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In the time of coronavirus

A collection of stories submitted by the public on their experience of living through the time of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives. Globally the scale of human suffering as a consequence of Covid-19 has been very great. Everywhere people are now reflecting on what this major and previously unimaginable global crisis means for us, as individuals, living in the 21st century. This forum offers a space for writers to reflect on their experience in Aotearoa and to consider questions such as: What might we need to remember and preserve? What has been my experience, my observations, how might my priorities have shifted, in a good way, as a result of the lockdowns? If you would like to contribute to the re-collective effort through any of the following life writing formats — journalling, nature writing, memoir, commentary, poetry, notes on work in progress during lockdown… — please make initial contact through my contact page. Next prepare a page of A4 writing, starting in the present moment and moving where you need to into the recent past and forwards from that point, with a title, brief bio, photo (optional) and your contribution will be added to the repository of important writings flowering in this space.

“Securing the memory of COVID-19 is the minimum we owe to each other in the aftermath of this catastrophe.”

Richard Horton, “Covid-19 and the Ethics of memory", The Lancet , 6 June 2020
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Deep Connections by Silvia

30/4/2021

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Silvia has carried out extensive studies of her family's history in Central Europe.

All across our world, people face the Covid-19 crisis and live through each day with courage, love, compassion, wisdom and creativity. They nurture all of these human virtues of the heart and mind to stay connected to their loved ones, and to protect them, in every way they can. It is in our shared human nature to also form such bonds of empathy with strangers, often in acts of caring at great personal risk.

Innumerable stories of the present global moment bear powerful witness to these human strengths. They reach me daily through phone calls with people dear to me, social media, and newspapers, close to home here in Aotearoa and from across cultures and countries around the globe.

These stories have heightened my sense of connectedness to my ancestors, in webs of relatedness and descent stretching back over centuries. My father painted a self-portrait when he was 33 years old and I am very fortunate that he gifted this to me. When I look into his expressive face and into his strong, dark eyes, it is as if my ancestors are also present through his portrait. In this time of Covid-19, I am asking myself what did my ancestors have to live through during the epidemics of their lifetimes?
What happened to my ancestors in Vienna during the plague epidemics about four hundred years ago has not been passed down.

There is another story that I have inherited through my grandmother's storytelling. During the First World War, her mother volunteered as matron in one of the large military hospitals in Vienna. She cared for the injured and those who had contracted the highly contagious Spanish Influenza sitting at their bed sides.

Towards the end of the war, in another corner of Vienna, my father’s father was close to completing his medical studies and was enlisted to join the Austrian army as a medical officer in a desperate last-stand campaign on the river Danube.
​

But he was saved by the Spanish flu. Not long before he was due to ship out, he came down with the disease and was declared unfit for service. He recovered after some time, and about a year later he met my grandmother and they were married. It was then that he met his mother-in-law who had stood by so many patients of the flu epidemic and the war.
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    Authors

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    Ruth Bonita
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    Silvia
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Deborah thanks Rangimarie Kelly and Pikau Digtal for website design and artist Karen Jarvis for her image ‘Writers at the Devonport Library,’ (2023)
Writing Memoir
Defining Memoir
The Participatory Model
Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
​From Writing Course to Book Publication
Your Writing Space
​Writing on a Theme
Reviews of Memoir
Writers Stories
​
Events
​About
Testimonials
What People Say

Media
​Contact
Copyright © 2023 Deborah Shepard
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Writing Life >
      • Reviews & Interviews
    • Giving Yourself to Life
    • Her Life's Work
    • Translucence
    • Between The Lives
    • Reframing Women
    • Tributes
    • Personal Writings >
      • Conference Paper
      • Lockdown Journal
      • Travel Journal
      • Elegy for a friend
      • Christchurch - Post Quakes
      • On a residency
      • Deborah’s Love Letter to the Women’s Bookshop
      • Deborah's Q & A With Unity Books
  • Writing Memoir
    • Defining Memoir
    • The Participatory Model
    • Tips on Writing and Posting a Story
    • The Value of a Writing Class
    • From writing course to book publication
    • Your Writing Space
    • Writing on a Theme >
      • Window
      • Surviving a Crisis
    • Reviews of Memoir
  • Writers' stories
    • Writer's Stories
    • Covid-19 Stories
    • Writing Guidelines
    • From Being Mentored to Book Publication
  • Events
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Media
  • What People Say
  • Contact