All challenges can be overcome … so can Coronavirus be.
Positive Minds | Positive Stories | Edition 001
Credit: Jonathan Ouimet | Unsplash, Photos for everyone
This blog is part of the COVID-19 Positive Thinking series. More blogs on COVID-19 here.
In life, certain events mark us forever; for good or for bad. The event that marked me the most happened in the mid-70s, when I was just six years old.
My father had just been assigned as a primary school teacher in Koundian, a small remote village in the county of Bafoulabé (which takes its name from the river of the same name), in the Kayes region, Republic of Mali. Tired of waiting for a taxi-brousse; my father, my cousin Adama Koroba (the big Adama, in Bambara) and myself, Adama Fitini (the little Adama) decided to walk the 51 kilometres between Mahina and Koundian.
After about 4 hours of walking, we reached an affluent of the Bafoulabé river we crossed by pirogue. On the other bank of the river; a tragedy occurs. As I carefully washed my dusty feet one after the other, Dad, an authoritarian father-whose favourite quote is « qui aime bien châtie bien » (spare a rod and spoil the child)-ordered me to hurry up and to wash both my feet together. As soon as I put my second foot into the water, the violent current of the river swept me, and its waves carried me away. A bitter struggle for survival started...
In my struggle, the current threw me off the bank. Drawing on my last reserves of energy, I was miraculously given a treecreeper to hold on to, swallowing a mouthful of water as never before. Exhausted by the successive waves, I was about to let go when I saw Dad swimming towards me. With superhuman effort, I managed to hold on.
Moments later, I was on land; lying on my back, completely baffled. Both my father and my cousin, Adama Koroba, abhorred big smiles of relief. I was breathing heavily. Water was still dripping from my mouth, from my nostrils, from my eyes... I never drank so much in my life.
When I get a grip on myself, Dad looked at me and said, “Allah ye saraka mina,” (God has accepted alms). “Walayi, Allah ye saraka mina,” Adama Koroba repeated.
After this dark episode, we resumed our walk to Koundia. Dad insisted on carrying me on his back for the rest of the journey. I chose to walk to prove to myself, but also to Dad and Adama Koroba, that the worst was behind and I must move forward. After a few miles, my legs could no longer stand under my 20+ kilos of an eater of Tô with okra sauce (a sorghum or maize-based dish very popular in Mali). It was then that I resolved to accept, not without shame, Dad’s generous offer I had previously rejected.
This terrible experience taught a valuable life lesson to a 6-year-old boy I was: you don't overcome a challenge with obsessive fear and despair; you overcome a challenge by facing it head-on with faith, courage, determination and hope. That day, my desire to live outweighed my fear of dying. My determination and courage saved me from drowning.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the challenge of the century for humanity. By facing COVID-19, together, with faith, courage, determination and hope, humanity will be victorious over yet another pandemic as it was against the Black Death or the Spanish flu.
