Generation C19

    Covid19 hit us like an oncoming truck on a seemingly empty road Looking around, it’s natural we thought we lived in a ‘Safe Mode’ We looked left, we looked right, it seemed safe to cross the street… And then we were hit by a virus that’s proving really hard to beat.  On the outside, it seems like I’m fine, that I’m ok I’ve a good head on my shoulders, that’s what they always say But how am I to cope when my brain’s not fully formed, With my anxieties and hormones racing, trying to act like this is...

When I think about COVID-19, I think about how it affects the body. You touch a tainted surface, and it begins. The virus takes a deep dive into your system, and chooses the lungs as its village. It invades and rummages through the cells, taking them prisoner and holding them hostage, going as far as killing some of them when it sees fit. The immune system sends soldiers to fight, but not all battles can be won. Housed and comfortable, the virus multiplies and colonises the rest of the lungs. Your lungs – they don’t like this. They’re hurting and...

As a Muslim living in Singapore, to spend 30 days at home during the fasting month of Ramadan is almost wishful thinking. Before COVID-19, the fasting month was one of the busiest periods at my workplace.  My days were tremendously stretched. I’d wake up for the pre-dawn meal at 4am – that took about an hour. Then prayer, a quick nap, and off to work I’d go. Apart from the office routine, I’d usually host learning journey sessions for other faith communities who were interested to learn and experience the breaking of fast in a mosque. Sometimes, I volunteered to...

People give up when there is nothing to return to even if they keep their lives. Mortality is not measured by the minutes by which we breathe ... but by the moments in which we experience Life. Love, the smell of rain before a downpour, the touch of another's skin; the body also remembers.  And there is nothing more intimate to all these ... than the simple act of elevating a basic need, into a social joy. The act of sustenance.  We have spoken about the necessary sacrifice a lot, it’s time we pay attention to - to the very...

  Standing in the airport I looked at my ticket, wondering: ‘Should I really go home?’ What if I took a break and disappeared somewhere, spent a month learning a new language, reading books in a small cafe and drinking red wine after sunset. I could wear a Panama hat, a poncho, maybe grow a moustache.  This was late-February, when the world was clearly changing. I had just holidayed in South America. Like most of us after a break, I didn’t feel that happy heading back to the office. I  also  worried about the scale of the work ahead. Clearly, ...