As the coronavirus pandemic is ravaging the world, and the frontline workers are working assiduously to help fight the deadly infection, the US-based Nigerian medical doctor, Michael Igwe is doing his bit out of medical line to affix the hope of his patients through music.
In an interview with BBC Pidgin, the Ibo man reiterates the essence of creativity as a critical skill that health workers must employ to help coronavirus patients combat the disease. To this end, Igwe has been going deep into his Christianity belief to tap out Igbo church songs as the tool of rekindling the faith of the patients in the place of fear for the deadly virus.
Igwe said:
“I have been singing song since I was a small child. My mother is a singer too. When I was in Nigeria, I used to lead songs at the church I attended. That was how I embarked on singing even as a medical doctor. Our experience at the hospital with this COVID-19 pandemic is that it mostly instills fear into people and sometimes, the fear will be too much for us”. The Abia-indigene also went ahead to describe their medical training having a limit to how far it can span in fighting the apocalypse, but believes in the reliance on the Holy Spirit.
He said he is a living witness to an impossible bad situation having possibility of getting better, like a confirmed dead person coming back to life. On speaking on the power of music, he talked about how it reaches the heart and the soul. He said that God responds to praise.
“Music is an important aspect of healing. It touches the heart and soul. The kind of songs I enjoyed the most are Igbo Christian songs. There is something about the songs that our forefathers use in praising God. When you start singing them, God will help you,” he said.
The Nigerian-American doctor then implored people to rid off the fear of the epidemic in them, and have a believing conviction that the virus will soon become history.