Survivors are the Solution
Why I’ve devoted all my time and resources to documenting the stories of COVID-19 survivors.
We are living in a global crisis unlike anything the world has ever seen.
And COVID-19 keeps spreading.
Fueled by misinformation.
Bolstered by mistrust.
Sustained by physical and ideological isolation.
And, fraught with anxiety.
We are fixated on the hundreds of thousands who have died.
But, what about the millions who have survived?
I would argue that survivors are the solution to all of these problems.
Survivors replace misinformation with facts.
Survivors combat mistrust by providing local, trustworthy voices.
Survivors fight ideological isolation by opening up healthy discussion with real people who have experiences then virus themselves.
And, survivors calm anxiety by offering hope. They’ve been through it and made it out the other side.
How do we know this works? Because we’ve done it before. This is the second time we’ve been in the middle of an unprecedented outbreak. The first time was when we were living in Liberia, West Africa when the Ebola outbreak exploded in 2014. I worked with humanitarian organizations to share the stories of Ebola survivors. By hearing from people local communities knew and trusted, they finally started taking the virus seriously and taking precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones. Through radio, television, and social media the project reached nearly 10 million people, nearly half the population of West Africa.
Sharing personal stories of survivors helped curb the spread of the virus by driving change in attitudes and behaviors.
That’s why we started COVID-19 Survivor Diaries and have dedicated all of our time and resources to it for the past five months.
So far, we’ve photographed and interviewed over 85 COVID-19 survivors. But, there are over 21 million more stories to tell.
We need YOU.
Join us! Help us stop the spread of COVID-19 by amplifying the voices of survivors.
Here’s what you can do to help:
Make a financial contribution — We’ve been self-funding this while unemployed for the last five months. But, we need help to keep going. If you’d like to help us share more stories of COVID-19 survivors, make a contribution on our GoFundMe page.
Collaborate with us — We also need collaborators and partners who will help us amplify these stories so more people see them. Reach out to us at survivors@namuhmedia.com if you’re interested in collaborating.
Share your COVID-19 story — Share your story with us here. We’ll follow-up with selected stories to conduct an interview, help you craft your story, and photograph your portrait when possible. We will do our best to share as many stories as possible. It may take us some time to get back to you, but we’ll follow-up as soon as humanely possible.
Share someone else’s COVID-19 Story — Help us share stories of COVID-19 survivors. Reach out to a survivor and ask them if you can take their portrait and interview them. Share their story and photo on Instagram and tag @covid19survivordiaries. We’ll repost on our account giving you credit of course!
Photographing my first Ebola survivors, Patrick and William, at the MSF (Doctors without Borders) Ebola treatment unit at ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia.