Manifestations of Hope and Hopelessness in the Early Stages of COVID-19 in Africa

COVID-19 triggered significant emotions and imagination, if not panic, about health and life worldwide as people’s lives were suddenly uncertain. This scenario led some to assess their life circumstances as hopeless, while others continued to see hope on the horizon despite a dreadful disease, consequent lockdowns and especially social distancing. This paper explores African countries’ experiences of hope and hopelessness at the onset of the pandemic from the perspective of 12 PhD students in Hong Kong. The students narrated that despite being hit moderately, their countries sat far behind richer ones in terms of the capacity to handle the epidemic effectively – which somewhat signalled the hopelessness students felt and imagined for such countries. However, their narrations also showed that hope was consequential in people’s everyday responses to the socioeconomic effects of the virus. Their wishes, at the time, were that a vaccine would soon be found and extended to Africa, that Africans would realise the seriousness of the pandemic, and that they could be valuable sources of information and resources to their communities of upbringing.