Adhering to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) recommendations on how to control the spread of the Corona virus has been a challenge for Americans. However, some of our readers in The Gambia, South Africa, and Senegal, say the challenge in the homeland can be even tougher because of societal and cultural mores and infrastructural challenges that are less common in the United States. One American reader in Kenya, however, chose to face the crises in the homeland and is using the time to "actually think undistracted and focus."

In Gambia, Bloomberg News reporter Modoof Joof says some of the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines are a challenge to implement in the West African nation whereas others are nearly impossible. He explained that traditional eating culture supports between three and ten people having a meal together, often sharing the same serving dish. “But in certain cases, like when one is sick in the family, they are most likely to be dished a plate of their own. I have seen this done for tuberculosis (TB) patients,” said the reporter of “Immigration Is a Black Issue, Too: A Look at Gambians Who Send Big Money Home,” that appeared recently in Port Of Harlem.

In South Africa, Lorato Trok sees infrastructural problems make something as seemingly simple as washing ones hands problematic. “Some poorer and rural communities have not had water for a long time and have no way of washing hands as frequently as they should,” says the author of “Against All Odds – The Story of Rosina Sedibane Modiba.”

After visiting family in Ziguinchor, Senegal, Elisbeth Atchikiti won’t be coming back to America anytime soon.  Planes are not currently flying between Senegal and Europe and on to the United States.  The Metro DC resident added that some people in her relatives’ neighborhood are following the new rules, but “some people cannot stay home because they have to buy vegetables or peanuts to sell every day at the market just to survive. And there is not any help coming from the government yet.”

Like , Atchikiti, Los Angelian Meredith Beal is in Africa, but he says he is not “stuck.” “It is refreshing lying in the warm African sun on an 80 degree day enjoying the fresh air and listening to nature. I prefer to navigate the crisis from this side,” he continued.

He arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, via Istanbul, Turkey, just two days before the East African government imposed 14-day quarantines on Americans. The media/technology advisor, who supports capacity building on the African continent, has been living in Kenya since 2011 and says he has a health plan that includes ambulance and evacuation services. Beal also penned Maritime Arctic Peace Sanctuary Discussed in Nairobi for Port Of Harlem.

He added that he prays for two fellow Americans who opted to return to the States from Istanbul." There were no flights to anywhere in the US via Turkish Airlines. I imagine they probably were on a 7-10 day trip and couldn’t stay longer and the prospect of having to stay 14 days or perhaps longer was scary for them.”

Back on Africa’s Smiling Coast, Joof also sees religious, cultural, and traditional barriers. He reported that Muslims, who make up 90 percent of the Gambia’s population, “are still observing the five daily prayers in mosques. In rural communities, where the idea of community culture is inherent, people are still sitting in groups of more than 10 in “bantabas” (community meeting points).  In urban areas, youths are still sitting in groups brewing and drinking “attaya” (green tea).

There is currently only one testing center in Gambia, with more coming via a Jack Ma donation, and three confirmed cases.  But, to ask those three people to isolate themselves may prove to be a herculean task since there is no room in which to isolate someone. “This is because families of four or more people often live in a room with a parlour and families of eight or more people may live in two or three rooms and a parlour,” added Joof. 

In addition to tight sleeping arrangements, with two to three people sharing one bed, “the whole household may share the same bathroom,” added Joof. It would be a struggle, he concedes, for a poor country, such as Gambia, to provide for those who need to quarantine and self-isolate themselves.

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Los Angelian Meredith Beal is in Africa, but he says he is not “stuck.” “It is refreshing lying in the warm African sun on an 80 degree day enjoying the fresh air and listening to nature. I prefer to navigate the crisis from this side,” he continued.

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But the challenges faced in the homeland are similar to what urban New Yorkers have experienced. Most people in Gambia rely on commercial transportation. It is practically impossible to practice social distancing in such situations where public transportation is the only available means and there are no checks to ensure that riders practice social distancing.

While the virus attack has people at home and abroad in the defensive mode, Atchikiti sits in Senegal waiting for the planes to start flying again. While on the computer talking to her ten-year-old son  in America, she asked him, “What do you want from Africa?” He replied, “My mom.”

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