Obligatory Covid-19 update

Just as things were coming together for us to head back to Nigeria (about a month later than we had hoped), things have got a little lively and unpredictable with this troubling Coronavirus/Covid-19. Airlines are still flying to Nigeria, but it’s possible in a month they won’t be. So it’s looking increasingly likely we may get stuck in the UK for even longer.

Our experience in Nigeria has helped us avoid being unduly fazed by scarcity and panic-buying, and if schools end up being closed – well, we normally do home school anyway. On the other hand, we normally have bigger food reserves available in Nigeria.

The key is that we can face the future confident not that God will do our every bidding like Aladdin’s Genie – immediately stop all infection ‘in Jesus’ name’ – but that our eternal future is safe in his hands. This chaos, uncertainty and fear is actually a good reality check and reminder for us and our communities that we as humans try to kid ourselves that we can rule the world, but we fail to rule ourselves, or society, or the world. We may pretend to be gods, but reality sometimes breaks in and it’s good for us to recognise this. This mess isn’t inevitable, it’s a result of the breakdown in our relationship with our creator. But Jesus has been sent to sort that out, and deal with the sad consequences.

In the meantime, here in Glasgow we’re going to try to stay in touch with colleagues in Nigeria through the internet, to keep working to improve our translation. We’ll also be moving house next month.

As of 15 March, Nigeria is currently apparently doing much better than the UK in terms of limited spread of the virus. Colleagues travelling into Nigeria are self-isolating for a time to help avoid spreading it.