Decrease The Social Stigma In Our Community For Our Returnees: Appeal To Our Government For A Quick Evacuation For The Stranded Citizens

Sammy Ornella HuaMay 13, 2020

The 2019 coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19) has caused social stigma among us.  Yes, it is a very stressful and challenging time for the people and the societies as a whole. With a very little knowledge and awareness about this disease social stigma has struck hard for some people.

There is no question that the people who are afflicted with this disease have suffered from the outcome of becoming a victim of this infection but will the stranded returnees and their family also will become a victim of stigmatization? The stereotypes and prejudices resulting from Covid-19 misconceptions challenge them. Prejudice which is primarily a cognitive and affective response, leads to discrimination, the behavioral reaction. Prejudice that brings anger can lead to hostility and fear that leads to avoidance. Stigma impacts the emotional and mental health of stigmatized individual and the communities in which they live in. It is necessary to stop stigma in order to make the communities and community leader or member irrepressible. The question is has the government done enough to educate its citizen or are we as a responsible citizen willing to listen to the government?

It has been almost 2 moths of the lockdown now, what has our government done for our stranded citizens. Is it Fair for the Government to Forsake Citizens Stranded Across the Country delaying in evacuating them?

Ad hocism, and not proper planning, has so far designated whether or not the people of Meghalaya will be rescued from various states of the country.

Are the hundreds of thousands of students, migrant labourers, workers, Meghalayan people stuck around the country during a global public health crisis entitled to return home? When will they react to us? It may sound natural and logical for the government to ask us to stay put but to us and our families it sound like abandonment. Yes maybe some families can financially support  their children who are stranded outside the state but there are also many stranded people who are the one who support their family by working in different states of our country and now most of them are unemployed so who will support them? Is it okay for them to starve and die? Over the past weeks, we have read and watched multiple testimonies of students from Northeast India who have been derided as receptacles of COVID-19 and blatantly labelled as ‘Chinese’ and those are not just videos or news but it happen to many of us so how long can we survive that? The recent cry for help by students of northeast in Punjab and Delhi on the racist attacks they have faced in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak perfectly exemplifies this fact and this can happen to any of us with mongoloid features who are still living here in the mainland.

Do these people/us have the right to be rescued by their own governments in the face of severe insecurities of safety, food, shelter, mental insecurity and anxiety in resource stricken, high-risk global environments during a lockdown abroad and at home? If so, then When? Are they/we any less dignified? In times of national disasters and globalized pandemics, are there no ‘standard operating rescue procedures’?

National disasters like this represent a great test of citizenship. What will this global public health crisis reveal after the storm blows over, about the moral legitimacy of the alternatives chosen, who is left behind, who can be ignored in the name of ‘collateral failure? And it’s very saddened to see our fellow Meghalayan Brothers and sisters whom we used to called (para doh para snam) now we need your support instead we’re being stigmatise by some. We of course do not want to infect our families, our relatives, our friends or our beloved state as a whole but some of us is running out of food, water and supplies and we’re desperate to come home to our families and likewise our families have constantly worried about us and it effects them emotionally and mentally so please let’s  help each other.

In the post coronavirus world, these questions will  haunt when assessing our prioritisation of the vulnerable, and how much the ethics of care shaped the response of state governments’ respond to the desperate appeals of the abandoned migrants, workers,  especially students.

Why can’t they evacuate us? Other states have evacuated. We are thankful to the respective government that we are currently located at but we are not the responsibility of these government. We are the responsibility of our government (Meghalaya).” We hope The Meghalaya government takes swift action to help us.

And yes we see comments and post on social media that most of our very own people do not want us to come back to our homeland and be home quarantine but have we all seen the quarantine centre provided by the government? A crowded shared room of atleast of 15 to 20 people coming from numerous corona hotspot of the country living together with one accessible washroom. They want us to remain sanitised but if that is the condition of the isolation centre don’t we all think that home quarantine is a better and safer way to control this deadly virus? Let’s trust each other and Let us do our part by staying home in accordance with the government protocols and we request you too to do your part by stopping and reducing stigmatization.

We shall all come through this together by adopting the government guidelines.

By learning the facts and sharing them with others in your group or communities everyone will help to avoid stigma related to COVID-The Facts stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their websites are:

1. Diseases can make anyone sick regardless of their race or ethnicity.
2. For most people, the immediate risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus that causes covid-19 is thought to be low.
3. Someone who has completed quarantine or has been released from isolation dose not pose a risk of infection to other people
4. Follow the guidelines of washing your hands more frequently for 20 seconds, avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth with unwashed hands, stay home when you are sick, cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue/ a handkerchief or a piece of cloth then discard or wash after use.
5. Knowing about the signs and symptoms help to stop Covid-19.

The few things as a civilize citizen that we can do to reduce social stigma is by:

•  Raising awareness about COVID-19 to those people around us who do not fully understand about this virus without increasing fear.

• Share accurate information about how the virus spreads.

• Speak out against negative manners, including negative statements on social media

• Make sure what we post on social media about Covid-19 do not reinforce stereotypes.

• Most importantly stay home and stay safe.

Since COVID-19 coronavirus does not discriminate neither should we. “Instead of being bitter and abusive, I hope that people will learn to be empathetic and compassionate in a crisis like this,”

Sammy Ornella Hua
PhD Scholar | Amity University Mumbai.