How to safely shop in the marketplace during the pandemic

The world is still riven with the emergence and impact of the novel coronavirus. It is a serious issue that demands an encounter with specific social dilemmas and forces us to embrace new existential norms to fashion in our modern lives, to ensure safety in how we shop and conduct our business in the marketplace.

This task has to be accomplished amid the crises of the pandemic, finding a diversity of options can inform possibilities on how to live and continue with our lives safely. Shopping today is a risky culture and social life has become riskier than it used to be exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19 and how it spreads easily through coughing, sneezing, contact with infected people among others.

Vendors on the market. Picture by SAWBO photographer Gerald Andrew Akolo

The concept of risk becomes fundamental to the way both lay actors & technical specialists organize the social world. Under the coronavirus conditions, risk assessment is imperative as it invites precision and quantification that affect the regulations governing human conduct to prevent further spread & loss of lives from the pandemic. The system of control put in place in shopping areas has significantly reduced the overall risks of market areas and modes of life. Regulating the number of people that can shopper time, social distancing, regularly washing hands/ hand sanitizers, wearing of face mask.

Stakeholders especially non-profit organizations like Kataru Concepts are using social media platforms to enlighten the public and our communities at large on various measures that should be undertaken to curb the spread of the virus. Using Scientific Animations without Borders Responsive Adaptive Participatory Information Dissemination-SAWBO RAPID, a project that identifies critical food security topics and delivers through the development of animations to mitigate COVID-19s secondary economic impacts, including disruption to trade, supply chains, and markets. The project is based at Michigan State University and Purdue University in the U.S., funded by USAID under the Feed the Future initiative and supported by the USAID Kenya Mission.

SAWBO has been creating animations and delivering knowledge globally for over a decade. The SAWBO library contains over 1,000 animations on 100+ different topics in over 240 language variants reaching over 50 million known viewers. Visit the SAWBO website for more information.

These measures taught in the animation video “How to sell safely in the marketplace”(https://sawbo.page.link/o8xe) have had a tremendous impact in protecting lives and preventing further spread and I must say the government with all other supporting organizations have done a commendable job. Trust and personal responsibility are of necessity on the purveyors and consumers of food products at the market places. Other players like the Market managers and Market Shoppers too have digital content that teaches on how they should carry out their business on marketplaces to avoid the spread of the coronavirus.

Finally, the pandemic has forced lifestyle changes that seem difficult but necessary. The new lifestyle patterns may involve a more or less deliberate rejection of more widely diffused forms of behavior and consumption but that is our way out of this. Through SAWBO RAPID educational interventional programme that disseminates crucial information on post-COVID-19 effects, viewers can access these educative animations i.e. How to safely shop in the marketplace, how to properly sell in the marketplace, marketplace-market leader, through the SAWBO RAPID website  https://rapid.sawbo-animations.org and also by installing the SAWBO RAPID app from play store for android users.

For more video translations into local languages please click the links below.

Marketplace – Vendor        

English            https://sawbo.page.link/o8xe

Swahili            https://sawbo.page.link/Bc2o

Marketplace – Shopper       

Chonyi             https://sawbo.page.link/KP2g

English            https://sawbo.page.link/ZfqK

Giryama          https://sawbo.page.link/7dvj

Kamba             https://sawbo.page.link/DA9b

Mijikenda-Jibana       https://sawbo.page.link/e1gt

Nandi              https://sawbo.page.link/EbdP

Pokot               https://sawbo.page.link/uLHC

Swahili            https://sawbo.page.link/GMmi

Marketplace – Leader         

English            https://sawbo.page.link/RWbW

Giryama          https://sawbo.page.link/JBsA

Kamba             https://sawbo.page.link/W1uP

Nandi                 https://sawbo.page.link/vTfn

Pokot               https://sawbo.page.link/mTfj

Swahili            https://sawbo.page.link/xsRd

Note: The information and content in the video (content) should not substitute for professional or medical advice, diagnosis,z or treatment of any kind. Michigan State University, Purdue University, and SAWBO disclaim responsibility or liability for any loss or injury that may be incurred as a result of the use of any content included in the video. Viewers and users of the video should always consult a physician or other professional for diagnosis, treatment, and/or advice. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of the content of this video.

SAWBO RAPID is funded through a grant from Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. This blog article was made possible through support provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development under the terms of the agreement no. 7200AA20LA00002. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. government.