credence to this hypothesis. The United States and United Kingdom perpetrated the trans-Atlantic slave trade; the rest of Europe participated in colonialism and trans-saharan slave trade. Notably, Italy and Spain and France have been jointly implicated in African migrants’ ship fatalities of recent times.
Covid-19 originated from Wuhan, China, in the fall of 2019. From there, airplanes took the virus to Europe. Italy, Spain and France soon became the European hot spots. The United Kingdom was not spared. From Europe, Coronavirus entered America through New York, which became the next epicenter. All the while, Africa was calm with few, sporadic outbreaks here and there. As the virus receded in Asia, US and Europe, it was the turn of Brazil, Australia and India to take the spotlight. Against global expectations and predictions, Africa’s Covid numbers remained low, despite initial disregard for public health guidelines. In Eastern Nigeria, Covid-19 symptoms were jokingly laughed off as ‘Stubborn Malaria’. In some African cities Covid has been mockingly referred to as ‘Whiteman’s Nemesis’.
What is responsible for this striking, scientific paradox?
Could it be linked to diet?
Could it be attributable to high humidity or air quality?
Could it be the result of natural immunological competence?
Or presence of stronger predatory viruses?
Or just providence?
Initially, it was thought that Covid-19 could not thrive in hot season. When it broke out globally in February 2020, Africa was in hot season while most of the world was cold. That theory became invalidated when the numbers in Africa continued to drop, as months became cooler with the rains. At the same time, the US caught its second wave in the middle of summer. The new hotspots, Texas and Florida have higher summer temperatures, than sub-saharan Africa.
Some people have exempted the so called malaria belt of the world, from Covid attack. But India and Brazil, whose numbers continue to soar are also in that belt. Another group soon concluded that the reason could be found in the genetic make up of Africans.
Interestingly, Coronavirus is afflicting and killing a disproportionate number of diaspora-Africans, resident in the wealthiest nations. This has been attributed to underlying medical conditions, poverty, ignorance, human clusters, vulnerable jobs, unequal access to healthcare etc. For Africans on the mainland, these predisposing factors are multiplied several times over. The poverty is crushing and public enlightenment, almost nonexistent. Every adult above 40 years, most likely, has a poorly managed underlying disease. They live in crowded neighbourhoods. African hospitals are mere dispensing clinics. Their leaders use state funds to acquire state-of-the-art air ambulances, for prompt access to medical services in western countries. Ironically, Covid infections and deaths have also been recorded amongst African people of political privilege.
Yet, for the oppressed masses of Africa, Covid infection and mortality rates remain enigmatically low. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that protection from Covid must derive from the AFRICAN ENVIRONMENT, and not from GENETIC FACTORS.
Recent studies in selected African countries revealed the presence of antibodies to Covid-19. This unexpected finding points to a previous exposure to Coronavirus.
How could this happen without mortalities and morbidities?
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, African nations promptly joined other countries to implement public health guidelines, in order to mitigate spread. These include movement restrictions through lockdown policies; social distancing; frequent hand washing; use of masks and avoidance of non-essential travel.
As the wealthy nations fought the virus with hi-tech, Africans resorted to crude, home grown remedies. Some people ingeniously developed steam inhalation therapy using aboniki (hot balm); others recommended concoction of lemon, ginger and garlic. Acute cases were treated with a soup of udah and uziza (hot spices). Riverside dwellers even gargled with local gin or palm wine, to ward off Covid. Native doctors took the opportunity to promote their herbal mixtures. Some African pastor-doctors in the diaspora resoted to demonology and ‘alien DNA’. It will be recalled that Madagascar offered a herbal remedy, in the early days of Covid. As expected, it was promptly discredited by the West because it didn’t fit the mainstream narrative.
However, the majority of Africans on the mainland helplessly turned to their GOD for DIVINE SOLUTION.
When the lockdown was eased in late April and May, it was business as usual. Economic hardship with little or no palliatives, drove people almost to the brink of another ‘pandemic’. Social distancing is alien to African way of life, and could not be maintained. N95-masks are still expensive and in short supply. Running water remains a luxury in most urban settlements. Venue events have resumed without respect for guidelines. These factors and more set up the continent as a minefield for Covid-19 explosion, waiting to happen. But it never happened. The African experience represents one of the most spectacular failures in public health prediction. The number of new cases and deaths have continued to decline, as experts struggle to find explanations.
At various times in the past months, population clusters experienced sweeping signs of Covid, such as loss of senses of taste and smell. Soon, these symptoms disappeared without further incidents. There have also been sporadic cases of asymptomatic Covid. But they too vanished without a trace. Admittedly, testings are few and far between. Inevitably, positive cases would be under reported. There are few PPEs, fewer isolation beds, and scanty supportive medications. Intensive care facilities, with ventilators, are medical luxuries in Africa. Despite these deficiencies, African nations are seeing neither overstretched health care systems nor mass burials. Clearly, facts and figures are NOT adding up. Churches and markets have since resumed crowded services, against public health advice. Schools are preparing to reopen without comprehensive guidelines in sight. It is undeniable that Africans have demonstrated a remarkable degree of courage, resilience and defiance, in the face of a decimating pandemic. The West once dismissed African remedies as anecdotal claims derived from ‘old wives tales’ and ‘beer parlour banters’. As the numbers unfold, it has become increasingly clear that weird African concoctions or bizarre ‘voodoo’ incantations or gracious Supernatural Interventions, have all made more sense than ‘INGESTING TOXIC DISINFECTANTS’.
Today, the rest of the world struggle to find an elusive vaccine, while Africans carry on their day-to-day businesses as if Covid-19 belongs to another time. In the future, when Africa talks about viruses and pandemics, the world should pause and listen. YES, ‘IT IS WHAT IT IS’.
POSTSCRIPT 1: CAUTION!
While we shelter in the Tower of the Almighty, the text of this article should never be mistaken to validate anecdotal claims or inspire non-compliance, with Covid-19 guidelines. Endeavor to live and stay safe.
POSTSCRIPT 2: PRAYER OF THE OPPRESSED AFRICAN
Dear God,
Thank You for erecting Your Name in Africa as a Tower, to shelter us from the ravages of Covid-19.
Thank You as well for rewarding our powerful oppressors, according to their works on the African continent. For You once said that vengeance is Yours!
Omnipotent Father, we have one more request to make, and our joy shall be complete.
Could You use the same virus to deliver our ‘necks’ from the evil ‘knees’ of our wicked leaders and their enablers? Surely, it would be thrilling to glimpse a short preview of Your judgement day. Let Thy will be done in Africa, as it is in Heaven. Amen!
