A BAD ATMOSPHERE, BUT WE COULDN’T GO ANYWHERE TO ESCAPE IT’

needing her help to ‘pass over’ since the COVID-19 crisis began. ‘I perform “rescues” offering guidance and support to energies who, for a variety of reasons, haven’t passed over. I’m helped by an angel who comes to collect them and I reassure them it’s OK to go towards that light.

‘There has definitely been increased activity, a massive wave of people needing my help, and at a time when we know large numbers are dying prematurely and being jolted from their bodies quickly. They may not want to leave their life behind and need guidance.’

It’s one thing being in lockdown with a familiar paranormal presence, but what’s it like when it’s an entirely new – and very unwelcome – experience? Just days before the shutdown happened, musician Kalif*, 40, moved to Edinburgh, which has a reputation as one of the most haunted cities in the world. Within 48 hours he realised that he and his partner Surita, 36, were sharing their new city-centre apartment with a third party.

‘On the second night I watched a large sideboard unit shunt forward by a couple of inches, completely of its own accord,’ he says. ‘For the next couple of weeks, we heard bumps and bangs every night, knocks on the window, and sometimes in the morning things had been moved. We both felt uneasy, there was a bad atmosphere – and of course we couldn’t go anywhere to escape from it.’

Matters came to a head in late March when Surita woke from a vivid dream in which she was shown a word she had never seen before – ‘trowie’. ‘We googled it and it means the dwelling of a “trow” – a spirit in Scottish folklore. We learned that trows come out at night, create mischief and are drawn to musicians. It was disturbing thinking that we could be sharing our new home with something menacing.

‘We took advice from a friend who is more of a believer in the paranormal, and they suggested scattering salt in each corner of every room as well as playing “loud, happy music”.

It’s been a couple of weeks now and all has been peaceful

Ronan, 31, from Rush, north county Dublin, is also in Malawi. There he and his team are helping raise awareness of the virus and how people can prevent themselves from getting it.

They are also providing washing facilities, soap and other essential needs.

‘Knowing the challenges that Malawi is facing, I felt a strong personal commitment to support Concern’s response to coronavirus here,’ says Ronan. ‘I’m over 12,000km away from home, in a country that will struggle more than any in Europe if the virus spreads.

‘It sometimes feels like I am standing on a shore watching a global tsunami hurtle towards us. There are just 20 ventilators and 25 intensive care unit beds here, in a country with a population of over 17 million.’