Coronavirus diaries aus Tschechien

 *** Wenn Sie diesen Beitrag auf Deutsch lesen möchten, schreiben Sie mir einfach eine E-Mail: hahn@eaberlin.de. 

Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus war bis vorletztes Jahr Ökumeneferent der Evangelischen Kirche der Böhmischen Brüder und sowieso gehört er zum Leitungetam des Bibeldialogs der Gemeinschaft Evangelischer Kirchen in Europa. Er lebt seit vielen Jahren schon in Tschechien, das im herbst besonders hart von der Pandemie betroffen wurde.
His text- his Coronavirus diaries is a reminder that even now in our hope and longing for the light of Christmas, things are hards for many people and there has been and will be painful loss.

Here in the Czech Republic we were very glad that we managed the first wave of Coronavirus in the spring this year quite well - with an early and strict lockdown. What was especially good was a strong feeling of solidarity. The government had decided that everybody had to wear a face-mask. But they were not available to buy. So many people started to make them at home. There were many who volunteered to buy groceries for older people or to take care of their dogs. Not very many people became ill with Covid-19 and only about four hundred people died with the disease. At the end of June there was a big party on Charles Bridge in Prague to celebrate the end of the tyranny of the Coronavirus. How foolish this was, we know now in December.

We now have a completely different situation. For some weeks we had the worst rate of Covid-19 infection in Europe, for a short time the worst in the whole world. Now we have about half a million people who have the virus and over 7000 people have died from it. This time we are experiencing very little solidarity and people are very nervous about the whole situation. Many people are suffering, because they, family members, friends, neighbours or colleagues have caught the virus. The doctors, nurses and the other workers in the health and social institutions are becoming exhausted and frustrated. Shops, hotels, restaurants, which are closed, and many others, suffer from having no income. More and more people are getting depressed. This is a challenge for everybody and especially for the government, which wanted to believe like the people, that we will manage the second wave as well as we managed the first one. And it is a challenge for all churches, which have gone mainly online again. Their social services are indeed helpful, but it is difficult to say something meaningful, which is really heard in society.

I must admit that I feel privileged because, so far, I have not really suffered in all these months of suffering for so many people. True, as an older person, I belong to the higher-risk group. So I try to be careful. But at the same time, I do not have to worry about my job or earning my living because of my pension. For me this year has been a time to enjoy many wonderful long walks in the parks of Prague, and I have explored the part of Prague in which I live better than ever before. Corona time has become for me a more meditative quiet time. This  has also been very helpful for me because, in January, my mother died at the blessed age of 96 and, in June, I had to say goodbye to my beloved wife Anna, who died at the young age of 58. Neither died in connection with the virus. Nevertheless, each is a hard loss, which hurts very much. This year is very different from all the years before. But, at the same time, it is, as all years before, a year with many faces, providing us with many questions and challenges. But also a lot to be thankful for. How good it is that we can come with our questions, our suffering and our thanks to God!