Everyone knows that 2020 is a write-off year. Things just couldn’t have gone more wrong with the world, and with the deadly typhoons in the Philippines, this year shows no sign of slowing down and making things easy for us.

Rewind to 1st January 2020. We had just sounded the new year in with friends, family, and fireworks. Everything was going good: I was working a couple days a week alongside studying for my Masters in creative writing, and life was good.

But I guess it was never meant to last. Not even for a couple of days…

(Links to places where you can donate to different causes are at the bottom of the post)

Content warnings: death, Coronavirus, animal death, police brutality

No sooner had the new year started, was when Mother Nature decided that she had had enough.  Australia saw wildfires that looked like the apocalypse. It destroyed 10 million hectacres of land (which is equivalent to 40% of the U.K.), killed 1 billion animals, and we really thought that this year couldn’t get any worse. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but it was only in May when Austrailian governments announced that the fires were fully extinguished.

 

Also in January, there was nearly a war between Iran and the U.S. after a U.S. drone killed an Iranian general, Kobe Bryant, his daughter – Gianna –  and six other passengers died in a helicopter crash, in May, the world witnessed the murder of George Floyd: an unarmed black man who was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. There was beauty in watching most of the world come together and fight for justice for the black community

 

There was a locust swarm outbreak in East Africa, the worst that has happened in 70 years, killing millions of crops which therefore take its toll on the people. In August, there was a huge explosion in Beruit, killing 70 people and seriously injuring more than 3,500 people.

 

And then… in November, you had the typhoons in the Phillipines, killing people, tearing through their homes, destorying their towns, and making their lives impossible to live.

And I haven’t even mentioned Coronavirus yet. At the time of writing this post, the virus has killed 1,579,313 people, with there being 69,439,385 cases. Some countries like New Zealand managed to tackle the virus quickly, enforcing a strict lockdown, which means that they are now living their lives like normal thanks to their quick and strict actions.

Then, you have the U.K. which is where I live. Measures aganst the virus were taken too late, resulting in the current number of 62,566 deaths, and it has no sign of slowing down. It’s infuriating that we as a country can’t seem to follow basic rules. Wear a mask. Social distance. Stay at home if you can. It’s NOT THAT HARD! 

It’s 10th December 2020, I have worked for six months out of this year, and I won’t be going back to work until 2021. Working in a pub means that I am employed by one of the industries that have been most affected by the outbreak. I’m lucky. I have a family that have been able to support me financially, I have been able to get 80% of my wage (which works out to pretty much nothing, but it’s still something).

We have 21 days left of 2020. 21 days to make sure that we can help anyone affected by the terror of this year. I am lucky that I have been able to donate money to causes such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the typhoons in the Phillipines. I have signed petition after petition to help as many people as I could. I have tried to educate the people around me of their privilege, and make them understand what is happening in the world.

I am now going to include links to pages where you can donate money or sign petitions to help those people less fortunate than ourselves. We need to do all that we can to help. If you aren’t in a position where you can help financially, THAT’S OKAY! Sign petitions, retweet/share posts on social media to raise awareness of issues. These things help so much!

I know that this has been a slightly *depressing* blog post, but it needed to be done. I couldn’t carry on writing about other things without addressing the horror that this year has been.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please look after yourselves. Stay safe. I love you all.

 

HELP WITH THE AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE DISASTER

 

HELP TO DONATE TO THE PH TYPHOON VICTIMS

 

LINK TO A CARD WHERE YOU CAN DONATE, SIGN, AND EDUCATE

 

HELP INDIA WITH ITS NEW FARMER LAWS | PETITION

 

WAYS YOU CAN HELP THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT

 

DONATE TO THE FLINT WATER FUND

 

HELP THE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY THE LOCUST PLAGUE