Blogs from South Africa, Africa - page 18

“Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not yet understood.” – Henry Miller The first person confirmed Covid-19 positive in South Africa occurred on 5th March 2020. So what? Well, this effectively means it is now exactly 100 days into this unprecedented pandemic event in this country. A moment of reflection. This is the 14th blog in this series and I have found it very easy to write as there is so much information “out there” driven by fear, confusion and panic. For those who have read this stuff, I am grateful. There is a higher purpose behind it and that is simply, at some point in the future, all these blogs will be committed to a coffee table book for future generations of the Elliott clan to read and ponder ... read more

“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate the truth.” – Garry Kasparov Not only do we have a raging Covid-19 pandemic but, right alongside and equally alarming, is the “infodemic” underpinned by the deluge of information out there on social media and news platforms. As the clock ticks through the day (slowly during this increasingly boring home-bound captivity), there is a never-ending stream of theories, videos, posts and the like flying through cyberspace destined for our “essential to be in touch” devices. What then happens is entirely at the discretion of the receiver. The sensible thing to do is to hit the “delete” button but human curiosity has its own magnetic force which draws many of us to want to read ... read more

“Negativity is like burning plastic: while destroying itself, it annoys everyone with its stench.” – Charbal Tadros No point kicking off with WHO statistics on Covid-19 as it is very easy for anyone to access the data on their website dashboard. The reality is that infections and the death rate globally continue to nudge upwards albeit at declining daily rates in a number of countries. The key societal shift currently is the massive push back from civilians in a number of countries who challenge the iron fist manner in which their Governments have handled the virus. The key themes are; reacting too late, over reaction, an assault on civil liberties, lack of transparency with regards effect of measures and impact on the population and most importantly, the disastrous impact on people’s financial well-being. Economies are in ... read more

“I’m very much a believer that it’s action that matters much more so than, you know, the flurry of political promises and statements and slogans that are used during political discourse.” – Christine Lagarde The WHO dashboard as at 2.00am 26 April 2020 has the following statistics on their Covid-19 global dashboard (SA in brackets): Confirmed Cases: 2,774,135 (4,361) Deaths: 190,871 (86) New cases in last 24 hours: 93,109 (141) Bottom line, we are very far off being out of the woods! No vaccine or cure in sight although there are numerous biochemical companies globally who are working frantically to find the silver bullet that can hasten an end to this nightmare event in our modern times. Here in South Africa we have much to be proud of. The manner in which President Ramaphosa (CR) and ... read more

I don't believe it's been 5 years since I last posted anything. I guess Life got in the way but I promise travelling never stopped. The current Pandemic got me thinking about what freedom really means, Freedom of movement, freedom of choice , freedom to hug , freedom to decide what and where to eat !!! I never knew what it really meant to live in global community, The Covid 19 really proves how much of a community we really are. Yes we might have boarders that divide us , Yes we might need visas to visit each other depending mostly on which passport you hold ?, if you are from Africa like me then you definitely need a looooot of "visas" hahaha enough shade. The lockdown started in China and I remember watching the news ... read more