Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The 1.5 meter Community

We've been living 1.5 meters apart from everyone since mid-March.
There are lines taped on the floor of stores to remind you to stay 1.5 meters away from other shoppers. You are not allowed into a grocery store without a cart (makes you keep your distance). And only one person per family may go into a grocery store at a time. Or each person must have a cart. Grocery stores only put out a limited number of carts. If the store has too many people in it, you wait outside until a cart becomes available.

We started to have coffee with a couple of ladies from church every other month or so. They hated to miss it, so we arranged to meet in the open air (cafe closed, anyway) where we could keep 1.5 meters apart. There were signs posted in the park, just in case we forgot. We didn't drink any coffee, but we enjoyed our time together.

Oddly enough, staying apart has been bringing people together. We help each other, and not just by social distancing to limit the spread of the virus. One woman in our community sewed over 100 face masks for health-care workers. Another has no-questions-asked food bank in her little paved front yard. People bring food. People take food. People trade food they got from the official food bank (often exotic items the grocery store couldn't sell) for food from this neighborhood food bank.
How have you been living together . . . while safely staying apart?




Friday, May 8, 2020

(Teddy) Bear Hunt--Only Together

AllenSamenONLY TOGETHER or  solely by working together is a rough translation of the campaign to combat the corona virus. 
For example, shortly after Dutch schools closed, people started putting teddy bears in their windows. Children could still go outside, alone with family members. The whole country, though, worked together to lighten the mood for the children. While they are walking or biking from here to there, they can go on a bear hunt.
How many teddy bears in this block? Any new ones today?
It's fun to look for bears, no matter how old/young you are.
And it's encouraging to see how many households participate, no matter how young/old they are. Some houses have at least 3 bears in as many different windows! It's a small but significant way to be together, even when we need to stay apart.