By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy
Panaji, April 3, 2020: In these days, coronavirus disturbs our peace and energy.
At the same time the selfless services of doctors, nurses, health workers and police personnel working round the clock leave us amazed and grateful. They try their best to ensure good health, healing and safety for us.
It is also a time when we discover the flowering of charitable acts. Each one according to his or her capacity, talents and time is trying to make life easy for these people.
As St Paul suggests to his people to use their specific gifts for specific needs, (1 Cor:7:7, Rom 12:6) we witness and experience in this alarming situation people using their gifts and talents God has gifted them for others.
We recognize these moments as the manifestation of our people’s “golden hearts.” They appear under different covers with different ministries:
One such person is teenager Raseena who came with her father to provide tea and snacks to police personnel at Vengeri Junction in Kozhikode. Ever since the lockdown these men are on their feet braving Kerala’s summer heat, even giving up their sleep. The irregularity of meals can even take toll on their health. They sacrifice themselves for the safety of their fellow citizens.
What angels like Raseena and her did was indeed life-giving. The post on their kindness on YouTube received 309,728 views within three days. It shows people appreciate acts of kindness.
Then comes the “Angel of Kottayam” – a nurse who cared for an elderly couple who recovered from coronavirus infection. The husband is 93 and wife 88.
The nurse has become an inspiration for the entire medical community, says Kerala Health Minister K K. Shylaja, who is popularly known as Shylaja Teacher. “She looked after them like her own parents,” the minister remarked.
The elderly couple went home healed, but the “angel” contracted the illness, sending sadness among the medical community.
Her response to Shylaja teacher who spoke to her over the phone has gone viral on social media, “Teacher, I am hopeful to be back to duty soon. We need to take care of the rising number of patients with the new virus.”
Shylaja Teacher said the nurse’s commitment to duty has moved her.
“The nurses are the backbone of our hospitals,” said Shaylaja Teacher in her talk referring to the battalion of nurses who work round the clock during this time of great trial in hospitals and healthcare centers across Kerala.
“This nurse’s love and self-confidence is what leads us forward courageously,” the minister added.
Even Shylaja Teacher was admired for her immediate and timely action in facing the alarming situation. Her personal concern, attention for providing medical assistance and protection, and above all her tireless efforts to prevent the spreading of illness have caught worldwide attention.
Love, care, self-less dedication have become the healing tablets of the new pandemic. What human ingenuity cannot do, only God can, through the tender and caring hands of such people, and through the prayers of millions.
The physical healing gets attention, but there are thousands who enlighten the public of the reality of our transitory existence.
We are trying to keep away from everything to be safe from this virus.
Helping hands are pouring in from different quarters.
Shaju Thomas, managing director of Popy, a popular umbrella brand, in Kerala, has offered free dresses for newborn babies in Kerala. It will be supplied to babies born in government hospitals.
“These dresses made organically will be available in all medical shops at reasonable rates. At this time of the corona virus the dresses will be freed of any germs before delivery. The company plans to provide 50,000 dresses costing 7 million, free of charge to the government hospitals.” Thomas told reporters.
The Popy factories are also making masks. They have already supplied 750,000 free masks to the public.
The difficult period of the coronavirus attack has produced numbers angels to serve humanity. May God keep them safe.