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Bezawit Delelegn Shibeshi with husband Yonatan from Addis Ababa: The two set the photo as their WhatsApp profile picture
Photo: private
Bezawit Delelegn Shibeshi is heavily pregnant and her first child, a girl, is due to be born in December. Shibeshi, 28 years old, lives with her husband Yonatan in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
.
She works for an airline and says the pregnancy has gone so far without any major difficulties.
But then she caught this cold a few weeks ago.
Shibeshi thought it was just a little flu.
She was tested for the corona virus.
The test was positive.
According to the Minister of Health
Lia Tadesse
in Ethiopia , there were almost 100,000 people infected with corona
until last Monday, officially 290 patients are currently suffering from severe courses of the disease.
More than 100 million people live in Ethiopia.
Many doubt whether the moderate official numbers match the Covid reality in the country.
In the case of Bezawit Shibeshi, an odyssey began through the Ethiopian health system, which the couple say is overwhelmed by this pandemic. A fear also began, which Shibeshi cannot really defend herself against, and which keeps rising in her: the fear that the virus could have harmed the child in her stomach.
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Addis Ababa in September: People crowd at the Atkilt Tera vegetable market.
A mask is required in public places, but many do not adhere to it
Photo:
Michael Tewelde / Xinhua / imago images
A fear, says Shibeshi, which she will not let go, despite all attempts by the doctors to calm down (read
here the
risk of an infection with the coronavirus for pregnant women).
Here is Shishebi's report:
"It started on a Saturday with a scratchy throat. It was about two months ago. The following Monday I went to work, but I had such a headache and felt limp, powerless. I stayed home on Tuesday .
Then I realized that I could no longer smell anything and that I no longer had any taste.
I thought: a little flu.
I made a soup with cereals to regain my strength.
Slept a lot.
I felt very bad for three days.
I didn't think about Covid-19, I thought it was normal flu.
The following Friday I had a routine check-up for pregnant women in the maternity hospital.
I was actually doing pretty well again.
However, I told the doctors about my symptoms and they convinced me to take a Covid-19 test.
In Ethiopia, you should actually get the test result after 24 to 48 hours.
If you don't hear anything during this time, you can assume that the test result is negative.
The authorities are overloaded, only people with a positive result are notified.
I waited the weekend.
Because I didn't hear from the health center, I went back to work on Monday.
That was a fatal mistake.
Because a whole week later I received a message from the authorities: My test result was positive.
I had already been working with several colleagues in my office for a week - in a relatively small room!
"What if the virus harmed my child?"
Bezawit Delelegn Shibeshi is expecting their first child in December
I think the test centers are pure chaos.
I heard that about the state hospitals too.
The staff can no longer keep up with properly caring for the seriously ill.
There is a hotline to get information.
But you have to wait a long time.
There is a lack of ventilators and protective clothing in the clinics, and some of the nurses cannot protect themselves.
It is very difficult to get a test.
The capacities are exhausted, even here in Addis Ababa, in the capital.
Even before the pandemic, the hospitals were not equipped to adequately care for patients.
People in rural areas have absolutely no chance of treatment if they are infected.
I have no direct contact with people in the country, but I hear that Corona is not a big issue there.
Not because people get sick less often.
But because many people simply have no choice but to carry on, especially when they are poor.
You need to hide the virus.
They can hardly hope for medical help.
There are also doctors who say, 'It's like a little flu, don't worry.'
They believe this will take the pressure off the hospitals.
So now I had Corona after all!
I felt so bad
Why didn't you stay home longer, Bezawit? Such guilt went through my head.
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In March, workers disinfected street suits in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia
Photo:
Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS
I had put my colleagues in danger.
The whole department then had to be quarantined and tested.
No test was positive, luckily!
"Many do not adhere to the Corona rules, that makes me angry."
Bezawit Delelegn Shibeshi
But then another thought came up in me that tormented me at night, that bored into me: What if the virus harmed my child?
I went to my gynecologist in the clinic, full of panic.
She tried to calm me down.
She said the baby was well protected as long as it was in my womb.
That the corona virus could not harm him.
She did an ultrasound to show me my unborn baby.
I couldn't take my eyes off the picture on the monitor that day.
'Are you sure the virus didn't harm the baby in my womb?' I kept asking her.
I have had several ultrasound scans since then and the fear has subsided a little.
As a mother and father, you are so careful that you do everything right during pregnancy.
The fact that I, of all people, was infected left me passed out.
How the Ethiopians are behaving in the pandemic makes me angry.
There is actually a mask requirement everywhere, even in the large public squares.
The government appeals to the common sense and has declared a state of emergency that has lasted for months.
But many don't follow the rules.
I find that irresponsible.
It should be clear to everyone that we are putting human lives at risk.
And that the economy will falter even more if the number of infections continues to rise.
The airline I work for has cut the salaries of all employees here and removed additional payments so that the jobs can be kept.
"In Ethiopia, a lot of people don't have a lot of confidence in doctors"
Bezawit Delelegn Shibeshi
But in Ethiopia, many people do not have a particularly high level of trust in doctors, or let's put it another way: illnesses are treated at home, the family takes care of you.
People don't go to prevention and all that so naturally.
Many people think of the coronavirus: 'I pray to God so I don't get it.'
The old people in particular think so.
Those hit hardest by the virus. "
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