More letters from lockdown...Creative responses to Covid-19

Abstract

Covid 19: Dilemmas for a Developing country
Coming out of Dar es Salaam airport into a hot, humid night in October 2020, I was relieved to have taken off the mask I had compulsorily worn since I had left Edinburgh in the early hours of the morning. I had had my temperature checked when we landed and filled in a form to say where I would be staying. That was the end of any restrictions or checks, despite the fact that the world was in the middle of a pandemic which had claimed so many lives and destroyed livelihoods.

When I got back home to Edinburgh, people asked questions about Covid restrictions in Tanzania and were clearly surprised and even shocked to hear that there were none. Why would a country not protect its citizens from this disease? Why would its President encourage people to pray together in crowded churches? Why not impose lockdowns and restrictions for their safety?