The Irony of Privilege
To those of us who do not live in the second wave of India’s pandemic chaos, locking down for the second time, 1.3 billion of the most unreached people on earth doing a twice-dance with death—we live with privilege.
The privilege to practice six-feet apart distancing, if we choose—because we have enough space.
The privilege to find a bed in a hospital, if we need it—because we have enough hospitals.
The privilege to access a mask, or a vaccine, if we want it— because we have enough to go around.
The privilege to quarantine in our own room, if we must—because we have a room.
And yet here’s the irony.
I walked into a group event here in America the other day.
Four out of fifty of us wore masks.
Milling around freely, shaking hands, laughing in each other’s faces and spaces.
As if India wasn’t falling apart, out of oxygen, struggling to stay alive, shut down for round two, twice as bad as before.
Do they not know? I thought. “Do they not know about India right now? Did the devastation in China reaching our shores not shake us out of a sense of wealthy indulgent complacency?”
The irony of privilege.
My healthcare hero husband says that likely America will stay at about 30% vaccination saturation, because those who want it could already get it.
Meanwhile, only 2% of India’s population is vaccinated, and it’s only for the lucky ones.
Talking with our physician here in America about whether or not to get the vaccination, she said what I felt, “This discussion is a first-world conversation. Do you think that people in India wouldn’t give their right arm to get a vaccination right now?”
The irony of privilege.
My day job catapults me deep into the lives of cross-cultural disciple makers—my friends— living, loving, and locked down in India.
Can I gently widen your worldview with on-the-ground news from my cross-cultural friends persevering through the pain in India RIGHT NOW?
So you can SEE what my cross-cultural worker friends see.
FEEL what they feel.
PRAY like heaven depends on it (it does).
GIVE to shoulder their causes to bring the Kingdom of God to hell on earth.
Could we then make better use of the golden spoon of privilege pressed to our pursed lips?
Here’s what they’re telling me
People that we know personally are critical or have died.
The hospitals are overflowing in most cities in India. In many places, there are two patients in every bed. It seems like everyone is sick.
Most are unwilling to be tested but I would say about fifty percent of the population are sick.
The numbers are much higher than reported. The news here paints a more positive picture than the actual reality and there is a lot of fear and misinformation around.
Along with me and my wife, four of my five staff where I work, and eight of our teammates tested positive.
One of my former students lost her cousin. She said, "I can't stop my tears. He was just 32. His brother searched for oxygen for him, even on Facebook. We failed him."
A friend said the chemist (pharmacist) would not give medicine I recommended to her (aspirin and steroids), saying they are not available.
The hospital refused to take my friend's mother even though (or because?) her oxygen was very low. The family found oxygen over ten days to give at home (possibly resorting to the black market) but she didn’t make it.
The ambulance could find no beds for my friend's aunt, so had to return home. The same family lost their father-in-law at around 2:20am this morning. The brother-in-law is hospitalized and now the sister has it.
We’re currently finishing up our 7th week being locked up in our flat (with three young children, and no access to the outside, or even a rooftop to play). My husband tested positive at the end of March and so we began almost three weeks of home quarantine. As we were just about to come out, new restrictions came into force across our city which then proceeded strict lockdown once more.
Most of our teammates recently tested positive and were placed under strict home quarantine for two weeks with hourly check-ins and daily visits from officials. Praise God everyone recovered.
Our team (same as above) was blessed by funding for our food distribution project, through which we were able to bless hundreds of families with much-needed food stapes, sharing about the kingdom, reading Scripture and praying with families, and starting seeker groups. The network we partner with offers practical resources and funding for crisis interventions that could lead to kingdom movements.”
Believers in India want you to know
“We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die.
But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
Do you want to DO SOMETHING about this?
These are links to cross-cultural workers I know personally, on the ground, doing pandemic-related Kingdom help right now:
FIRST, a friend of mine is working with a clinic in South India to help alleviate some of the strain on over-crowded hospitals. Through trained community health workers, they will be delivering needed medical supplies to the homes of COVID-positive patients and providing follow-up monitoring of cases through tele-health. This should enable those patients who can recover at home to do so, while alleviating some of the rush on scarce available hospital space. To implement the program, an initial batch of supplies are needed. Thankfully, the clinic has already received a grant to cover the cost of the first 5 oxygen concentrators needed. (It’s not branded, just know that I know the person leading this!)
To donate, go to https://allegrosolutions.org/donate/ and enter account designation: SAsia-Urck-0123.MMUSECOND, North India is getting hit hard. I highly recommend the Emmanuel Hospital Association for getting help to the least of these in rural North India. Any donations to EHA at any time will always produce a good result, but especially now. Donors from the U.S. should give through this portal: https://ehausa.org/donate/
(If you just want to read more about the work of EHA in India, you can see that here: https://eha-health.org/)
One more story just in:
One of our Muslim background believing friends runs his own medical translation company and has gone to his home town in rural India.
He said: "My uncle passed away last night. He tested positive. The situation is better in rural areas than in the big cities but the problem is that there are no medical facilities in rural areas. If anyone suffers from the disease and his or her oxygen level is down, mostly they die because they cannot get oxygen.
Government hospitals are doing nothing in rural areas. More than 200 villages are under one district government hospital. So patients are coming to the same hospital and they don't get oxygen. Most of them are illiterate and they don't know how to deal with the system.
When I was in the hospital with my uncle, I managed everything. Some people thought I was a doctor and were crying and requesting me to save their loved ones. But within 2 hours, I saw eighteen dead bodies—most of them young males. These dead bodies are not in the government record because they were in the Emergency ward waiting for treatment; finally, they die, and their family members were hiring auto rickshaws or private ambulances and going home with dead bodies to bury them.
I tried to call the media but some political people threatened me. There are lots of people crying in the hospital. It's a really bad situation.”
PS: If this challenged you or stirred your heart, share this or forward the link.