So many people on earth who have not yet been impacted in any way are complaining about their boring lives at home due to the restrictions imposed by governments to prevent the spread of the COVID- 19. While watching the videos, reading posts and watching psychologists giving advice to these “deprived people stranded in their homes” I had the  chance to observe their experiences at home which they called “limited.” They were complaining about not being able to go to restaurants, not being able to travel, not being able to be physically close to the people they loved and not having the freedom to express themselves.

I started to wonder why I didn’t feel so frustrated myself? Then, I realized that nothing much has changed in my life so far. I was never free to go where I wanted as a woman, not even in my country, nor my city, nor even in my neighborhood. I am still not  free; possibly I will never be. I realized that not feeling free to share my real thoughts was not a novelty for me because I had never felt myself safe enough to do so and not only through media-not even in my own living room…. And social distancing? I have grown up with it. I have never had the luxury of holding hands with a man for fear someone would see me.

So today, people in “Developed Countries” are taking videos about their hospitals, their lives, their restrictions…. As a human being, my heart goes out to them but I also resent the fact that in another part of the world where I live, this is a regular way of life for us and it has never caused so much turmoil. Maybe this disaster may open some eyes to this reality that some women in some parts of the world are born, live and die under similar restrictions their whole lives. Yes, their lives are boring, frustrating, and full of threat!

COVID-19 is a virus, it makes people sick and it can even kill. All the world’s scientists are working to find a cure and they will surely find the solution if not today, tomorrow and they will set the “corona restricted” people free.  However, I am not sure whether we will ever have the chance to feel freedom in this part of the world since nobody cares or comes together globally to find a solution. It seems to me we are invisible. Will we remain invisible?