Pandemic diary connects with people across globe
Collaborative social media focuses on positive stories during challenging times
Yamuna Flaherty has seen the effect of COVID-19 on Calgary during her daily front-line work as an employee of Community Natural Foods.
“I’m right in the heart of downtown,” she said. “I’m at the front (of the store), talking with people every single day and have quite a good read of the general mood of people from day to day and week to week.
“I’ve been a part of the narrative arc of the way people are feeling — from the initial shock to the settling in to the ‘When is this going to end?’ ”
Noticing the growing need for connection and community, Flaherty, who is also a photographer and writer, had an idea to start a digital diary aimed at inspiring and connecting others and finding solidarity during this challenging time.
Accepting submissions from all walks of life, the Slow Road is found on Instagram (@_theslowroad_), Facebook (Yamunaflaherty), and her website (www.yamunaflaherty.com/theslowroad) where she encourages people to submit photos and stories. Flaherty then features them on various posts.
The response has been enthusiastic. Since launching the project at the end of March, Flaherty has received more than 60 submissions from people all over the globe, including Canada, the U.S., Spain, Switzerland, India and Israel.
Flaherty said there is a need for positive stories displaying how we are all facing this global health crisis together.
“Prior to this, I can definitely say people were much more distracted; (at Community Natural Foods) they were on their phones at the till, not really making eye contact or talking,” she said. “We were all just in our own bubbles. One of the positive things I’ve seen from the pandemic, at least from where I work, is that people want to talk. They want to reach out, they want to make contact.”
The Slow Road is a way of doing that, providing snapshots of people’s lives and sharing their stories and experiences of dealing with the new normals amid COVID -19.
The theme is similar — everyone trying to navigate the pandemic together.
“A lot of the people who are living off the grid or in nature are really unfazed by what’s going on,” Flaherty said.
“The message I’ve heard from many of those people is we really need to return to nature. If we do that, we’re going to face much safer times for ourselves. People who are living on farms and out in nature right now are really quite content.
“I can see it’s a lot of us city dwellers who are really plugged into the grid and have jobs, and our lives are completely disrupted.”
She said hearing the stories has inspired her to become more self-sustainable and consider living outside of the city, learning how to do things by herself instead of relying on services provided by the city.
Flaherty said the project has been eye-opening.
“People have had their values checked,” she said. “A lot of people are very eager to communicate — what are people hearing? What am I thinking? What do you think is going to happen next?