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  • Writer's pictureSimsy Marie

As the Crisis Deepens


The healthcare system in Trinidad and Tobago is 10 days away from being overwhelmed at the current rate of coronavirus spread. As a Trinidadian living abroad, this news is frightening. Hasani and I have spent the last year physically in London with our hearts in Trinidad. We worry about our family, we long for the day we can hug our loved ones, and we want to show Alba her homeland.


Here in London restrictions are being lifted and vaccine rollouts are going well. Walking through my neighbourhood, I see the local pizzeria, pub, and Turkish restaurant have re-opened and customers are in the outdoor dining areas. I am concerned about the lack of social distancing, but relieved they survived the year of lockdowns. Yet, I cannot share in their excitement and happiness. Trinidad consumes my thoughts. I feel like an outsider looking in.


My past year has been spent in the apartment with Hasani and Alba. We left our neighbourhood twice, once for Alba’s passport and the second time for her visa appointment. Lockdown in Europe is different from lockdown in Trinidad. In Trinidad the economy cannot withstand complete and lengthy lockdowns. People need to work to eat.


It is the same in India and Latin America, except on a larger scale. In India there are calls for a national lockdown even though the last one forced 75 million people into poverty. But the covid death toll is so high that carparks are being turned into crematoriums. In Brazil, young women are being urged to delay getting pregnant if they can, because the new variant is having a greater effect in pregnant women, and over 1,300 babies have died from covid. Hunger is sweeping the favelas as people line up daily from 3am for a meal from charities. In the developing world our only chance seems to be an effective vaccination rollout.


Hasani and I would like to return to Trinidad to live one day. We want Alba to grow up in a culture where she is never made to feel less than anyone. We want her to know her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, and her cousins. But we also want her to grow up in a safe and stable environment. We worry about Trinidad’s economy every day. We worry about the crime that is already out of control and the effect covid regulations and job losses will have on it. We worry about our family and our friends.


I know what it’s like to hug someone before you leave the country, and never see them alive again. I hurt for those who have had to say goodbye to loved ones via skype and zoom because of covid restrictions. I hurt for those who have missed births, baptisms, and weddings. I hurt for all the families separated that don’t know when next they will see each other. I pray we all make it through.




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