Thursday, January 20, 2022

THIS LETTER MOVED ME

 

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The letter to the editor below was published in the New York Times. I quote it in full, because it gave me a window on a part of our world that I have trouble imagining.
To the Editor:
Re "As Omicron Spreads, Vaccine Supply in Africa is Better but Wariness Persists" (news article Dec. 2):
I am a doctor in charge of a health center in a remote area of South Sudan. When Covid-19 vaccinations began this summer, people were inundated with misinformation. Some thought the shot would make them infertile or change their DNA.
Community mobilizers, religious leaders and village chiefs worked together to build trust and change minds, and it's been shocking to see just how successful their efforts have been.
When our clinics opened in October, people arrived by the hundreds, traveling miles by canoe through the worst floods in living memory. We expected to vaccinate 4,000 people, but we received just 545 doses. Sadly, we were forced to turn people away. Many sold their belongings to afford the trip and may not be able to return.
Overcoming vaccine skepticism in Africa is possible; I have seen it firsthand. Now, we must meet demand. We urge the world to donate more shots, and soon. As the spread of Omicron shows, no one will be safe from this virus until we all are safe.

Paulino Buda Geri
Paguir, South Sudan
The writer is a doctor with Action Against Hunger.
There are many astonishing things in this letter: That the leaders in South Sudan worked together to convince people to be vaccinated; that they succeeded; that so many people came by canoe to be vaccinated during a time of floods.

It's really beautiful. An encouraging and hopeful story in one way. And also another sad story of our world's failure to get enough vaccine to their world.

To me, the most amazing thing about the letter is that Dr. Buda Geri expresses no outrage at having only 545 doses for 4000 people. He just really wants to communicate to our world that, at least in his corner of South Sudan, people are READY to get vaccinated.

Thank you, Dr. Buda Geri to for allowing me to witness for a moment your life and work as a doctor in --- not just South Sudan but a REMOTE CORNER of South Sudan. What a long and fragile thread connects me sitting at my computer in San Francisco with you.

I refuse to feel guilty for my jaw-dropping privilege -- because there's no good use for that guilt. Guilt is so unpleasant that it makes me run away from Dr. Buda Geri and the good people of South Sudan.

I want to feel connected to Dr. Buda Geri and the 4000 people who canoed despite floods to the health center.

There is a concept that Buddhism borrowed from Hinduism called "Indra's Net." The idea is that there is a net that covers the universe and at every intersection of the net there is a faceted jewel. And this jewel reflects all the other jewels in the net. Thus, everyone and everything is reflected in, and connected through, Indra's net.

Now, I can see Dr. Buda Geri and all his patients eflected in Indra's Net. It's hard for me to feel connected to the whole world. But I do feel connected to the 4001 people in this letter to the editor.

I guess that's what it means to be moved. You feel deeply connected -- sometimes surprisingly -- with others. It's a good feeling. I will cherish this feeling as I continue to try to figure what I can do to make the world a better place for the 4001.
All for now, Bloggelinis. Terry
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