The next New Year Eve will mark the second anniversary of the first reported case of Covid-19. The first cases of Covid-19, as the name suggests, were identified towards the end of the year 2019 in Wuhan Province, China. Due to its exponential spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Following this introduction, governments, virtually worldwide, adopted various preventive measures to control its transmission. National lockdowns were the most prominent and, perhaps, the most effective of those preventive measures. Since its rise, more than five million people have died of Covid-19 throughout the world. Meanwhile, more than eight and half billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccines have been administered globally and new drugs have been developed to fight the disease. Apart from bringing the world at a standstill, the Covid-19 pandemic has created great public health crisis and affected economic productivity in state after state. Besides, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the educational methods and exposed social and political inequalities that have previously been ignored. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed some weaknesses in the concept and practice of globalization.
Thus, when envisaging a theme for this edition, the Editorial Board of Chiedza, Journal of Arrupe Jesuit University could not overlook the Covid-19 pandemic. This being the case, the theme of this May 2021 Issue is Covid-19: Will Africa Survive? The editorial board invited articles that examine the issue of Covid-19 which devastates the entire world. As indicated in the call for papers for this issue, this theme is, possibly, ironic because, in Africa, the question of survival is asked and answered on a daily basis. Differently put, life,for most Africans, is on the quotidian and too many of them live from hand to mouth and day to day activities. In many parts of Africa, the economies are depleted by protracted crises and Africans exist precariously through informal employment. Consequently, a government order to stay at home seemed to be an order to starve. On the one hand, although people understood the need to control the rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, they, on the other hand, knew that if “social distancing” is practiced, the congregated groups through which they trade, it would deprive them the context which enables them to survive. In addition, the acquisition of Covid-19 vaccines is another factor that influenced the choice for the theme of this Issue. Precisely, in the scramble for Covid-19 vaccines, wealthier continents had procured several million doses for their populations. Conversely, African continent was practically unnoticed in the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccines.
The first contribution to provide some answers to the editorial board’s question is an analysis of human rights and the Covid-19 pandemic precautionary measures enforced by the Malawian government. Nazombe REUBEN CHIFUNDO addresses the issue of right to food especially of children from poor households in Malawi. He argues that despite the need to contain the spread of Covid-19 through measures such as lockdowns, the state has an obligation to respect, protect, and fulfil the right to food as well as to take steps towards the realization of the right for children from food insecure households in Malawi. Reuben looks critically at the state obligations in order to bring out what the state should do or should not do to ensure the enjoyment of the right to food for children from urban poor households in Malawi.
Looking at the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic Lupinda JEAN-LUC MULYANGA urges the Congolese people to turn to a subversive system of thought which, in one way or the other, may change their vision of the world. In this way, the Congolese people would have to think differently about the conduct of their daily lives. In a nutshell, Lupinda’s article is a call for hope or a forward-looking spirit capable of making the Congo D.R survive in the face of Covid-19 and future pandemics of the like. Portásio TIMÓTEO looks at the Covid-19 pandemic from a philosophical or metaphysical perspective. He brings Heraclitus into the discussion of Covid-19. He uses Heraclitan philosophy of change or flux to intellectually and morally analyze the possible emergence and cause of Covdi-19. He suggests that Covid-19 may have emerged as a natural way of the universe to maintain itself. Thus, Portásio, controversially, suggests that Covid-19, though it killed a lot of people and it brought the world to a standstill, it might have risen to bring about some good in the universe.
Apart from the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change remains another much discussed topic at the present moment globally. Perhaps, this great concern is because climate change seriously threatens the gradual extinction of the universe and, of course, of humanity. Probably, this is why climate change and biodiversity losses have attracted the attention of many scholars in the field of environmental ethics. In this debate, some intellectuals have suggested that ethical egoism and anthropocentrism are major threats to climate, biodiversity conservation as well as environmental sustainability. Nyurahayo JEAN GAETAN brings the issues of Covid-19 and climate change together. He critically discusses the “Impact of Ethical Egoism and Ethical Anthropocentrism on the Climate and Biodiversity Conservation in the Face of the Covid-19 Pandemic.” In his discussion, he proposes three approaches: (i) a “win-win” method, (ii) an “I am because the environment is”, and (iii) the adoption of ethical anthropoholism rather than anthropocentrism. He thus moves from a position in which human beings claim to be at the center of all that there is in the universe and therefore abuse the rest of the living and non-living constituents of the environment. Gaetan’s ideas developed in this paper are summed up in his poem “Live and Let Live” also published in this issue.
Richard KAZADI KAMBA shifts his attention from the Covid-19 pandemic to the discussion begun by Gaetan above which is ecology. He argues that the contemporary world must be ready to face the ecological challenge as one of its most fundamental questions. This is a matter of examining the interplay between human beings and their biological surrounding or environment. Hence, his plea is for the establishment of a necessary ecology as a path towards an authentic development. Essentially, he argues that the problem of ecology requires a holistic approach because, fundamentally, it touches all angles of human life. In turn, Alfigio TUNHA further shifts the discussion from Covid-19 to leadership. He investigates the impact of gerontocratic political leadership on youth who have been Marginalized in Zimbabwe. Principally, his study seeks to establish reasons why youth have been excluded from leadership positions in Zimbabwe with a view to finding solutions that impact positively in the developmental and transformational growth of the Zimbabwean youth. To achieve these goals, Tunha employs Mannheim’s theory of generations and he uses quantitative method.
The articles above are followed by one book review and two poems. Bomki MATTHEW contributed with review of Moisés Silva’s book Biblical Words and their Meaning. An Introduction to Lexical Semantics. As the title of the book suggests, it is on Linguistic Semantics. This is a new approach to Biblical Lexicography. It is quite insightful and maybe not known to many schools of thought. The first poem, Live and Let Live, is by Gaetan Nyurahayo and it addresses issues of Covid-19 and environmental ethics. Fr. Arturo Sosa S.J., the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, called for an “Ignatian Year” to celebrate the life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus. The Year opened on May 20th 2021, the 500th anniversary of when Ignatius, the soldier, was injured by a cannonball in the Battle of Pamplona. The second poem, “Santo Inácio de Loyola”, is by Mário Virgílio Cipriano. The poem is about Saint Ignatius and it is allusive to the Ignatian Year. I wish to show my gratitude to all those who, direct and indirectly, have labored to make this endeavor to birth. In a special way, I would like to thank Mr. Ashly Salima, the former Editor-in-Chief of Chiedza Journal for his continuous support. He has always checked on both me and the status of the Journal. I want to extend my appreciation to Mr. Tyolumun Tsaor for his availability and never-failing assistance. Besides, I owe plenty of gratefulness to Prof. Anthony Chennells whose dedication to this Journal never sways. Apart from advising me and the editorial board, he has given me emotional support to carry on with this noble task. In the same vein, I want to thank Dr. Isaac Mutelo, the acting chairperson of the Department of Research, Innovation, and Publication at Arrupe Jesuit University (AJU) and all members of this department for their care, concerns about the status of the Journal, suggestions, and comfort. Finally, I want to thank all the contributors, members of the Chiedza journal editorial board who reviewed the articles published herein, the Arrupe Jesuit University Student Association (AJUSA), and the entire University for, direct or indirectly, contributing to the growth of this enterprise. May we never tire in our trust to light and enlighten Africa through Chiedza Journal.

Timóteo B. Portásio, SJ

Editor