COVID19 in Guyana - January 2022

 

So things are rather different now. It seems that Omicron hit us late last month and cases have spiked to over 1000 per day.

For the past week or so reported cases have fluctuated around 1000 plus or minus a few hundred. I would suspect that our ability to run tests is being stretched and cases are actually more.

The good news is that the ICU has around 15 cases - half of what it was last year. Presumably due to this variant being less severe. Hopefully cases will fall quickly soon.

Hospitals are being stretched due to staff shortages caused by sickness. A common situation in many countries.

It is interesting to note that cases in Surinam and French Guiana both spiked the same time as Guyana.

Book announcement - 6 introductory booklets on Kindle

 

The following booklets are now available on Kindle as ebooks (only):

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Christians

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Muslims

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Hindus 

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for the Seeker 

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Women

What is Kindle? See here.

These booklets are intended to give an introduction to the Faith to readers of various backgroungs and to provide additional sources of further relevant information including links. Some colour pictures are included.

And there are two additional related booklets:

Bahá'í Books - A Short Introduction (Covers some 60 books)

The Bahá'í Faith and the Cosmos – A Short Introduction (What the teachings say about life elsewhere)

All are priced at US$0.99 but the first 7 will be free on December 18th.

What is Kindle?

 This is a brief introduction to Kindle.

Kindle is a service by Amazon which allows ebooks to be created and sold. Usually they cost much less than a printed version and some are free. And there is no shipping or mail charge. They can be downloaded immediately to an app and read on your phone or read online. The Kindle app can be found in the usual places.

Paying for a ebook requires a bank card (VISA, Mastercard etc) unless it is free. The minimum cost for an ebook is $0.99 but $3-$10 is common. 

It is estimated that there are about 9 million ebooks on Kindle.

To buy an ebook you will need to create an Amazon account if you don't have one.

Once you are set up, to get an ebook you login to Amazon, find the book in the Kindle store and click the button to buy. When you go into the app you will find the ebook in your library.

Links

Amazon Kindle home page

Kindle app for Android

100th anniversary of the passing of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá

 

The Bahá'í world is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the passing of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. A representative from Guyana traveled to the event. Here is report from BWNS.

In addition construction is proceeding rapidly on the new beautiful and impressive shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá mid-way between Haifa and Akka. Here is a short documentary about the project.

Money for combating climate change

 According to a UN report back in June:

"Significant investments are needed and international cooperation is critical. More than a decade ago, developed countries committed to jointly mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 in support of climate action in developing countries."

Unsurprisingly the money has yet to appear. It sounds a lot but the world military expenditure is around $2000 billion per year - twenty times the amount. And that money has been spent already. And it keeps flowing.

If we could put an end to war we could divert a part of this to beneficial uses. Think of the money which could be available for fixing the world, education, health, housing for the poor and so on.

It is strange that this issue is hardly mentioned by world leaders. Why is this?