For most people, the festival of Eid means joy and celebration with their loved ones. But for those who lost near and dear ones to the coronavirus over the last two years, the celebrations are laced with sadness and despair.
Over 29,000 people lost their lives due to the deadly disease since March 18, 2020. The figure stands to represent the heartache of families who are grappling to deal with the irreparable loss.
Abida Hossain, the youngest member of her family, suddenly grew up when her mother Nasreen Akhtar, died of Covid-19 in December last year leaving behind two daughters and a husband.
After her mother’s death Abida’s world was turned upside down. The grief-stricken woman had to pick up the responsibilities after her mother died.
Abida now has to balance between managing the fami between managing the family, looking after her father and household chores which no one in the family had to think about before, and her job.
"It hurts when I think about the past. Before when I used to wake up, I didn't have to think about my breakfast, I didn't have to worry about running the house,” she lamented.
“At that time, I only had to think about my studies, work and spending quality good time with parents and sisters," she added.
Considering her closeness to her mother, and her refugee during the hard times, her mother’s death affected Abida the most.
"It's been 6 months since my mother passed away. I am learning something new every day while performing some of her duties in her absence,” she said.
“I miss my mother very much. But in the last few months, I have come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to sleep with my head on my mother's chest. Now the memories all I have to move forward,” she continued.
Syed Safiul Basher Ayon died just two days before the Eid-ul-Azha in 2021. It was in July 2021 when the delta variant swept through Bangladesh resulting in the highest number of casualties.
His brother remembers looking at him behind the glass wall of Intensive Care Unit.
“Everyone, said he was young, he will make it. But he did not,” said the brother.
Ayon, a photographer for long, was remembered by his loved ones as a polite person and an avid fan of photography since his college days.
It has been a year and his mother has not been able to go to the graveyard to visit her first child since he passed away.
“Amma (mother) is carrying the grief, that has placed a big hole in her heart. She remains sick all the time, both psychologically and physically since then,” Ayon’s brother said.
“Now she has Covid and we are worried about how to take care of her physical and mental wellbeing,” he added.
Many families are mourning the losses that were sudden, tragic, and even sometimes premature.
Mamun Hossain, breathed his last just at the age of 26 on August 1, 2021. He died within a few hours of being admitted to a Dhaka hospital with low oxygen levels.
“When I received the news, I just felt numb. For the next couple of days, I used to wake up from my sleep because we shared a brotherly relation with Mamun,” he said.
“He was so young, so lively,” he said with tears in his eye. The tragedy in such a tender age is something that we can never think of,” he added.
Like the families above, thousands of people are dealing with the painful loss of loved ones. They now have a huge gap in their life and they know that Eid will come and go, every year, but their loved ones will never return.
What can you do to deal with grief?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, many people are experiencing grief during the Covid-19 pandemic where reactions such as shock, disbelief, or denial, anxiety, distress, anger etc.
Grieving the loss of a loved one while coping with the fear and anxiety related to the Covid-19 pandemic can be especially overwhelming, it said.
They recommended people to connect with other people and host group calls with family members and friends to stay connected.
It also advised people facing such grief to ask family and friends to share stories and pictures via mailed letters, email, phone, video chat or via apps or social media.
Creating memories or rituals, developing virtual memory books or blogs to remember a loved one and asking family and friends to contribute to their memories and stories is also recommended.
Most importantly, grief-stricken people are advised to seek out counseling or mental health services, as well as reach out to support groups, or hotlines, especially those that can be offered over the phone or online.
