O Coronavirus!

O my brother, our beautiful home is attacked and invaded by coronavirus

Called Covid-19! Because it broke out in December 2019 in China.

It is caused by a virus called Sars

Which simply means severe acute respiratory syndrome

The Magic Bracelet

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Dear Callum: I don’t really think I even believe that you’re gone

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Greystones you are

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We all know that coronavirus is real and deadly

When it broke out,

We thought we were going to be defeated.

O coronavirus.

But now we know you

You are not cleverer than us

We know all your tricks

You have corrupted some scientists

Who are telling us that the vaccine to fight you is fake

O coronavirus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

O Covid-19, we know you better than yourself.

We shall never be scared by those lies that the vaccine will weaken our immune system

And is not going to defeat you.

O Covid-19, what a lie.

This lie is your last dying kick

By being vaccinated and following the guidelines from the Ministry of Health,

We shall conquer you

You shall never escape from our hands.

O coronavirus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

Today, you have just become like any disease.

You are no longer the pandemic we knew 2 years ago.

Sooner or later you will find yourself to be harmless.

You shall be like any ordinary disease

You shall just become part of history

Because you have no capacity to continue threatening us.

You cannot enslave us, O coronavirus!

Remember when you just broke out,

You sent us a threatening wave

Which saw our learning institutions closed

We thought we were in for it

But thank you God and technology.

We have managed to tame you

Though you are still playing the tricks of mutation

You are getting nowhere, O coronavirus.

O corona rus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

We know how cunning you are, O coronavirus.

It was yesterday when you took my brother, my sister, my teacher and my president.

Family ties have been broken.

Subjecting us to untold misery

You have robbed us, the people who could have empowered us with knowledge

Such as teachers, lecturers and scientists.

Not forgetting doctors and nurses who died while fighting you

You made us look for a better way of learning.

While in the midst of the war between you and man

We resorted to e-learning because you could not allow us to come together

O coronavirus,

The death of our beloved relatives and friends have made us more united than ever.

We shall ensure that you are completely eliminated from the face of the Earth

Because God is with us and shall be with us to the end.

Sooner or later you shall be dancing to our songs and beats

You shall regret attacking mankind.

You shall curse the first day you attacked humanity.

What a grave mistake that you made O coronavirus.

O coronavirus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

Our culture has changed

No handshake, no matter how close someone is to you

No kissing of loved ones

No getting nearer to someone you love

Avoiding touching the eyes, the nose and mouth

You have created a social barrier for mankind

You have limited the number of people to attend funerals and burials

We cannot give a nice sendoff burial to our beloved ones because of you

O coronavirus

You are indeed evil

You have made us adopt a new normal

Masking up every time we are we in a public place

Sanitizing whenever we touch any object.

Observing at least a distance of 1 metre apart

O coronavirus, I miss the days when I kissed my mother,

The days I had handshakes with my best friend

The days I interacted with my teacher.

O coronavirus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

An assurance that things will be fine in the near future is what my brother, my sister are looking for.

Lord we look up to you for your healing hand

For we are nothing in the midst of coronavirus

Only with your involvement and technology can we fight and defeat coronavirus

The war against coronavirus was not designed for us Almighty Father

Cry my beloved country Zambia, cry Africa, cry the entire world

Together we should stand up against this battle

Let us forget our differences, let us stop hating each other

We are one for we were created in God’s image and love

Let us embrace every one as a brother, as a sister.

So that God can forgive our trespasses and remove the tears from our eyes

For we have sinned against our Heavenly Father

And this is not the first calamity to befall man, O coronavirus

I will tell my brother, get up, fight and fear not

For the lord is with us in this battle

O coronavirus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

Researchers, scientists and doctors work day and night to find effective vaccine

That shall make Covid-19 disappear from the face of our beloved home for good

Political leaders show political will,

Give support to researchers and scientists so that they can discover the vaccine

That can stop the virus to mutate

Teachers and lecturers tell the learners that together they can defeat coronavirus

Medical personnel assure people that the vaccine can stop or prevent coronavirus from spreading

Rich countries, poor countries, let us work together to stop coronavirus

Rich people, poor people let us unite and fight this pandemic

Let us use technology to fight and wipe out this disease

We should avoid using technology to wipe us from this beautiful home

We have learned a bitter lesson from the outbreak of coronavirus

We have swallowed a bitter pill because of coronavirus

We have seen what technology can do to man

O coronavirus

You shall remember that at one time the entire world was sent into panic

The panic that made man believe that mankind was doomed to extinction

His existence on planet Earth was coming to an end

What a scary wave that you sent man, O coronavirus

Thank you technology

Quickly you were used to prepare man psychologically that coronavirus was not there to finish him but to do the reverse.

O coronavirus! O coronavirus!

Together as a team we shall fight you

No matter how deadly you are

We shall conquer you.

For sure you are a force to reckon with in this century

You made people to not go to market and shops with fear,

Transport sector was almost paralyzed,

Borders were closed resulting in some people being stranded.

You did not spare the economies of the world.

Some people lost employment because of the closure of some industries

Despite all these setbacks, we are ready to fight you to the end

We shall do all what it takes to fight and conquer you

Already, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel

The sun is rising, giving us the hope we need

Assuring us that tomorrow is there for us to live together happily once again

Assuring us that the night is there for you to forget the miseries

The miseries we suffered due to coronavirus

O lord my God I can see a beautiful flower growing up in the winter season

The season that made coronavirus to hit us hard

What a better future I can see in the short distance

You have finally fought a losing battle, O coronavirus

The future is ours, it does not belong to you

You have a story of defeat to tell to generations to come

You shall never make another mistake to attack man again

Because you have been conquered

All your missiles have been destroyed

You shall never see the sun rising again

O coronavirus

Thank you researchers and scientists,

Thank you medical personnel and educators,

Thank you news writers and journalists

Thank you politicians and business men.

Thank you Almighty God for being with us up to the end.

World Vision Ireland is a child-focused overseas aid organisation and has worked with Fighting Words on a number of projects. These pieces were written by young people who World Vision has worked with in Zambia and Somalia.