Our Care for Each Other Enables Us to Weather the Storm’: Read Resident Coordinator Valerie Julliand’s Message on COVID-19

Hello, Salam,

Over the past several weeks, and especially in recent days, we have seen a sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Indonesia. The highly transmissible Delta variant poses a threat to hospitals, to health workers, and to some of society’s most vulnerable people. It’s a threat all of us must take seriously and guard against.

Over the coming days and weeks, you will see lots of messaging from my colleagues at the World Health Organization and other UN agencies updating you on the crisis. I urge you to heed their advice. Simple measures like physical distancing and wearing a mask can and do save lives. And saving lives is something we should never be complacent about. The UN is in full support of the new curbs the Indonesian Government has introduced to slow the spread of the virus.

Today, though, I want to talk about the way the pandemic has cut so many of us off from many of the support networks that we usually rely on. How do we confront this issue?

When we face uncertainty, our natural inclination is to seek comfort in our families, our friends, and communities. But this is the very thing that COVID-19 makes difficult.

The UN is working to support every aspect of Indonesia’s COVID-19 response, from providing timely public health messaging, to combatting misinformation, to helping the government with the complex logistics of vaccine distribution, to protecting some of society’s most vulnerable people from COVID-19’s economic fallout.

But the loneliness of the pandemic is an altogether different problem. Across Indonesia, millions of children are distant from their classmates, millions of workers are separated from their colleagues, millions of religious people are cut off from their fellow worshipers, and millions of people living in cities are remote from relatives in the provinces.

One thing that can help, when we feel alone, is to remember that all of us are in fact struggling together. And it is through this collective struggle that we will overcome the virus.

So, even as we practice physical distancing, we are not alone. Your neighbor is wearing her mask to protect your kids. You are staying home to protect the nurses at your local hospital. Your kids are learning remotely to protect your neighbors’ parents. Through these small acts of daily heroism, we care for one another. And care is such a powerful force.

Today, I want to express my solidarity with every one of you who is struggling, whether it’s with the loss of a loved one, with economic difficulty, or with the loneliness of physical distancing. And my deep appreciation to the frontline health workers who are working around the clock to keep us safe. Badai pasti berlalu, as the Indonesian saying goes. Remember: this storm will pass. But our care for each other is what enables us to weather it.

On behalf of the whole of the UN, Indonesia, we are with you.