Someone said to me the act of saying 2021 aloud, sounds like we are saying ” twenty-twenty won.” Sounds wired doesn’t it? It will go down as the year when we could not carry out most of our fund-raising and fun activities with the residents. We just could not nail anything down to a planned outcome. So we were happy to see the back end of 2020, and now we have to spend an entire year reminding ourselves that twenty twenty won. 😉 Or did it?

When residents went away for their Christmas holidays in December 2021,COVID-19 cases were on the wane. So high were our hopes for a good start to 2021 (Yes twenty twenty won) We never got our wish.

The year started with COVID-19 scares, and by the 7th of January, we had 2 confirmed positive results, both of which were staff members who would have been in close contact with 18 residents, and other staff members who had been at Pevensey over the Christmas period. This was compounded by the fact that most of the residents on holidays were booked to return on the 7th of January. In the face of adversity, we proved, as a family in our Underberg Community, that we are always braver than we believe, stronger than we seem and smarter than we think we are. Messages of encouragement flowed in from around and far. these served as sparks of energy, which kept our ship in motion.

We are born alone. We live alone. We die alone. Only in our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment, that we are not alone. – ORSON WELLES (Screen Writer).

We look back today, as we start the month of March, with awe and amazement at how the Pevensey family was emboldened during this crisis period. Quarantine boundaries and sections were hastily marked and isolation measures put in place. Tests were conducted when required, and what had looked like a daunting task soon made way to relief as the infections were arrested and life returned to a kind of normal at Pevensey Place. By mid February we could report a clean bill of health, and harmony was strolling our corridors once again.

It is vital that we mention the strength and resilience of residents through this entire period. They accepted the requirement to mask up, wash hands and adhere to any other protocols that would be implemented at any given time. Without this kind of cooperation our situation would have taken a long time to arrest.

Social  distancing has become a familiar tune. We sing it with sad eyes, and yet with hearts filled with understanding, that it is a sacrifice we have to pay as we continue to navigate our way back to our old normal. For the entire universe, the old normal matters, and for the residents, it is wrapped in the events close to their hearts  which are falling on the wayside. The Drak Challenge, the Midmar Mile, swimming galas and visits from our friends and partners have fallen prey to cancellations. We  continue to hope, together with everyone else, that conditions continue to improve.

Until then, we will find joy in the knowledge that we are taking part in this fight, and that we have the support of our entire Pevensey family and community. We cling to the hope that measures being taken at national and international level will pull through to us, and that this too will pass. We cling to the hope that we will pronounce these times a thing of the past, and make the pronouncement of Twenty-twenty one with an air of some positive strides forward. The knowledge too, that even as we are socially distanced from our loved ones, we are not alone. We can not dare to lose patience as well, for to do that, like Mahatma Gandhi said, would be to lose the battle.

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