A roadmap to safety
Vera, Nagammah, and the gift of hope
Meet Vera and Nagammah. They live a thousand miles apart, but their stories both end with hope, after you helped them to get their Covid-19 vaccines, against all the odds.
Nagammah doesn’t know much about her family background, or her true age. Her identity card lists her as being 67 years old, and had she been in the UK as the Coronavirus pandemic hit, she might have been among the early recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine. Instead, she was in her home country of Sri Lanka as the world began to spiral into chaos, and the wealthiest nations began to scrabble for and stockpile vaccines. With no birth certificate, no family support and no letter inviting her to receive her dose, Nagammah was facing the threat of Coronavirus alone.
Over a thousand miles away in Albania, Vera did have a vaccine waiting for her. But all around her were whispers of fear and confusion about the origin of the new virus, as well as misinformation about the vaccines intended to protect against it. Looking around the streets, numbers of people taking precautions such as mask wearing and handwashing were also falling, especially in poorer districts in the capital of Tirana. Being over 70 years old, with a number of serious health conditions, Vera’s life would hang in the balance if she were to catch the virus.
By April 2021, the worst had happened: Vera was seriously unwell and struggling to breathe. Taken to hospital, where she was placed on oxygen, Vera didn’t know whether she had contracted Covid or not – no-one had the time to stop and explain it to her. It was only after three weeks that she finally felt well enough to leave the hospital ward with its anonymous nurses in their big white suits. Once back at home, Vera felt frightened and unsure. All she’d seen and heard left her more in the dark than ever. Surely, she came to think, the vaccine couldn’t be for someone like her.
If you gave to the BMS World Mission Global Covid relief appeal this summer, you were there for Nagammah and Vera, and the local health workers who likely saved their lives. Because you gave, a BMS-supported vaccination centre was kept running in Colombo, Sri Lanka – one that Nagammah heard about through her church. But it wasn’t just the clinically vulnerable that were receiving life-saving help.
The centre also got the vaccine to people like P Jayanthi. In her 50s, P Jayanthi was working in a fast-food restaurant when the pandemic hit. Suddenly, the busyness of work became a daily threat as the bustling restaurant filled with customers, with no respite in the evening when she returned home to a shared boarding house. It was only when volunteers told her about the vaccination centre that you’ve helped to run that P Jayanthi realised she didn’t have to choose between earning an essential wage and her health. “[Volunteers] helped me fill in the forms and gave us a bottle of water while we were waiting… Then they took me to get my vaccine and there was even an army doctor to whom I could speak about my concerns. I realised that I had nothing to fear,” P Jayanthi told centre workers, her eyes creasing into a smile.
In Albania, it was also kindness, understanding, and meeting people where they’re at that helped Vera. It was Tek Ura, the BMS-supported church and community centre in Tirana, that Vera turned to when she was unwell, and it was workers there that helped her feel confident enough to get her vaccine when she felt better. Vera came along to one of the “Staying Safe, Living with Covid” sessions that your generous gifts helped to run. These sessions reached hundreds of people with vital information about how they can stay safe as the pandemic continues on. At her session, Vera received a hygiene pack containing face masks, hand sanitiser, antibacterial spray, cleaning cloths and soap – all those things that so many of us came to rely on through rising cases and multiple lockdowns. Kindness and care enabled Vera to feel that the gift of good health was hers to enjoy. And it’s allowed her to re-join her church and community with confidence. As for Nagammah? She went along to the centre in Sri Lanka with a close friend. “We got the vaccine sooner than we thought,” says Nagammah. “The registration process was perfect… Many people helped us because we are old.”
Whether you’ve donated to BMS’ work fighting Covid, supported our health ministries, or prayed for BMS workers during the past year, you’ve been part of Vera and Nagammah’s stories. And not only theirs – this is just a small snapshot of the incredible impact your support has had in so many precious lives. Without you, Vera and Nagammah and people like them may never have got their protective vaccines, or been given a roadmap to safety. Thank you for your generosity in ensuring that they did.
If you’d like to hear more stories of people you’ve helped through the Global Covid relief appeal, or through BMS’ ministries all around the world, you’ll find them in issues of Engage, the BMS World Mission magazine. Subscribe now so you don’t miss your copy.
Words by Hannah Watson, Editor of Engage magazine.
