Of being a Good Person, despite corona – the story of running into the philosophy of life

Of being a Good Person, despite corona – the story of running into the philosophy of life

I gave up on declaring any corona numbers as a milestone.  Every infection, every death, every affliction in whichever way, is already bad as it is.  We do not have to wait for some numbers to consider it a milestone.  We have corona milestones every second and it is a situation that we, as humanity, need to put a stop to soon.  There is no pride in any corona numbers, the very corona virus that causes SARS-COV2-2019 disease, also called COVID19 disease.

Look at today’s numbers* as an example.  140M global confirmed infections – 140,630,831 to be exact.  And these are the confirmed cases, meaning that a test was done to determine this status.  We all know that there are likely to be many more untested cases that can add to that number at any given time.  I would throw in a wild guess of 10% more (not very wild though, since positivity rates on any samples collected locally have tended to be in the 5-15% range upon random testing in any population).  That would mean 154M global infections!  The global confirmed deaths are 3M, or 3,014,739 to be exact.  My 10% topup puts that number at 3.3M.  It is that bad!  Our Kenyan numbers are 150,260 and 2,443 respectively, of course, add my 10% additional cases on both numbers that are not confirmed by tests.

Though these numbers are bad, we have hope as humanity, in the name of preventive measures, therapeutics, treatments and vaccines.  The first and last on that list are what can be of utmost help to humanity, so that we do not get infected in the first place or we be protected even before infection.  Vaccinations also reduce the adverse effects of the disease in case of an infection, generally meaning not getting a serious case that needs hospitalization.  Each intervention has its challenges, but we are on the road to recovery, despite the numbers.

The point of my story today is however different.  I do not want to glorify corona, but to encourage humanity to keep living to their fullest each and every day.  Living to your fullest also mean getting the best joy and happiness in everything that you do.  Being fulfilled and content.  Having a peace of mind.  Being a good person!  This is the challenging one.  What is even being ‘good’ all about?  Why even bother?  Who even determines who is good?  Or even who is bad for that matter!

I was pondering over this and realized that the judgment is probably two-fold.  How you judge yourself and how others judge you (and of course how you judge others).  In your own metrics, your own marking scheme – if you even have a marking scheme in the first place.  How do you rate yourself?  You are the candidate, and you are the interviewer at the same time.  How do you score?  How do you do on your scale of marks?  With the same (or different) marking scheme, how do you rate others?  And with the same (or different) scheme, how are others rating you?

These are weighty issues and quite complex.  To start with, you cannot dictate to others how they judge you.  You can also not dictate to others how you judge them – I told you it was complex.  Can you even dictate to yourself how you judge yourself?  Are you not too lenient or even too harsh?  You can really confirm your impartiality?  How about if you refuse to judge yourself, or if other refuse to be judged by you – or even you refuse to be judged by them!  I told you – it is a complex set of prepositions.

Anyway, assuming you know how to judge, and you have judged yourself and/or others (and be aware that they have judged you, rightly or wrongly), then there is the strife to be ‘good’.  To receive ‘good’ reviews.  Something positive to encourage and motivate you.  Being content with what you have and how you are.  For runners or athletes, the ‘good’ measures would mean you are happy with your athleticism and your routines.  You feel content.  You feel ‘good’.  Extend the same euphoria to your life – and get the same level of satisfaction and fulfillment.  That to me will be the ‘feel good’.

How about how others judge you?  Do they believe that you are ‘good’?  Remember that you do not have control over what they think about you.  You can only hope, if you even care in the first place.  Sometimes others will tell you as it is in the form of feedback.  They will tell you that are good or otherwise.  You can take their word for it as their judgment of you.  Let me not even go to the direction as to whether they are telling you the truth – just assume that you believe them.

Of course, the whole debate can have many ‘what ifs’.  That is why at some point you need to take a stand.  Decide on what you shall believe in.  Decide on your marking scheme and trust it.  Decide on your ethos and stick to them.  Decide on one stand, one conviction, one modus operandi – trust it, assume it is true, be convinced it is for you and live by it.  You could refer to some rule book, some established standards, some policies somewhere, your own gut feeling or a combination of some.  Judge yourself by it, mark yourself by it and trust yourself to judge yourself correctly, truthfully and impartially.  Take a stand and trust your stand – chances are, you are right in what you finally stand for.  That is you.  That is the ‘good’ you.

Finally, how people judge you is likely upto them.  You have little say, though you can have some influence.  You hope that they judge you upon is correct, truthful, and impartial, just like self-judgment.  For your self – have your stand, stick to what you believe.  For the others, let the external person judge you as they deem fit – rightly or wrongly.  If the external view is voiced, then you can have the opportunity to correct a misperception.  Whether the correction shall stick is another issue, but you would have had your say.  If it is not voiced, then it is a different story, one that you will just have to live with.

Oh, and talking about what others say about you… I once participated in a prayer.  The person leading the pray, in our group of five or so, asked for the divine intervention on how others judged him.

“Help me be a good father, that the children may judge me rightly”

Judgement is difficult, be it self-judgment, by others or to others.  Take a stand and believe in your stand.  If will just realize that you are a good person and others affirm the same.  The judgment metrics are already up there.

WWB, the Coach, April 17, 2021

One week with covid… vaccine

One week with covid… vaccine

It was Tuesday last week that I was compelled to take the Oxford University’s Astra Zeneca production of corona virus vaccine.  This vaccine is meant to prevent infection or lessen the effects of infections if it occurs.  This Tuesday jab was however just the start of the journey.  Every person who gets a first jab needs a second one, four to eight weeks later, for the dose of this AZ vaccine to be complete.  

Nonetheless this is probably the norm.  Of the WHO approved vaccines, all but one are two jab administered – be it AZ, Pfizer-Biontech or Moderna.  Only Johnson & Johnson’s Jenssen vaccine is a one shot vaccine… and it has just suffered temporary stoppage where it is chiefly administered in the US, after cases of blood clots were reported amongst a few… one in a million I believe.  We already knew about blood clot issues with AZ vaccine even as we accepted to have it last week.  It is a risk worth taking.  As the scientists say, the benefits far outweigh the risks. 

I had read on our marathoners’ discussion page on WhatsApp that one ‘goes down’ after taking the vaccine.  That runner even confessed that he could hardly run after being vaccinated with the AZ jab, about two weeks prior.  He said that he was ‘forced’ to take a one-week break.  I was therefore expecting something to ‘go down’ after that Tuesday experience.  The jab experience was painless and uneventful (read the full story here).  I nonetheless still decided to deliberately monitor the effects of the vaccine in my system, by virtue of taking notes on a daily basis as to how things shall ‘go down’.  And this is it….

With Tuesday as Day 1, the vaccination day, I was on the lookout for anything unusual on Day 2, a Wednesday, since I felt nothing at all on that Tuesday.  I did not do any runs on this Wednesday, since I do my runs only once a week, on Mondays.  I felt nothing different on this Day 2.  I would later in the day have one episode of running nose, where I had the urge to clear my nose at least once or twice, but that was it.  This was an episode from nowhere, but it was a brief five-minute thing in the evening and it was gone forever thereafter.  Maybe it was nothing to do with the vaccine.

My Day 3 was another normal day.  I woke up in the morning and did my daily chores as expected.  There was nothing worthy of mentioning as far as change of health was concerned.  I would later in the evening had a brief dry cough for about five minutes.  The type where the throat just irritates leading to a cough.  This was also brief and was soon gone.  I continued and ended my day without any more feeling of any body effects.

And that was probably it, since my Day 4 was quite normal.  I did my usual daily activities and felt nothing out of the usual.  Day 5 was a Saturday and it did not start with my usual self.  I woke up unusually tired, for no reason that I could think of, since I had not done any strenuous activity or even did a run the previous day.  My walk from home to the workplace, a distance of about 3km using a longer route, was a bit laboured.  However, I was back to my normal self soon after that lethargic walk.  I was back to full energy and the tiredness was gone never to be felt again on that day.

Day 6 was a Sunday and it turned out to be the most normal Sunday.  I was my usual self.  I did walk around and did not feel anything abnormal.  The real test would however be on Day 7, when I would have to face the usual weekly run.  I felt good through the day and was quite ready for the evening run even as I started off the run at 4pm.  The run on the usual Uthiru-Gitaru route was just another one of those routine runs.  There was nothing different.  

Running tends to be tideous, and so I was tired as usual, as I pounded the tarmac.  I cannot say that I felt any different than last run.  If anything, the tiredness that I felt during the last run was worse that I felt on this Monday.  That would mean that this Monday’s run was just usual, with the usual tiredness.  I finished the 27k in 2hr 25min.  That 5min 21sec average time for kilometre, is the very same average that I did during the last run.  That would mean that my run pace had not deteriorated after that jab.  I was surely still the same old me.

All could have ended well on that Day 7, until my stomach become the running type in the early evening after dinner.  I did not know whether to attribute this to the refrigerated food or to any other cause.  Apart from that, I was still normal with the residual tiredness of the run.  Nonetheless, I was back to 100% normal as I woke up on Day 8, today Tuesday.  I have been well without any pains or discomfort since morning.  

Even as the total corona infections* globally now hit a high of 137,834,958 with 2,965,968 deaths and 110,837,950 recoveries, with Kenyan numbers being 147,147; 2,394 and 99,580 respectively.  Even as the debate on whether to take the vaccine or not take the vaccine continues.  My own experience tells me that the AZ vaccine has no adverse effect at all on the human body after vaccine, at least the first jab.  It is a shot on the arm like any other… and then you forget that it ever happened.  Maybe the shot number two of June 1 will have its own story?

*source: worldometers

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, April 13, 2021

When you run into a vaccine, do not wait

When you run into a vaccine, do not wait

The notification came in late.  As late as night time during the Easter Monday holiday.  Who even checks official email during the holiday?  And at night for that matter!?

Anyway, that is when the information that there would be a free vaccination camp was disseminated.  It would be held on the very next day, if anything, in just a few hours’ time.  It was a voluntary jab, but it was available… for free.  It was a moment of reflection and decision.  

The official vaccine in Kenya is the Astra-Zeneca release.  The same AZ that had gotten bad publicity in Europe and South Africa, leading to the stoppage of its administration for some time before resumption in Europe, with SA not reusing it thereafter.  The claim against AZ was that there were cases of blood clot manifestation observed on those who had taken it.  The SA people had accused the jab of not being effective at all.

I had followed the story to the conclusion that there was no correlation between the particular jab and the clots.  The clot was just an observation that could be observed on any jab anyway.  The SA twist was due to change of virus variant.  However, that episode had already given AZ a bad nametag.  Even the motherland that had received the first batch of one-million doses had not survived the vaccine hesitancy.  

Many weeks later, since the arrival of the vaccines in early March, and the government was still convincing the seemingly reluctant front-line workers to be vaccinated.  The elderly were also getting reluctant.  A colleague even confessed to me that her elderly mum had said a big ‘No’ when presented with the opportunity for the vaccine.  Her rejection was because she did not ‘trust’ the vaccine, a vaccine, any vaccine.

I had only a few hours to decide whether I shall partake of this jab or not.  The vaccine was surely AZ, as the only free jab authorized for public use in Kenya.  It was a two-shot regime, meaning that once you get into the first jab, then you are stuck in the mix, and must be available for the next jab some four to eight weeks later.  

I had woken up on this decision day Tuesday with a decision to make.  Should I, or should I not?  I kept juggling the dichotomy in my mind for the first hours of the morning.  I would later observe the camp already setup and a few people already on queue.  An ambulance parked next to the tents and the vaccination exercise was surely a real thing.

My decision was made around ten, when I saw myself walk to the vaccination tent.  The decision was partly made due to a ‘friendly reminder’ that the boss had given to his staff.  Telling them that when a vaccine comes your way – whichever the name – so long as it is an approved WHO COVID19 vaccine, then do not even think about it.  Take it! (Ask later).  

I have known the boss with those ‘friendly’ ones.  They usually mean compulsion.  When there is no compulsion then the reminder is usually just a ‘reminder’.  So, when he gave that ‘friendly’ one just last week, I knew that there was no thinking much about this.  This was the direction and I knew that very soon even employment terms of service would have something to do with vaccine-compliance.  I know how these things work.  When cloudy, prepare for rain.

I would soon be registering my name and telephone number on an attendance sheet.  Then I would be soon seated with a social-distanced group of about fifty.  We just sat and waited, not knowing what to expect.  Just ahead was a fully covered tent, with an entrance fleece, and there must have been an exit on the other end, since those who went in did not come out.  

On this front entrance stood a staff who would call two names at a time into the tent.  What was going on there?  I imagined that going through the tent would lead to another ‘proper’ registration process, followed by the vaccine administration somewhere ahead.  I kept waiting.  We kept waiting.  It took about an hour before my name was called to that tent.  I had my temperature taken with a handheld thermo-gun as I got into that tent.

“Keep that temperature, it shall be required later on,” the staffer who had taken the temperature reminded me, even as I took one of the two seats in that tent.  Straight ahead were two medics in white, with two other people seated next to them.  These two people were now just getting up to leave.

I was taken aback, since I was immediately called to that opposite side of this open internal space and asked to take one of those now vacant seats.  The lady in white then proceeded to state that she was about to administer the vaccine and wanted me to roll over my left sleeve.  It was so soon!  So unexpected!  It was it!  These two medics were doing the vaccinations right here and right now on this very tent!  I was not yet ready!  I thought that I would still be getting through the hula-hoops before I ‘finally’ get to the vaccination thing.  

I unrolled my left sleeve as the lady went ahead to prepare whatever she was preparing.  I was not even looking at her actions when I felt nothing on my arm, apart from the piece of cotton that she pressed on the upper outer arm for some five seconds, before throwing it away onto a bin.  I was still seated, when she reminded, “I am done, you can pass through and register your details at the next tent”

That was the most unfelt prick ever!  I would have sworn that she did not even inject the arm, had it not been for the used syringe and needle that I observed her dispose on a bin together with that cotton bud.  I had even felt the arm kind of ‘fill-up’ during the yellow fever jab many years ago, being the last time I had an adulthood injection, but this one, nada!  Having survived the unfelt injection that had come and gone so soon, I was full of relief and ready to join in the chatter that was ongoing on the other side of the vaccination booth.  That ‘other side’ meant for the registrations was full of life.  People must have really ‘enjoyed’ their shots, judging by their moods and high spirits.  Everyone was as jovial as never before.

We would soon face another queue of about fifty as we waited for the people operating the four or so computers on the tables centrally located on the big tent to register us.  The movement along the queue was slow!  But who cares!  The vaccination thing that was taking the world by storm was now already done.  The very AZ vaccine that was under bad publicity and hesitancy was now in my system, our systems.

I was finally seated at the registration desk some thirty minutes or so later.  The details being recorded on the computer system were personal details and those of next of kin, followed by being informed to be ready for the next shot ‘on June 1’.

“Hey, WB, do not leave,” someone drew my attention, just as I was getting up from the registration desk about to exit and leave the camp.

I looked around and saw a familiar face, “We want you to help in the registration.  Sit there and get started,” she pointed to the slot just next to where I had been registered.

I took the seat and faced a registration screen full of blanks.  A staffer of the vaccination team gave me an orientation on how to navigate the screens.  From there on it was a breeze… and this strategy of having many people participate in the registration saved the day.  It was not long before we had cleared the once full tent.  

Having seen the registration system, my only barb to the government was their ‘love’ for data duplication!  We had to re-record everything that is already on the national ID cards!  Wasn’t Huduma number the solution to all these data duplication mess!  Imagine typing the same same info that is on the ID, instead of just querying the central Huduma system to population all these!  

Every re-keying in of data introduces wasted times and the new data is prone to errors, especially telephone numbers, email addresses, spellings of names and even ID numbers being recorded incorrectly.  This Huduma project seemed to have been another ‘ghost’, in the increasing items on the list, though it was a noble project with a good intention.  But do not just take my word for it.  You could have seen the time wasted when we had to confirm and reconfirm details that are already with the government central database anyway.

Whether there is vaccine hesitancy or not shall remain to be seen.  Maybe I was just at a vaccine ‘friendly’ camp, since the doses claimed to be four-hundred would soon be finished even before the expected four-o’clock closure… with many more people still queueing.  With global COVID19* infections standing at 132,800,387 with 2,878,681 deaths, with Kenyan numbers being 139,842 and 2,258 respectively, it is a no-brainer that ‘anything that helps’ is better than nothing.  And that ‘anything’ is the COVID19 vaccine, be it AZ, Johnsons and Johnsons, Pfizer-Biontech or Moderna.  

*source: worldometers website

Even Sputnik V, already available in some Kenyan private medical facilities ‘for emergency use’ should be taken wholehearted within a second thought.  Even our southern neighbour, TZ, under a new leader has now acknowledged that ‘uviko-kumi-na-tisa’ is a real thing and any tools in our arsenal to conquer corona is one more conquest for humanity.  The speech of the new leader even elicited praise from the citizens, as I saw on that news ticker at the bottom of TBC news… ‘wananchi waifagilia hotuba ya rais…’  This was a complete U-turn from the denial tendencies that had been the modus operandi of our southern neighbour for long.

Vaccines have and have always had debates, issues, pros, cons and theories of conspiracy.  I would join the boss in a ‘friendly’ persuasion for those who are still hesitant.  The vaccine may not prevent you from contacting the corona virus and getting COVID19.  However, you have almost a guarantee that you shall not suffer adverse effects that would usually call for hospitalization need the related complications that can include the need for induced oxygen intake and ventilator life support.  The vaccine shall enable you just probably experience mild COVID19 symptoms and survive at home, without much ado, should you be unfortunate to contract the corona virus.  The choice remains yours but… when you run into the vaccine, do not wait, go for it.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, April 6, 2021

Easter? Which Easter?

Easter? Which Easter?

It was a Monday, April 5.  A Monday is usually a run day and so I was out for the run at three.  With curfew hours starting early, I really wanted to be done with the run in good time – as ‘good time’ as six, so that I can start walking home around seven.

My weekly runs have remained the same, on the same old proven route from Uthiru via Kapenguria road to Lower Kebete road, then a run through the Uni farm after Mary Leakey school, and finally a run on Kanyariri road to Gitaru and back.  The run would however prove to be not so old, since I started feeling the running pains hardly 12km into the run, just as I emerged at ‘the tank’ to then join Kanyariri road to start the journey to Gitaru.  

I could feel the pain on my legs, the type of pain that wants to force you to just stop running.  Each step became forced and painful.  I really thought about stopping and turning back, but this was not an option, being over ten kilometres from the finish line.  A walk over a ten-kilometre stretch would surely take forever!  I had no option on this one.  I just kept running as planned, and absorbed the pain on each step.

It was music when I finally did the U-turn on the Gitaru-Wangige road to now start my run back, mainly on Kanyariri road all the way to Ndumbo market, then just cross Waiyaki way and I am home.  That lessened the mental pain, but the physical pain continued.

I just had to collapse on the 28.63km mark.  The spirit was telling me to go those extra 400m to make it a well-rounded 29k, but there was no way for that to happen.  My body was completely gone.  My legs could hardly move.  I even wondered how I managed to do the run the return leg of the run from that U-turn to the finish line.  The legs were the most painful and resistant to movement for the first time in a long time.  It was a real struggle doing this 2.33.24 run.  However, no two runs are ever the same, and this turned out to be one of those runs.

It was after walking home to beat the eight o’clock curfew, albeit with a slight limp due to my compromised left foot, and tuning in to the local news, that I found out that it was a holiday!  It was actually Easter Monday!  I was even surprised that there was a holiday period of several days!  Life has been the same old ‘new normal’ that holidays are no longer a big deal.  With no congregations and no gatherings, the 4-day Easter holiday went unnoticed.  It could as well have been any other day.

But bad news did not end with the end of Easter as we know it.  Humanity still had to contend with this thing called Corona virus.  The virus that causes this COVID19 disease.  The disease that has been on an infection rampage and has led to disruption of life as we know it… including the eight PM curfew, and the lockdown of the red zone of Nairobi, Nakuru, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado, where there is no getting in or out of ‘the zone’.

But do not even take my word for it.  Just look at the grim stats* of today – 132,235,128 total confirmed infections globally, with 2,869,803 deaths.  The Kenya numbers are 139,448 and 2,244 respectively.  These are the numbers that represent the reality of the situation.  However, it is not all grim - we have vaccines already being administered, which lessen the burden of the disease even if one gets infected after vaccination.  

Despite vaccines, we already have the proven control measures of social distancing, masking and hand washing, which lessen the chances of transmission and infection in the first place.  We are inconvenienced, yes, but there is hope... and soon.  And that vaccine thing is the next subject of the blog story, with a live experience.

*worldometers website

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, April 5, 2021