we all need each other
Image: a sign on a gate saying “COMMUNITY”
by Saima Hayat
I have always made an effort to get to know my neighbours and build a feeling of community. I think it is really important to know those around us and I think it helps us feel safe. Coming from a small Pakistani population in Scotland, community means something even wider, it means being in a different city or town and bumping into someone you’ve met before, or have someone in common with or someone who maybe even knows someone else from the same village your grandparents came from decades before. Community is really important to help make you feel at home.
When coronavirus hit Scotland, everyone was talking about it, everyone was worried and we all wanted to feel safe. I think community took on a new and deeper meaning for lots of us.
In the first week of lockdown, a few of us on the same street set up a neighbours Whatsapp group, this was the first time many of us had properly spoken to one another, beyond the occasional “hello, how are you?” Or wave as we went about our normal daily lives. A little letter was put through the doors of everyone (probably about 40 doors) to give them a mobile number to send their details to if they wanted to be added to the group. For those who were older or didn’t have Whatsapp, they were asked to write down their number for us to check-in with them. Every single door responded, and for the first time we were all chatting about more than the weather.
We have been sharing information as lockdown measures ease, sharing extra food we had when there wasn’t enough pasta in the shops, some of us have been sharing recipes, but mostly we have been checking in with each other, and been there to make each other feel a bit safer.
In my area there are lots of elderly people who all of a sudden were unable to go out, or get the things they normally would. They were our main concern. We didn’t want them to feel alone or go without the things they needed. Those of us who could, would check in on them, once I went round the doors and dropped them all off a treat of chocolate to make them smile! We checked if they needed medicines, groceries or just a chat.
It has been really lovely to see how our neighbours have come together and how we all wanted to help each other, I hope coronavirus is over soon, but that our community sticks together like this for a long time.
Leave a comment below to tell us what you think Scotland can learn from this…