The COVID-19 pandemic is considered as the most crucial global health calamity of the century and the greatest challenge that humankind has faced since World War II.
As countries around Europe and Asia take tentative but significant steps out of strict lockdowns, COVID-19 continues taking its toll on the world, causing deaths, illnesses and economic despair. The question hanging on everybody’s head is “will life ever return to normal after Coronavirus lockdown?”. I don’t think so.
It has been six months since the novel coronavirus started spreading from Wuhan, China. Although the pandemic hasn’t stopped, some countries with falling infection rates are slowly easing lockdown restrictions. Small shops and restaurants are reopening in a dozen countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. Some schoolchildren are returning to class. On our personal side of things, our manufacturers are back in business, some of them with more restriction than others. Retailers who distribute our products have been selling online and are slowly going back to their physical locations taking all necessary measures for visitors.
We have been in official lockdown since March 12th. Safety and health is our top priority as founders. We are dedicated to our team members and have provided “home office” for all of our employees. With that being said there has been NOlayoff and/or furlough for us. We have run out of stock on several of our products. That’s pretty good right? And we have begun manufacturing again. New products coming soon.
Scientists have singled bats and pangolins as potential sources of the virus, but the real blame lies elsewhere — with human assaults on the environment.
During quarantine, we designed two different t-shirt designs to honor all bats, pangolins and other living animals. The objective of this limited HUMAN ERROR — COVID 19 t-shirt series was to create consciousness among us warm blooded primates alias humans and help people in need.
For each HUMAN ERROR — COVID 19 t-shirt purchased we donated ten 3D printed protection masks to hospitals and caregivers in need that are short in working supplies. With your purchase we were able to afford all materials to manufacture this from our home and to distribute to the following locations who we are in direct contact with and know that are in desperate need.
Our 3D printed masks are still available and we continue to donate as long as we keep receiving orders on these specific products.
///// THIS IS A COMPANY UPDATE REGARDING ALL DONATIONS MADE THROUGH MACHINA WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY ////
With your help we have donated to the following people/organizations:
Caravan Without Borders: A collective of activists, organizers, artists, and volunteers gathering together to bring humanitarian aid from United States to Mexico, to the most needed victims of forced migration trapped at the border. They advocate for human rights and human immigration; Constantly fighting against Mexico’s and USA’s corrupt government.
Location: 📍Tijuana, Mexicali, Mexico
Quantity — Donations made: 340 3D Printed Face Masks
Since the US government enacted the Migrant Protection Protocols in January 2019 — a policy also known as “Remain in Mexico” — asylum seekers, immigrants from all over Latin America have been forced to wait an average of two to threemonths in violent towns across the border until their US asylum hearing date.
Shelters in northern Mexico soon filled up, some of them even shut down their doors for safety reasons and to control the virus having people without accommodation that had to resort to sleeping in tents in makeshift camps where they had little protection from gangs and drug cartels that prey on the stranded.
At the same time, hate crimes have risen steadily since 2016, and Latinos say they feel vulnerable: ‘It rattles you at your core’. This is one of the reasons we left our lives back in San Francisco, California once Trump became president. (But that’s another story).
Even after a global pandemic, President Donald Trump continues to rail about an “invasion of illegals” at the southern border, words echoed in media today. We have been immigrants ourselves in the United States and Asia, we know what it feels to be an outsider and have nothing or no one around. There for immigration is a cause we strongly believe and want to help. You can read more about our initiative here.
It is no secret that a good proportion of Latinos in the United States are essential workers. They have to go and work in sectors that require them to be exposed to the virus and often without personal protective equipment. Many Latinos also lack access to health care and have higher rates of underlying conditions like diabetes and asthma, which can lead to complications for those who contract COVID-19. Today, Latinos are changing their lives in Trump’s America. Weather Trump likes it or not.
ISEM GUADALUPE VICTORIA
Location: 📍 Texcoco, Estado de México
Quantity: 60 professional Face Shields
There are 8,544 confirmed Covid-19 cases among healthcare professionals in Mexico, and another 6,747 suspected cases. ISEM Guadalupe Victoria located in Texcoco, Estado de Mexico was one of the first hospitals to go on strike when the outbreak started because they where short on medical supplies.
Coincidently in the past, we have given free meals and medical supplies to ISEM Guadalupe Victoria. We have a direct contact who we have dealt with to serve the best way possible. My most deepest respect for all health care workers who wake up every morning into an unknown battle to save lives.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
New ‘normal’: Countries worldwide slowly get back to business amid coronavirus. Even for the most understanding and supportive of the lockdown, being separated from friends and family has been one of the hardest elements. So, life after lockdown at last becomes a possibility for some people.
The pandemic has brought to light many failings of our society and values, among them the religious devotion to work: the notion that only through labor do our lives have meaning.
In the traditional Japanese art of kintsugi, artisans fill the cracks in broken pottery with gold or silver, transforming damaged pieces into something more beautiful than they were when new. Post-traumatic growth is like kintsugi for the mind. Post-Traumatic Growth suggests that people can emerge from trauma or adversity having achieved positive personal growth. One of the most celebrated psychiatrist and Holocaust survivors Viktor Frankl who remains best-known for his indispensable 1946 psychological memoir Man’s Search for Meaning — a reflection on what the gruesome experience of Auschwitz taught him about the primary purpose of life: the quest for meaning, which sustained those who survived.
For Frankl, meaning came from three possible sources: purposeful work, love, and courage in the face of difficulty. In these difficult times, meaning came for us to help the best way we could. Through innovation with resources that we already had and reaching out to some of the “marganilized people” that are part of our community. My most deepest respect for all health care workers who wake up every morning into an unknown battle to try and save lives. Immigrants who wake up every morning with total uncertainty to what the day ahead will bring.
I personally would like to thank each and every one of you who helped us spread the word with our cause or helped us by buying one of our products. We will be launching a new collection soon. Stay put through our online store, sign up to our newsletter, follow us on social media for more. We will now provide different payment facilities to continue shopping with out emptying your pocket.
By: Linda (Machina Co-Founder) — @LindaLFranco