If you are reading this, then you crossed over to 2021. Maybe you survived 2020 with an organisation that lost funding or partnership, or a company that went out of business, or you lost a job, a friend or a loved one. Almost everyone lost something in 2020 big or small some lost travel time or a light moment with friends over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee, or wedding plans, or a project that was almost into motion.

Every loss had its consequences, it led to fear, anxiety, failure, hopelessness, and all feelings that many thought they could not deal with or survive.

Honestly, 2020 was that year that will forever be described as unprecedented, ugly, bad, tough, challenging, puzzling etc.

This reminded me of an interesting book we used to read during our literature classes in high school -Things Fall

Apart by Chinua Achebe. In its 3rd Chapter, that year’s devastating harvest left a profound mark on Okonkwo, and for the rest of his life he considered his survival during that difficult period proof of his fortitude, Okonkwo would tell people that “Since I survived that year, I shall survive anything.” In the same spirit, if we get through 2020, I think we can survive anything.

The Covid-19 pandemic tested governance and health systems globally, but Africa in its specialty.

There is an African idiom that if a man does not eat at home, he may never give his wife enough money to cook a good pot of soup. This is said to be true about many African leaders and politicians who adamantly refuse to fix the medical facilities and in their home countries because they have the financial muscle – sponsored by taxpayers — to seek medical help abroad.

Well, the pandemic grounded them too and they were brought face to face with the depressing conditions of the public health systems they oversee, without the luxury of seeking refuge in medical tourism.

Medical tourism by African leaders and politicians is said to be one of the salient but overlooked causes of Africa’s poor health systems and infrastructure.

It is estimated that in some countries, the funds spent to treat top government officials abroad every year could build 10 hospitals.

I believe and hope the pandemic jogged a little motivation for African leaders to change the status quo.

The incentive should also trigger the private sector to heavily invest in health health is wealth. The lesson is to take up the responsibility to develop proper healthcare for the citizens and consistently maintain it through political commitment and visionary leadership.

Many students were stranded abroad, others got stuck at home because they couldn’t join universities abroad, yet they also couldn’t enroll in the local universities, because they have been promised to study abroad. For more clarity, I am not against studying abroad, I just want to highlight the sorry state of most of the schools and universities on our continent.

Some students are studying chemistry and biology but have never been in a laboratory and have never seen a Bunsen burner, some students are still studying under trees, some students have to trek long distances to get to the nearest school, I don’t want to touch on the quality aspect, while many African leaders close their eyes to these problems after all they can send their children to schools abroad.

The schools that we run to, have been relentlessly developed and we just contribute to develop them further, rather than slowly building our own.

The painful part is that most of the students even decide to stay abroad after their study, rather than at least bringing back the knowledge and skills.

With the right attitude and will, continent leaders can set up schools and universities that will produce people who can thrive in the diverse and changing labor market.

The lesson is to start now.

The author is a Civil Society Activist and a Public Health Practitioner.