Helping you get through Covid-19 as a community

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Dear Women in Foreign Policy community, 

Earlier this week, Rachel Hills, founder of Powerb*tches, wrote on Instagram: “Thinking about all the people throughout history who assumed that life would continue as normal until it didn’t”. I feel this encapsulates the past few weeks quite well. 

I’ve been working from home for over two years, so I am lucky to have a good set up, but these are very different circumstances. If you can’t focus because of the incessant and worrying news cycle, don’t beat yourself up. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re unproductive, just that these are very unsettling times. 

My usual go-to for assuaging anxiety, a walk in the park, is now a once-a-day treat which I do being careful what I touch, making sure I am far from people. On Tuesday, I got into a tailspin after receiving my food delivery and wondering whether I had let the virus into my house. As a digital marketing freelancer working with SMEs, I worry for my clients and what this could mean for me. Sometimes, it feels like the whole world has become a massive danger, that a second of inattention could be the difference between getting sick or not, and nobody can really say how long it will last. Having spoken with some of you, I know I am not the only one feeling like this, so I am sharing my state of mind to show you you are not alone.

At Women in Foreign Policy, we believe in the power of communities coming together to get all of us through the toughest of times. On Sunday, our team of volunteers brainstormed on Skype to identify ways we could best support all of you. Below is a list of what we have come up with. Please do let us know if there are other ways we can help.

  • Support calls -- Starting 25 March, we’ll run free hour-long support calls every week. The first one will be for professionals, we’ll hold them for students with specific calls for overseas students. The first one will focus on the trials of working from home.

  • Workshops -- We have an exciting schedule of interactive online workshops coming up.

  • Instagram Live -- Keep an eye on our Instagram account for schedule announcements.

  • Highlighting the work of Global Health experts through interviews -- If you are one or would like to put one forward, please hit reply

  • Content on mental health, especially on The Zig Zag

  • A running list of resources -- You can access it, and add to it, here

  • Going forward, we’ll also include a Covid-19 section in the newsletter with relevant resources and news

Maybe this is the perfect time for you to start listening to a new podcast (hum, we have a great one, hum), to learn a new skill or to start meditating. Maybe there is already too much going on. Whichever situation you’re in, we’re here. 

Yours in community, 
Lucie