Siblings create song to promote COVID-19 safety messages
AS the nation continues to grapple with the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic, two teens have creatively highlighted the safety messages of the Government by composing a catchy song that has been making the rounds on social media.
Siblings Rhordann and Rhaveen Kildare, while at their home in Clarendon, became alarmed by the spike in local COVID-19 cases and wondered to themselves how they could help encourage persons to heed the Government’s safety messages.
“We realised that the number of cases was increasing rapidly and we wanted to create awareness, especially using a medium that would be appealing to youth,” sixth-form student at Glenmuir High School, Rhaveen tells JIS News.
Rhaveen’s older brother, who is also seen in their popular video, notes that it took him and his sister approximately two days and one night to compose and produce the song.
“It wasn’t hard to write and compose the song because we were motivated by the good we were trying to do. And thanks to our grandmother, we’ve written and performed creative pieces [mostly for church] on several occasions,” University of Technology, Jamaica student Rhordann shares.
The song, which is one minute and 21 seconds in length, reminds persons to sanitise, wash their hands correctly and practise social distancing. It is performed by the duo in their viral video using the famous 1990s Bam-bam rhythm.
“Honestly, we did not expect the video to get so many views because we only anticipated it being circulated amongst our friends and family,” 17-year-old Rhaveen says.
She shares that since posting the video she and her brother have received recognition from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, which has reposted the video on its social media pages and website.
“Other popular social media influencers have also reposted and shared the video and it has even been viewed by members of the Diaspora,” she says.
Currently the video has over 45,000 views with more than
400 comments on the ministry’s
Instagram page, and 268,000 views with 8,000 comments on the ministry’s Facebook page.
Since reposting the video, the ministry has launched its ‘COVID ah Kip’ social media competition. The competition encourages persons to create a one-minute video on wearing a mask or social distancing for a chance to win prizes, including a smartphone.
“The Ministry of Health and Wellness has committed to providing citizens with a wealth of information on how to protect themselves from contracting the virus. While we are ecstatic that our video is such a hit, we want persons to ensure that they listen keenly and adhere to what the song is saying and not just share the video only for the fun of it,” 18-year-old Rhordann highlights.
Rhaveen and Rhordann also took the opportunity to encourage youth to find innovative and trendy ways of helping the Government share information on how citizens can keep safe during this pandemic.
“Different things appeal to different persons, and the more ways the COVID-19 messages are shared, the more likely persons are to stop and respond to these messages,” Rhaveen says.
Rhordann points out that becoming involved and creatively promoting the COVID-19 messages is a great way for youth to use this time constructively and play their part as people band together to fight COVID-19.