2020. The year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The illness that made millions of people in the developed world experience what happens continually in so many developing countries: the fear of death.
The fear of losing your loved ones. All of a sudden, we understood what millions of people in the world feel. We knew “this” happened, but we didn’t realise until we experienced it in the f l esh. It often happens. Like what our mums would say when we left a meal have eaten: “You can see you haven’t lived through a war.” Unfortunately, too often, we don’t fully appreciate what we have, until we lose it. Health, the absence of armed confl ict, good food and a comfortable life. However, in many places where Mundukide works, the pandemic has been “just” another problem. Because there have been greater problems. In Mozambique, more than 600,000 people were uprooted from their homes due to Jihadist violence. Plagues in the last few decades which destroyed the scarce food supplies of millions of people. And many other problems that never appear in the news, but exist. All of this has forced us to transform ourselves, become digitalised and invent new ways of helping. This year our aid workers deserve special mention for their courage and fortitude in circumstances where they have been surrounded by more hardships than ever before. And in spite of everything, we have been able to rely on greater solidarity than ever from our cooperatives, our members and friends. If anything good has come out of this distressful period we are experiencing, it is that solidarity has reappeared, as it does almost every time there is a terrible crisis. So thank you all, very much. We still have much to do, and also many hugs and kisses pending. With the joy of knowing that this year we will be able to pay off a large part of our debt of hugs and kisses, we will continue working to make this world a little better. Warm greetings and many thanks.
Iñigo Albizuri Landazabal
President of Mundukide
Euskal Herria
