Interview of my favorite person

29/04/2020

Dear diary,

This quarantine has been long and in some cases difficult. Today I want to talk about my girlfriend; about her testimony and how having a distance relationship brings happiness to my life every day, even with these conditions. My girlfriend’s name is Melissa, she is 20 years old, she is from Barranquilla and she lives there too. The quarantine for Melissa brought good and bad things, within this time she had the chance to know her better and to dedicate more time to her. She hates virtual classes because professors just give work and do not really explain the topics and she feels that she is learning nothing. She also thinks that her university was not prepared for this crisis and that is why the learning process plus the delay on the schedule has been a pain during this period. She is very privileged because she lives in a city close to the sea. She misses many things like going to the beach, feel the sun, hang out with friends, going out to eat, the physical spaces of her university and visit relatives. Therefore, the first thing that she is going to do when the quarantine is over will be visit her grandmother. This space brought many thinking to Melissa, for sure she has to learn how to drive and she made think when she said that we are not really appreciating the interaction with people which is very important to her. However, the experience has not been traumatic for her, she found out many things to do and she adapted to the situation. The things that she mostly does is talk with her boyfriend (me), do exercise, and stay around with her family. Her family adapted too, they spend more time together and well, her father is a doctor so life has not changed for him a lot, but in general, everything has been great so far. Now the sad part for me and for her is that this quarantine took away the opportunity of seeing each other, as I mentioned in earlier posts. However, having a distance relationship and a quarantine relationship is not too different, and we always find the way to do new things, talk and have fun. Personally, I enjoy a lot my relationship, the happiness that it brings to my life can’t be described, and I hope to see her soon. Nevertheless, lets continue with Melissa’s thoughts. She believes that the quarantine brought good things and now we are more conscious that simple things should be appreciated more. Finally, she thinks that this is an opportunity to change the world and of course she thinks that many things will change for the benefit of humanity (if the world does not change then humanity sucks). I want to end this post saying thanks to her and to dedicate it to her and as I always say I am very privileged because of the things that I have, but most importantly for people that surrounds me, and Melissa is one of them. I love you Melissa, you are the proof that is time to love too, even in the distance.

The opportunity of the crisis

23/04/2020

Dear diary,

As I said before I am very privileged, and one of the main factors to think that is the role of my university EAFIT, in my life. The transition was not easy, because I really like to go to my university and receive class. I am not one of those students that is always in the university just doing anything. You can easily say that I just go, attend to class, and go back home, but I am still thankful with the effort and efficiency that EAFIT has put on this process. It was not easy to move from a physical space to my laptop and just do everything on it, I think that it was very quick and I have many distractions in my home. However, everything is possible so it is a matter of putting my part too and adapting became easier thinking like that and not just complaining. I think that my professors have done everything on their hands and without them, this process would be a lot more difficult. I felt great being conscious that my professors are not just giving us work (ok I have a lot of work, but in a proper way), they do care about classes and students. I also want to point out how organized my university is, and how it adapted everything in an excellent way (at least in my case). I know about some other institutions which behavior during this crisis made me think that I made the right choice when choosing EAFIT, and of course, that makes me feel privileged. Ok ok... having classes online is not perfect and I would love to return to my normal classes, even with the fact that I live far from EAFIT. However, this whole situation made me think that what we really love is our environment, and changing that in one week cause a huge shock. But in order to get my point I am going to explain you better. I love to wake up, eat my breakfast, take the bus, be on my university, see my friends, comeback to my house, go to the aquatic complex, play my weird sport, comeback to my house, talk with my girlfriend, and go to bed. That’s my routine, that’s my life, and I am happy with it, but now I realize that what really changed is the environment, because (at least in my case) I conserve the same life, I just need to adapt it to these new circumstances. Crisis often bring good changes and I hope this is one of those cases. For example in my case, it made me think about mi capacity of adaptation because at the end of the day, virtuality is the future and many things are going to change. Having classes online is a challenge right now, but it is the near future, so don’t look at it as something bad, this is our opportunity to have that first contact, adapt, and be better prepared for what its coming.

The good faces of the crisis

16/04/2020

Dear diary,

Crisis often bring bad things, but we always can rescue something when we are having a bad time. That is why today, I am going to talk a little bit about those companies that deserve to be recognized. I said before that people have memory, and I am sure that we, as society will have a positive posture towards the actors that actually helped. First, lets talk about Google which gave access to the premium services that it offers, allowing many companies and people to work from home. Then, we have Microsoft, which gave free access to Microsoft Teams, a tool that I am hearing more in my environment than Netflix (I wouldn’t imagine that to happen during a quarantine) and that is great and easy to use. Now, let’s go to something more physical, like Rappi having a complete service and probably you are thinking “well that is what Rappi is normally doing” but then I saw many cases were people appreciate the job of Rappi workers in many ways, which literally have to go outside and get us stuff just making our life easier. Let’s have a look on those companies that understand that during crisis times you have to make sacrifices, like Arturo Calle that still pays to his workers allowing them to buy food and things necessary for living. Finally, the only way of helping is not just giving things or gifts, also to protect your customers through responsible strategies. I am talking about many supermarkets that respect governmental policies, that allow buying limited amount of things that everybody needs, and taking care of their employees. I personally feel happy by being at home, and I am very thankful because there are many people out there that would love to be in my place. For those out there, thank you, and for those that feel sad, I know it is a hard time, but it could be worst, and remember that somebody out there would love to have your position. Stay at home, and feel thankful with those that work for you and sometimes you don’t give them the proper recognition when a crisis is not happening.

Proud of my places

15/04/2020

Dear diary,

As I said before I am one of those privileged that can stay at home without any worries. One of the main reason for that is my university, EAFIT that is an example of responsibility and organization during crisis times. I feel sad because obviously, I want to go outside and do whatever, but at least I can study from home. I think the process of learning changed completely but I am glad that I have the backup of my university. EAFIT as a university has a huge role for the society just for the fact of being one of the centers for learning processes. I remember when I received the mail that cancelled all our classes for one week, normally you think “oh great I don’t have class for one week”, but then I release that life is giving us a lesson because right now I would love to stay in a classroom seeing people or just receiving a lecture. EAFIT was very responsible with us, and is still being responsible and putting all the effort through the professors that give us class every day. In addition, I have to point out how human my university is, allowing students with problems to borrow computers and receive class, or even promoting events in order to support students with any kind of problem, from economic to psychological. I don’t like the virtual classes, but I’m conscious of the effort that my university and my professors are putting in the process, and just for that corresponds me to put my part too. Sometimes I think that I am having a hard time, and well I am not happy at all, but then I think that my university is giving me all the guarantees even on the distance, is very well organized, and gave us great advices in terms of well behavior. EAFIT can be a great example of organization in comparison with other universities, gave us all the tools that we need, give us responsible advices that are in the same line with the governmental policies, and finally, made me think that I made the right decision choosing the institution that gives me knowledge. 

  

Now, let’s have a bigger picture on my country Colombia. Colombia is one of those countries not very affected by the virus, but I think the government within on what is capable of, made the right choices. I am worried for that people that is suffering and as I said in one of my posts, that living for them depends on going outside. But let’s look to the policies, right now they are very simple, just trying to stay at home and get what is necessary for living, and now I am glad to see that Colombian people can be very solidary. Many people complain, because of course that is the main thing that you do when doing nothing. That’s why I have to give the point to the government, and I mean the regional and the national. First, I think all regional governments are aligned in the same line trying to stop the situation. Second, believe it or not the country is already prepared for a worst situation than the one that we are living today, I think it took the right choices because running a country is not as simple as saying “close everything now”. And personally I think this is one of those countries accustomed to crisis, so I have faith.  Finally, I think that the government is still doing a good job, provide us with information every day, and give us the proper recommendations (another thing is that people do not comply), but in general terms we always can be worst. The situation is not perfect but just look to our neighbors and then to us, and then understand that this country is still moving and working to prevent worse scenarios.

How the COVID-19 brought happiness to my family

13/04/2020 

Dear diary,

My sister had a curious vacation, she is from Colombia, she lives and works in Guatemala, and she was on vacation in Argentina. What a crazy time to travel, right? As I said before it is horrible how everything went wrong with the emergency that is living the world today, but somehow it brought happiness to my family and of course to me. My sister was on vacation in Argentina when the virus was an issue of “others”. She did what everybody should do when traveling to Argentina, drink wine and eat great meat. Argentina is one of those Latin-American countries where the coronavirus arrived first, but let’s take a look to the policies of this huge country. When my sister arrived to Argentina on March 7, the government wasn’t implementing anything against the crisis, it was until March 14 that Argentina made the schools close. On March 16, Argentina gave the first licenses to work remotely, and on the same day Argentina closed the frontiers, but do not panic, my sister was not trapped... yet. On March 19, the government of Argentina launched the preventive social isolation for the entire population, and yes, my sister was still in Argentina. On March 20, Argentina put maximal prices for basic goods, to prevent the abuse of those that want to take advantage of crisis, and yes, my sister was still in Argentina. On March 21, my sister finally got a flight to travel to Guatemala, because she was not worried about the virus, she was worried about her job and her boss.

She went from Buenos Aires to Panama, could you imagine? Panama! The country that works thanks to the flow of goods, services, and people. My sister was supposed to go from Panama to Guatemala, but Guatemala closed the frontier before my sister put a step on Panama. Guatemala is a great example of responsibility, this country took procedures even before when the first case arrived, and that is why today, the number of cases is not huge in comparison with other countries. Of course, that is great for Guatemala, not for my sister. However, let’s see what Panama did, or didn’t. Panama is very known for the curious method of letting people go outside, I am talking about gender classification. Some days Panama allows going to outside just women, and the rest of the days the men. Sadly, On April 1, Panama became the country with most cases of coronavirus in Central America, but as I said before, how are you going to close a country that “lives” thanks to the flows?

My sister found a flight to Medellin, I was happy because my sister was coming, but I was worried because of the risk that she represented. She was happy because she could work from Colombia, but she was worried because she left her computer in Guatemala and the only computer available was mine. Finally and after a long trip, she got home. We were very happy, but we could not hug her after 7 days, but we were worried because my dad is 75 years old, and my mom had some health issues related with her lungs. Picture yourself in that situation. My sister came just in time because on March 21 Antioquia had curfew, and Colombia was starting to close airports. Colombia did not has a lot of cases back then, and thanks god that after 7 days my sister didn’t showed symptoms. So not everything is sad about the situation, just that I have to share my computer. In conclusion, COVID-19 has brought pain and suffering, but somehow it brought my sister back, made my family unite again, and that makes me really happy.

One medicine, One health should be prioritized

3/04/2020

Dear diary,

Staying at home has been a good experience for me, I really enjoy having time with my family, I have food, I can study, I can do many things, and I am one of those privileged that can just be quiet with no fear. But, what about those that cannot be like me? That their lives depend on what they do every day outside of their homes. I think that this is the perfect situation to show that medicine and economy are interconnected, and also that we are not really paying attention to the useful initiatives like the one that I talk about in my last post. Investing in medicine is very important, paying attention to the initiatives like one health one medicine could be very useful to those countries that prioritize economy above environment and people, because let’s think about it, with people at home, to who are you going to sell your goods and services? This situation also made me rethink what kind of stuff we need every day and what does not, then I realize that the people involved in the processes in which my life depend on like medicine and food are not really important for the world under “normal conditions”. We need to be healthy and we need food, and its ok to have fun with a sport, social media or just watching TV, but how much are we paying to a soccer player rather than the farmer that we need for our daily living. How much are we investing in more and more enterprises rather than investigations of our health and the correlation that it has with animals and the environment?

I practice underwater hockey (a very weird sport) and one of my teachers taught me about many muscles that we do not really use, and those muscles can make us better in our performance. He also told me that almost the 95% of the entire population walks with a bad posture. I asked my teacher why we do not know that kind of useful stuff or at least somebody that advices us, and then he answered something that can be proper for this situation “the body doesn’t come with instructions”. The world is not really using what it really need, we prefer to be on instagram rather than learning more about how certain behaviors affect our health, we prefer to watch a soccer match rather than supporting the scientific field. We as humanity are walking in a bad posture, and I hope that this experience teach us what really matters, anyways I think that after this we are going back to the same world but of course because nobody gave us instructions.    

One medicine, One health could save my trip

3/04/2020

Dear diary,

Today I am living in a world that is stuck, no economy, and no social interaction. The reason is very simple: coronavirus. It ruined all my plans because I should be in a beach with my girlfriend right now, drinking some beer and having fun, but just because a little thing that is a virus (literally a microscopic thing) could not be handled in the proper way, the whole situation went wrong. The origin of this virus is not confirmed, but the real facts show that this virus is not new and can potentially affect animals, like chickens and some others that interact with us. I was thinking about my trip, but now I am thinking about one medicine one health concept because that could save my trip. I am going to explain it very quickly; one medicine one health concept is about taking into account the medicine as a whole. It means studying the animal medicine and the human medicine together and not separately as the traditional schools do, because at the end of the day, they are tight together because of the interaction that I already mention, but I am going to explain that later. This concept is not new and that makes feel angry because as I mention before I should be in a beach having fun with people that I love and not writing a blog of how sad I am feeling. However, I am right here, right now, stuck at home which I enjoy a lot but makes me rethink many things that could be done. The goal of this initiative is to promote application of a cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary approach to mitigate existing or potential risks to health that arise from the interactions of humans, animals and the environment. Now, having the goal clear I understand that this initiative should be promoted in better ways because despite of being a formal approach since 2006, it has not been very developed at a local level. Now I understand that if I join human and animal medicine that is going to give me a bigger picture in terms of diseases, or even medical improvements, and having it in the right manner, save us of the causes of our own interactions with the animals and the environment, and of course save my trip.