The Source - 2020 Lockdown

COVER story
P12
RESEARCH
P14
SERVICES
CONTENTS
03 Column
26 Colofon
26 Did you know
READING ROOM
05 The truth is worth it
18 Seasons of Crisis
19 The Future
20 Economic
COVER PAGE / RESEARCH
12 Cover Page - Power of seasons
14 Research - The changing world order
PROFESSIONALS 4 PROFESSIONALS
07 The power of blurred focus
08 Legal - Contract-Obligations in times of crisis
16 Assurance & Advisory - How to minimize the impact
of Covid-19 on your business
CULTURE / social activities
04 Devotional
10 In the beginning - The Earth
11 Earth day
21 The quiet emptiness of a world
Corporate branding
06 Advertisement
26 Advertisement
27 Advertisement
02

COLUMN
THE ABILITY TO QUICKLY
BOUNCE BACK
This is the most important and crucial period in your lives for what you do now
and what you decide now in this season may well determine which way your life
shall go. And the question is, whether you have a proper, a solid, and a sound
plan. And I want to suggest some of the things that should be in your life’s future
plan. Number one in your life’s plan should be a deep belief in your own dignity,
your own worth, and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anybody to make you
feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have
worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance. Secondly, in your
future life plan, you should have as a basic principle the determination to achieve
excellence. Once you discover what it will be, set out to do it and to do it well.
Be a bush if you cannot be a tree. If you cannot be a highway, just be a trail. If
you cannot be the sun, be a star, for it is not by size that you win or fail. Be the
best of whatever you are. Finally, in your life’s future plan, must be a commitment
to the eternal principals of beauty, love, and justice. While life for none of
us has been a crystal stair, we still must keep moving, we must keep going. If
you cannot fly, run. If you cannot run, walk. If you cannot walk, crawl, but by
all means, keep moving. Do not allow people to fool you, because the truth is
that our struggles in this world are similar. And the lessons to overcome those
struggles, and to move on forward by changing the world around us will apply
equally to all. Simple things. Every morning make-up your bed in perfection. If
you just make-up your bed every morning you will have accomplished your first
task of the day. And it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and
another. And at the end of the day that one task completed will be turning into
many tasks completed. Making your bed will also emphasize that the little things
in life matters. If you cannot do the little things right, you will never be able to
do the big things right. And if by chance you will have a miserable day, you will
come home to a bed that is made. That you made. And a made bed will give you
encouragement that tomorrow will be better. So, if you want to change the world
start off by making your bed. The truth in life is that we need to understand that
life is not about fairness, and that we are not entitled to anything. You must open
your eyes of understanding and see that as long as you keep blaming external
circumstances you are actually giving your personal power away. The key in life
is not in what happens to you, but how you react to what happens to you. Plan to
build your future on solid ground.
Mirella
03

DEVOTIONAL
1 Kings 19:2-3 NIV
[2] So Jezebel sent a messenger to
Elijah to say, “May the gods deal
with me, be it ever so severely, if by
this time tomorrow I do not make
your life like that of one of them.”
[3] Elijah was afraid and ran for his
life. When he came to Beersheba in
Judah, he left his servant there.
This was a major Prophet of God,
who had just called fire from above
and it came. Who challenged 450
Prophets and ended killing them all.
He got word through a messenger
of a woman, he was afraid and ran
away. It was not that Elijah did not
have the capacity to call more fire,
he had as can be seen here:
2 Kings 1:9-12 NIV
[9] Then he sent to Elijah a captain
with his company of fifty men.
The captain went up to Elijah, who
was sitting on the top of a hill, and
said to him, “Man of God, the king
says, ‘Come down!’” [10] Elijah answered
the captain, “If I am a man
of God, may fire come down from
heaven and consume you and your
fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven
and consumed the captain and
his men. [11] At this the king sent to
Elijah another captain with his fifty
men. The captain said to him, “Man
of God, this is what the king says,
‘Come down at once!’” [12] “If I am
a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may
fire come down from heaven and
Corona
versus
consume you and your fifty men!”
Then the fire of God fell from heaven
and consumed him and his fifty men.
Twice he called fire and it consumed
100 men of war. Why did he not call
on fire to consume the wicked woman
called Jezebel? Scripture tells us
that he was afraid and ran away. No
where in scripture are we told this
was a woman with spiritual powers.
Even if she had, surely her powers
could not have been more than of the
Almighty God upon Elijah.
Another remarkable story in scripture
is of the young child Jesus escape to
Egypt. Matthew 2:13 NIV When
they had gone, an angel of the Lord
appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get
up,” he said, “take the child and his
mother and escape to Egypt. Stay
there until I tell you, for Herod is
going to search for the child to kill
him.”
Joseph did not waste time to pray and
enquire from God if the dream was
from him. He obviously knew that
the young child was not his but from
God. If this was indeed a young child
from God, why ran away from a mortal
man, who is not an eternal being?
Scripture tells us of young child
Jesus:
Edwin C. Polela
When three prophets told him that God wanted to speak
to him, he refused to heed the word for months until
he was given a word about the calling on his life. He
could not imagine how he could stand before people as
a man of God because of his past. But instead of successfully
winning the struggle with God, a day spent
on a mountain in prayer made him descend a changed
person. This marked the beginning of his relationship
with God. A walk that has taught him deep and fearful
things where he realized that there is a big difference
between walking with God and relating with God. He moved from hearing of and about
God, to hearing God. With life’s experiences of hardship, joy, sorrow, lack etc., these
lessons caused him to move forward in his relationship and walk with God. God’s hand
has been on his life, teaching, directing, counselling and sustaining him. He has learned
to listen to and hear God in different situations.
Prayer
Isaiah 9:6 NIV
[6] For to us a child is born, to us a
son is given, and the government will
be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.
Mighty God, the son given by God,
Joseph had to run away with the
Mighty God, from Herod a mere
man. There is something in the word
of God that must be on every believer’s
heart. Obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22 NIV
[22] But Samuel replied: “Does the
Lord delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as much as in obeying the
Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of
rams.
Proverbs 21:3 NIV
[3] To do what is right and just is
more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
We are required to do the right thing.
Has God told us to pray and believe
Corona will not touch us? Some battles
are not meant to be fought. Some
situations do not call for prayer but
right action. Elijah ran away, Joseph
escaped to Egypt. Are we to kneel and
just pray? We are advised by medical
personnel the right thing to do.
Why do we assume everyone of the
medical personnel are none believers
in God? Suppose the advises we are
getting is the word from God through
his servants among the doctors?
We must do the right thing. We must
use wisdom. We must not test God.
04

READING ROOM
Western fingers are still pointing towards
China as the country to blame
for the Coronavirus outbreak. The
Chinese tight rules were used to control
the medical information rather
than to stop the epidemic, says the
Western voice. Meanwhile, in the
United States of America nurses are
getting fired for bringing their own
face mask to work. Doctors suspended
out of hospitals for wearing
a better quality mask in the hallways.
How much different, or better, is the
western world reacting and dealing
with this kind of war. A war in which
the enemy is an unexpected invisible
one. Too small for the eye to register,
but too big to be denied. I believe
that the first thing we need to do is to
understand who we are dealing with.
It’s not about a country being under
attack. As it was never meant to be
solely about one nation being at war.
In a sense it’s not even the whole
world that has to stand still, it’s rather
on a personal level that each one
of us, as humans, has to refrain, and
do a check and balance within our
selves.
Doctors, nurses, technicians,
cleaners, police officers, informal
care, and so on, responding to the
Covid-19 pandemic are the superheroes
of our age. Like real firefighters
they are putting themselves at risk to
save the live of others. Around the
world these brave warriors have paid
the highest price by battling in our
behalf in the frontlines. There are
many deaths under these superheroes
of our age. Reality is different
then the Hollywood fame. In reality
we sent our superheroes too often
into battle without adequate personal
protective equipment. The scandal
is that when these heroes wants to
bring their own right personal protection
equipment they get punished,
suspended or fired. Can you believe
that? Hospitals discouraging staffers
from bringing their own protective
gear, for fear of scaring patients or
leaving employees feeling unprotected
is sad, because it’s the hospitals
that cannot secure their
THE TRUTH
IS WORTH IT
employees by supplying protective
equipment.
In other words, we need these medical
specialists and nurses that are battling
in the frontlines instead of punishing
them for trying to protect themselves
in an adequate way. There are even
doctors and nurses that are literally
saying that they are not expecting the
hospitals to provide these in this time
of shortage, but at least they need to
be able to wear the right protective
equipment when they themselves buy
it on their own.
Such an outbreak has not been seen
before in the lives of most doctors
and nurses, and it’s beyond any kind
of protocol of hospitals, or even
governments, to treat professionals
who are putting their lives (and their
family lives) literally at risk, partly
because of insufficient proper equipment,
in such a disgraced way. The
dangerous part is not only because of
shortages of personal protected
equipment but also because of uncertainty
about how much protection
is optimal. No one knows how long
this outbreak will continue, and how
much death and injuries it will cost.
Can you imagine fighting while losing
sight of the size of the battlefield.
Seeing fellow caregivers getting sick,
even dying, while lots of patients
won’t make it at the end of the day. It
has to be a very stressed out situation
to deal with on a daily basis.
It’s sad to see the richest countries
of the world failing in such a terrible
way, especially when they - Europe,
UK and US - had two months’ lead
time on the Asian countries. This
pandemic shows much more than
only what is seen at the surface. It
shows also that disciplined nations
can recover and overcome much
quicker and with less victims than
undisciplined countries.
05

Nothing to do with democracy
against autocracy, or capitalism
against communism, or any kind of
other opposite, but rather to do with
liberalism of democracy. Democracy
is stretched out far beyond justified
control. We are living in the age
of “Nobody can say something to
anyone.” An age wherein not even
the United Nations human rights are
enough to give the freedom that humans
do like to have today. No, I am
not against liberty. That would have
been to easy to say, isn’t it? But at
the other hand, I don’t believe that
we can control up to 10 billion people
in a limited space as earth without
rules. Therefore, as a lawyer I do
love law, discipline, and order. But it
isn’t about me.
The doctors, nurses, cleaning staff
members, technicians, police officers,
informal care, and so on, responding
to the Covid-19 pandemic
deserve our full gratitude but instead
we are kind of betraying them.
They have our back, but do we have
theirs? I believe we failed these brave
warriors because of our collective
pride, arrogance, and indisciplined
characters of this technology age.
Living far from our nature.
Being created to love our Creator and
another, instead of living a selfish life
based on quantity of material.
It’s never too late, as long as we can
see and turn away from our historical
misbehaving back towards our nature!
That’s the way to show our true
love to the “BRAVE WARRIORS.”
Gerrit J. Scheper
Advocate Gerrit J. Scheper thought his career was set
after graduating from the University of Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, and being senior partner and co-owner
in a well-known international law firm. But after
what Gerrit calls a “clear call to full time ministry,”
he changed course and went to the ‘Prophetic school’
in Pretoria, South Africa, completing several master’s
classes in theology. Gerrit is taught in the worldly laws
as well as in the spiritual laws, and as such experienced
in the earthly courtrooms as well as in the Courts of
Heaven.
As pastor and teacher of the Word, Gerrit empowers people with the Lord’s vintage truth
through writing and speaking, and weekly radio and television programs. Gerrit is a frequent
speaker at churches and seminars across borders. And he and his spouse are together
the founders and pillars of the monthly informative magazine ‘The Source’.
06

STRategic management
THE POWER OF BLURRED FOCUS
It is 8.25 hrs in the morning. I am
preparing our daily update meeting
related to the Corona virus. Our daily
update meetings start 8.30 hrs,
so I have only 5 minutes to put the
agenda in place. “What is crucial
to talk about today?”, I ask myself.
Usually it is not my preference to
prepare for a meeting so shorthanded,
but in these moments of crisis, it
helps me to really focus to only put
the points on the agenda that are absolutely
necessary and leave the rest
out. Looking at the white board, I
start writing the points that I want to
discuss. In this time of uncertainty,
even the short term future is blur (I
literally have no idea how the world
will look like next week!), but yet it
forces me to focus on the things that
matter right now, at this very
moment.
8.30 hrs. employees are coming in
and I open the meeting and welcome
everybody. I can feel that everybody
is a little nervous. Some are physically
present in the meeting room,
some are calling in from home. Everybody
is silent, as no ones knows
what is going to happen and where
this meeting will lead to. I take a
deep breath, look into the room and
start talking…
Long term Vision and Mission
become short term focus
I start with the pressing operational
matters. These are the operational
matters that form the core of who
we are and what we do as an organization,
making our long term vision
and mission become an immediate
and unmistaken short term focus.
And even though these matters are
pressing, they are matters that we are
used to deal with on a daily basis.
This provides a much needed sense
of familiarity amongst our employees
in these times of uncertainty: After
all, we know the procedures, we
have the networks in place and are
experts in our field. The only difference
is now that we are doing these
things under unprecedented pressure
and with a lot more unknown variables.
Calmly, I try to give (and get)
an update of these pressing matters to
make sure we are all on the same page:
- How are our patients doing?
- What is the status of our patients
that are outside Aruba because of
medical referral?
- Can I help with something?
- Where and how can we help?
- Is it clear for everybody what
needs to be done?
Each attendant of the meeting provides
an update about their area of
expertise and responsibility. As we
go around the room (and those calling
in), I make a conscious effort to
recap the updates from everybody as
much as possible, to make sure there
are no misunderstandings on where
we stand, what needs to be done and
who will be doing what. It is paramount
that everybody has a certain
level of comfort and purpose coming
out of this meeting. In order to do this,
I am trying to chair the meeting by
providing structure and decisiveness,
yet with enough flexibility and even
some light humor to keep the atmosphere
serious, but somehow upbeat.
Lastly, I close the meeting with words
of togetherness and unity. Although
seemingly cheesy, these words
came spontaneous and were wholeheartedly
meant. It is true that these
times of crises can also bring out the
best in people: I see some employees
really stepping up, rising to the
occasion, while others come out unexpectedly
with creative ideas and
a level of understanding that these
times can only be overcome together.
Everybody is chipping in. One
thing is rising above all else: the
passion we have to help our patients
wherever we can! And I see tremendous
commitment to help our patients,
together with their families,
parents, children and loved ones.
All the items that seem important a
week ago, all the points for improvement,
all the projects and things to
do, suddenly are no more. I look at
the clock, it is 9.39 hrs. Quite a long
meeting, but absolutely necessary
and I am glad we did it. It is interesting
to see that in time of absolute
chaos and uncertainty, certain things
become abundantly clear: never I experienced
so much blur in my vision
and so much clarity at the same time.
I thank everybody present and wish
them a safe and productive day. “Until
the next meeting tomorrow”, I say,
as this approach has now swiftly become
a key part in our daily routine.
Overall, my suggestion would be to
go back to the roots at this time of crises
and figure out how your vision and
mission can contribute to make things
better. Try to change this blurred vision
of what tomorrow will bring,
into a focused list of actions what can
be done right now. It can be anything
ranging from something very significant
till the smallest gesture that we
are all in this together and only together
we can – and will – overcome.
Ruben Goedhoop
Ruben is currently the CEO of the National
Health Insurance company of
Aruba (AZV). Previously he was the
leader of the advisory practice of PwC
Dutch Caribbean and has spent the last
twenty years consulting numerous profit
and nonprofit organizations throughout
the Caribbean. Ruben is also a part-time
lecturer in Strategic Management at the
University of Aruba and is author of the
book: “Challenging Leadership”.
07

LEGAL
The COVID-19 or corona pandemic
is presenting a lot of challenges
from a public health and medical
perspective, and because of the extraordinary
restrictions placed on
freedom of movement of people
on a nearly global scale, it is also
wreaking havoc on supply chains
and revenue streams everywhere,
leading to a devastating and worldwide
economic downturn. The crisis
also poses a lot of interesting legal
questions, for example at the constitutional
and societal level (how far
can a government go in restricting
basic human rights such as freedom
of movement and assembly and privacy
protections and on what authority),
but also on an individual
or commercial level (for example in
labor relations and lease contracts).
This article will briefly explore
another legal aspect of this crisis,
namely the principle of force majeure.
When a party to a contract cannot
or not in time perform or comply
with his contractual obligations as a
result of the measures taken to limit
the spreading of the coronavirus or
because of the economic and other
consequences of the coronacrisis.
“Even though
unforeseeable,
debtor can still be
hold responsible
or liable”
CONTRACT-OBLIGATIONS
IN TIMES
OF CRISIS
For instance, if the negative consequences
of the unforeseen circumstances
can be insured against (on
commercially reasonable terms);
if the debtor has failed to take out
such insurance, then the realization
of the insured event, however unforeseen
or unforeseeable it may be, can
in principle not be invoked to escape
responsibility or liability for the negative
consequences of the event. An
example would be a hurricane, which
one can generally insure against.
If the contract contains a force majeure
clause, then it divides the risk
of the unforeseeable circumstance
between the parties by agreement.
Such clauses have to be interpreted
and applied according to the normal
rules of contract construction, which
is foremost the grammatical meaning
of the text of the clause, but also
takes into account the reasonable expectations
of the parties of what they
understand the clause to mean and
what they can reasonably expect of
each other in those circumstances.
A force majeure clause can also be
contained in the general terms and
conditions (GT&C) that are used by
one of the contracting parties. In that
case, the question is if those GT&C
are applicable in the first place. This
generally requires that the party that is
making use of the GT&C has to have
made a copy of the GT&C available
to the other party; a mere reference
to the GT&C in the purchase order
or invoice is not sufficient. Secondly,
one has to distinguish between contracts
with consumers (B2C) and contracts
with other businesses (B2B).
The law adds another layer to this
definition, namely that the reason
for not fulfilling the contract cannot
come for the account of the debtor,
either by law, by contract or based
on the generally accepted practices
(verkeersopvatting). So even though
a circumstance may be unforeseeable,
it may still be that the debtor
can be held responsible or liable for
the breach of contract that results
from the unforeseen circumstance.
08

In B2C relationships, some clauses
are deemed unreasonably onerous
or are presumed to be unreasonably
onerous. These are generally clauses
in the GT&C that shift the risk under
the contract too much away from the
GT&C-user’s side or which place too
high of a burden on invoking a remedy
under the contract. While force
majeure clauses per se are not listed as
unreasonably onerous, it is deemed
unreasonably onerous for example
to make it impossible for the consumer
to demand performance or to
terminate the contract, or to stipulate
that the determination of whether
the user of the GT&C is in breach
of his obligations is left only to him.
When a consumer is confronted with
a breach of contract by a business
that uses GT&C, he should determine
first whether the GT&C are
applicable in the first place and if so,
ascertain whether the clause(s) that
the business is relying on are not
deemed or presumed unreasonably
onerous as stipulated in the law regulating
the use of GT&C’s.
In B2B relationships the same rules
regarding applicability of GT&C’s
should be applied (did the other
party actually receive a copy of the
GT&C from the user?). But the protections
afforded to consumers with
regard to the content of the GT&C
are not applicable to B2B relationships,
because the parties are considered
to be more equal to each other
in those cases and requiring less
protection against onerous clauses in
the GT&C.
Brown Lawyers
The question is if the
corona pandemic qualifies
as an unforeseeable
circumstance and if so,
for whose risk the consequences
should come.
On the first question the consensus
is that this is indeed an unforeseen
event from a legal perspective (epidemiologists
may want to differ). For
one thing, insurance policies tend to
exclude damages due to pandemics.
The questions of risk allocation are
answered by the contract itself if it
contains a force majeure clause, and
if not, then the generally accepted
practices or customs will have
to provide an answer. In an unequal
relationship (consumer to business,
employee to employer) the answer
may be that the stronger of the two
may have to carry a greater part of the
burden, depending always on the specific
facts and circumstances of each
case.
Brown Lawyers
Brown Lawyers is a top-tier Aruban law firm, having accumulated
35 years of experience and knowledge in Aruban,
regional and international legal affairs. We provide the legal
services which are most important for today’s businesses and
individuals in need of counseling. We provide our local and
international clients with a full range of expert legal services,
such as advice and counsel on all legal and regulatory matters,
advocacy, representation in litigation and collection of
claims. We endeavor to find the most effective solution for
our client’s needs and to accomplish the desired goals and
results in an efficient but thorough and well thought out manner,
while ensuring that the chances of success are constantly
evaluated and optimized.
09

READING ROOM
In The Beginning - The Earth
The word earth is not originally from
English language, but German. Simply
means ground. Interesting thing
is that earth is the only planet that is
not named after any god. About 70%
of the earth is water and the rest is
dry land. The water that forms the
earth is 97% salt and 3% fresh. Of
this 3% only 1% is flowing in lakes
and rivers, the other 2% is frozen
ice. Thus, life of man survives on
1% of the fresh water available.
Since the word earth is not originally
English or Aramaic, one wonders
what word was used in the beginning.
When scripture says; in the
beginning God created the heavens
and the earth. Was it what we see
that was created in the beginning?
To me, that which was later named
earth was water and dry ground.
This blue globe we see from space
was in the beginning without shape,
both water and dry round together.
You may say, “How possible?” Well,
was the light not together with the
darkness? Scripture says God separated
the light from the darkness.
If darkness and light can be together
then water and dry ground can be
together.
The “earth” is the foundation of all
we see. Once it was formed after
being created, everything else came
after. Whatever we do, our survival
is connected to Mother Earth. The
Greek word equivalent is Gaia -
terra mater. When God formed the
earth, he placed in it all things that
man will need to survive.
First thing was water and land.
Genesis 1:9 NIV
[9] And God said, “Let the water under
the sky be gathered to one place,
and let dry ground appear.” And it
was so.
The two are connected to man. Man
needs both water and land for his
survival. What he eats comes from
both realms. All that he eats survives
on water and land. When dry ground
was exposed, God spoke vegetation
on the land. Later he spoke living
things in the water and sky. Then living
things on land. Man was last. He
was told to dominate all.
It was not to be. For among the creation
of God was one creation that
was smart. The serpent. The serpent
deceived the woman and man did
what he was forbidden to do. In the
end God said, cursed is the ground.
Now man must sweat to eat from it.
This means that man needs to work
the earth to survive. He needs to ensure
the earth is well for him to eat of
it. This has been the failure of man.
To look after the earth.
Man has been careless with the earth
as he has been with himself yet his
very survival depends on this same
earth - water and land. You may have
the most expensive car, or live in the
most expensive house, but if you do
not own any land, you must work
to. Man was created to own, posses,
dominate land. The same way you
own your body, you must work to
own a piece of land. Owning land and
working it, began with Adam. It was
what was also told to Abraham.
In you working the land, there is one
of the great lessons you learn:
No land can be fruitful without it being
worked. If you want to grow your
food, you must first work your land.
Clear it of what is not needed. Look
at what the Lord said in:
By Edwin C. Polela
Matthew 13:3-8 NIV
[3] Then he told them many things
in parables, saying: “A farmer went
out to sow his seed. [4] As he was
scattering the seed, some fell along
the path, and the birds came and ate
it up. [5] Some fell on rocky places,
where it did not have much soil. It
sprang up quickly, because the soil
was shallow. [6] But when the sun
came up, the plants were scorched,
and they withered because they had
no root. [7] Other seed fell among
thorns, which grew up and choked
the plants. [8] Still other seed fell on
good soil, where it produced a crop--
-a hundred, sixty or thirty times what
was sown.
On this virgin land, we are told it had,
a path, rocks, thorn bushes as well
some areas that were free of these
three things.
For that farmer to be fully productive
or fruitful, he needed to clear his land
of the path, rocks and bushes.
So it is with our lives, for the word to
settle and make us fruitful, we need
to move away from our wrong path,
remove whatever rocks are in our
lives (heavy things we are carrying in
our hearts) and the thorns that hurt us.
We must prepare ourselves fully for
the word.
The earth teaches us such. If the earth
is not worked, it can not give us food,
if we do not work ourselves we shall
not get food. The same way we must
take care of ourselves, we must take
care of our earth. Let it pass away in
God’s appointed time and not by our
carelessness.
10

READING ROOM
Every year, April 22 marks the anniversary
of the birth of the modern
environmental movement in 1970.
This year, we celebrate 50 years of
Earth Day. What is Earth Day? This
is a very befitting question for our
generation today. Earth day is about
appreciating the uniqueness of our
planet Earth with its incredible and
dynamic diversity. The purpose of
this day is to increase awareness on
protecting planet earth by encouraging
people to ‘go green’. That is
to buy green products and focus on
the Reduce, Recycle and Reuse (the
“3 R’s”) in fighting against global
warming. In 1970, on April 22nd, a
public awareness was given about
the state of our planet’s environment
and raise awareness to pollution.
Earth Day is usually observed
worldwide with conferences, outdoor
activities, rallies and service
projects. When Earth Day started,
there was public support for the creation
of the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and contributed
to the passage of the Clean Air Act,
the Water Quality Improvement Act,
the Endangered Species Act and
several others environmental laws.
Earth Day was proposed by the late
Senator Gaylord Nelson Wisconsin
who died in 2005. After seeing the
damage caused by a 1969 oil spill
in Santa Barbara, California, Nelson
was inspired to organize a national
‘teach-in’ focusing on public education
about the environment. The
oil spill brought a lot of protests and
fury at protecting the environment
better. Groups that had previously
been fighting pollution, loss of
EARTH DAY
wilderness and wildlife extinction
(to mention just a few), used this as
a platform to gather together in one
accord to defend the earth. In the decades
before Earth Day, there was
a lot of pollution through massive
and inefficient automobiles. Industries
belched out smoke and sludge
with no fear of the consequences that
would be faces from the law or the
press. Air pollution was deemed a
‘smell of prosperity’. Earth Day 1970
came to provide a voice to the emerging
environmental consciousness and
aided the movement to put environmental
concerns first.
The History of Earth Day. Earth Day
has gained a lot of significance. With
the growing food shortages, rocketing
fuel prices, increased global
warming and changing weather patterns,
people have taken keen interest
in learning how they can do their part
in caring for the environment and
planet.
Patricia Odani
Patricia Odani, (SA, CompTIA Security, CyberArk Trusted
Advisor) is a Cyber Security Analyst for a Fortune 50 company.
She has diversified skills in management, leadership, and
Agile delivery methods. She is currently pursuing a Masters
in Cybersecurity as well as serving on various cybersecurity
committees on her company’s campus. She gives back to her
community by mentoring young technologists entering the
workforce and by writing insightful pieces on cybersecurity
best practices for public edification.
Both adults and children have learned
strategic ways of adopting lifestyles
that ensure cleaner environments are
maintained. Earth day is important
because it reminds people to think
about humanity’s values, the threats
that the planet is constantly under due
to the mismanagement of waste, and
how to continually protect the environment.
Each year, corporations and
activists create new projects, initiatives
and campaigns to protest and
restore the earth. There are several
Ideas that can be observed world
wide in commemoration of Earth
Day. Promote understanding of important
environmental issues so that
there is more awareness of the need
to care for the environment. Make
a commitment to a service, for example,
planting a tree, or helping to
clean a local garden or park. Picking
up discarded non-bio-degradable bottles
and recycling it. Aim to maintain
clean water by not polluting in the
community you are in. Turn off lights
when not in use. Go paperless. Earth
Day can also be celebrated at schools.
Young children should also be involved
in protecting the earth. Some
examples of how to get children and
schools involved include creating
bulletin boards in the classroom using
recycled materials with the aim of
teaching children to recycle at home.
Students can also help other students
recycle and be aware of ways to recycle
with the use of poster projects.
Students can also find ways to make
their home environmentally friendly
by practicing good recycling habits at
home. Children can also participate
in activities like picking up trash on
their school grounds, or in their communities.
They can also participate in
planting trees. There are several ways
to celebrate Earth Day, everyday of
the year, not limiting it to April 22.
Everyone has a chance and a right to
participate in keeping the environments
clean and safe.
11

COVER PAGE
POWER OF SEASONS
Overcoming seasons of crisis.
It is important to understand the keys to overcoming times of stress, understanding
how to rise above a crisis. When the leaves change on the trees and fall off,
the weather changes its temperature, everyone knows what season is coming.
For keeping your right portion of peace, it is good to always remember that there
is a benefit to seasons. Nothing is permanent except God and his promises. God
promises us that nothing is permanent. Get this revelation that God promises
that nothing is permanent except He and his word.
By Gerrit J. Scheper
God says, in the book of Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 verse 1, “Everything
has its time. To everything there is a
season, a time for every purpose under
heaven”. God’s promise to you
is that for everything you are going
through there is a season. The revelation
of this saying is it doesn’t
matter what is happening it can not
last. It’s true that seasons got power.
Seasons guarantee change. Therefore,
it doesn’t matter what you are
experiences, if it’s good, or in your
opinion bad, it will change. Seasons
gives hope. No matter how cold it
gets in the winter, summer is coming.
You know that, therefore, when
winter comes you do not throw
away a winter coat for a swimsuit.
You don’t sell all your linen clothing
because winter is coming. What do
you do? You store them up, and you
wait. Why, are you waiting while it’s
winter. How come you have hope to
keep your clothes? In a crisis you
don’t close your bank account out.
You rather leave some money to
keep them open. The season is coming.
A lot of money is on its way.
Keep those bank accounts open.
Don’t shut it down. It’s only a season.
You are only broke for a season.
Everything is seasonal. Don’t throw
your clothes away. Don’t let anybody
throw your hope away. Nothing
remains the same. This is important!
Winter never stays. Autumn
never stays. Spring never stays.
Summer never stays. And God says,
“To everything there is a season.”
Unemployment is seasonal. If you
are unemployed, then employment
is up ahead. The word of God says
everything has a season. With other
words, the season for you to leave
the job has come. Why? Because
there’s a better one up ahead and He
must prepare you for that. So, we
must close one chapter, to open on
another chapter, because there are
better things to come. In this crisis
that we are now living in, you better
get ready for something big, big,
big to come your way. God knows
what you had, and that’s a promise.
Remember seasons are always temporary.
Know that crisis is not a permanent
condition. A crisis is a human
description. God has no crisis.
It’s just a season. And the key to life
is outlasting the season. If you can
stay warm long enough summer will
come. What you must do, is organize
yourself to outlast the season. That’s
it. It can not stay That is why seasons
gives hope. You do not quite prematurely
in a season. As a matter of fact,
seasons gives the incentive to plant
for in the future. You know the best
time to shop for winter clothes is in
the summer. You are aware that summer
is a season. So, what you must do
is plant for the next season.
Seasons give us the incentives to plant.
This will not last and it would be wise to
prepare for what is coming.
Expectation is based on the fact that
seasons don’t last. That’s why Kingdom
people live in faith. Their faith lies in the
fact that what I may be going through
cannot last. Let’s think about new ways
to organize and stay focus on God’s many
ways how to pass through and move on
forward into the next season. Seasons are
always moving. So, you remain still. It
is a known fact that as humans we panic
quickly. We give up easily. God says no!
He says, stand still and see. With other
words, pharaoh is moving so you stand
still and see the salvation of the LORD.
You can’t see the salvation unless you
stand steady. He will save you not only
from the storm, but He will also save you
in the storm and through the storm. Get
this revelation! Whatever has come, it
came to pass away. As God promised in
His written words that heaven and earth
will pass away, but His words will by no
means pass away. We are durable. We
are stronger than the wind. We are built
on a rock. The foundation of Christ. You
know why they call him the rock of ages?
Because all the ages keep passing.
12

Overcoming seasons of crisis
If it’s the age of brokenness that
passed. The age of plenty that passed.
The age of submission that passed.
The age of confusion that passed. The
age of crisis that passed. The rock is
steady. Hold on to him.
Never respond permanently
to a temporary problem!
Your life is never finished. Do not
throw your hand up, and say that is it.
It’s over! I am never going to make it.
You are making a permanently decision
to a temporary problem. It is like
throwing your winter clothes away
when you know winter is just around
the corner. Rather keep your faith.
This why you must have faith in God.
He is stable. Everything else changes.
Therefore, everything moves in seasons.
Remember that it’s written, “A
time to weep, and a time to laugh; a
time to mourn, and a time to dance.”
These are seasons. You may laugh,
because there is going to be a time
to weep when the season of smile is
over. But don’t worry after the weeping
time, there is going to be a time
to laugh again. Another one is saying
there’s: “A time to get, and a time to
lose; a time to keep, and a time to
cast away.” These are seasons. Evidence
of God’s blessing is not the
measurement of you having things.
The seasons are just allowed to test
your faith. Faith means “believe’.
Do you believe when you have practical
nothing. That’s good. But then
he makes sure you have nothing for
a while to see if you really believe.
There’s a time to get, and there’s a
time to lose. It’s written. The revelation
of this is that you are not sinning
when you have nothing, that’s just a
broke season. Just keep your faith in
the middle of that season. It’s your
faith you supposed to live by, and not
your money, or your plenty. You shall
live by faith, and not by sight. What
kind of faith do you have? We only
have faith for getting, not faith for
losing. In the time of keep, and cast
away, there are friends that went with
you in the crisis but won’t come out
with you from the crisis.
You need to get out of that situation
and get into the right atmosphere.
Keep your attitude right, and it might
bring you new friends. It’s written
that there is a time to keep, and a time
to cast away. These are seasons. As
there are principles of season: “As
long as the earth endures, seedtime
and harvest, cold and heat, summer
and winter, day and night will never
cease.” So, some of you are in the
night right now, but after night the
day will come. Some of you are in
winter right now, but after winter the
summer will come. But there will be
a winter period. And he says, this will
happen as long as the earth remains.
So, Kingdom people don’t worry.
They are seasonal people. They handle
the season and will never shiver,
because they know that they are
steady, and not the season. So, whatever
people call the environment that
will not bother us because our faith is
steady. We are focused on the rock.
The rock that is the cornerstone, that
will never move.
As it’s written that in seasons there
will be shower of blessings. So, when
the showers start coming that’s not
a permanent condition. Is your faith
still in God when the showers stop.
With other words, there are seasons
that there is no fruit. The tree is
working hard but it’s not his season
to give fruit. You are working hard
but no fruits, no rewards coming in.
Meaning, times and seasons are important
on earth, as well as in heaven.
The Lord said that a day has 24
hours. Saying that what can be out of
season, or the time has not yet come,
can be different the next day. Therefore,
never try it only ones, or give
up before time. Rather try it again the
next day because that can be the right
season, or time.
For overcoming seasons of crisis, it’s,
thus, important to see time and seasons,
and organize and prepare yourself
to pass through these temporary
seasons without taking a permanent
decision.
13

RESEARCH
THE CHANGING
WORLD ORDER
I believe that the times ahead will be radically different from the times
we have experienced so far in our lifetimes, though similar to many
other times in history.
by Ray Dalio
I believe this because about 18
months ago I undertook a study of
the rises and declines of empires,
their reserve currencies, and their
markets, prompted by my seeing a
number of unusual developments
that hadn’t happened before in my
lifetime but that I knew had occurred
numerous times in history.
Most importantly, I was seeing the
confluence of 1) high levels of indebtedness
and extremely low interest
rates, which limits central banks’
powers to stimulate the economy, 2)
large wealth gaps and political divisions
within countries, which leads
to increased social and political conflicts,
and 3) a rising world power
(China) challenging the overextended
existing world power (the US),
which causes external conflict. The
most recent analogous time was the
period from 1930 to 1945. This was
very concerning to me.
As I studied history, I saw that this
confluence of events was typical of
periods that existed as roughly 10-
to 20-year transition phases between
big economic and political cycles
that occurred over many years (e.g.,
50-100 years). These big cycles
were comprised of swings between
1) happy and prosperous periods in
which wealth is pursued and created
productively and those with power
work harmoniously to facilitate this
and 2) miserable, depressing periods
in which there are fights over wealth
and power that disrupt harmony and
productivity and sometimes lead to
revolutions/wars. These bad periods
were like cleansing storms that
got rid of weaknesses and excesses,
such as too much debt, and returned
the fundamentals to a sounder footing,
albeit painfully. They eventually
caused adaptations that made the
whole stronger, though they typically
changed who was on top and the prevailing
world order.
The answers to this question can only
be found by studying the mechanics
behind similar cases in history—the
1930-45 period but also the rise and
fall of the British and Dutch empires,
the rise and fall of Chinese
dynasties, and others—to unlock an
understanding of what is happening
and what is likely to happen. That
was the purpose of this study. Then
the pandemic came along, which was
another one of those big events that
never happened to me but happened
many times before my lifetime that I
needed to understand better.
My Approach
While it might seem odd that an investment
manager who is required to
make investment decisions on short
time frames would pay so much attention
to long-term history, through
my experiences I have learned that
I need this perspective to do my job
well. My biggest mistakes in my
career came from missing big market
moves that hadn’t happened in
my lifetime but had happened many
times before. These mistakes taught
me that I needed to understand how
economies and markets have worked
throughout history and in faraway
placebo that I could learn the timeless
and universal mechanics underlying
them and develop timeless and
universal principles for dealing with
them well.
The first of these big surprises for me
came in 1971 when I was 22 years
old and clerking on the floor of the
New York Stock Exchange as a summer
job. On a Sunday night, August
15, 1971, President Nixon announced
that the US would renege on its
promise to allow paper dollars to be
turned in for gold. This led the dollar
to plummet. As I listened to Nixon
speak, I realized that the US government
had defaulted on a promise and
that money as we knew it had ceased
to exist. That couldn’t be good, I
thought. So on Monday morning I
walked onto the floor of the exchange
expecting pandemonium as stocks
took a dive. There was pandemonium
all right, but not the sort I expected.
14

Instead of falling, the stock market
jumped about 4 percent. I was
shocked. That is because I hadn’t
experienced a currency devaluation
before. In the days that followed, I
dug into history and saw that there
were many cases of currency devaluations
that had similar effects
on stock markets. By studying further,
I figured out why, and I learned
something valuable that would help
me many times in my future. It took
a few more of those painful surprises
to beat into my head the realization
that I needed to understand all the
big economic and market moves that
had happened in the last 100+ years
and in all major countries.
In other words, if some big and important
event had happened in the
past (like the Great Depression of the
1930s), I couldn’t say for sure that it
wouldn’t happen to me, so I had to
figure out how it worked and be prepared
to deal with it well. Through
my research I saw that there were
many cases of the same type of thing
happening (e.g., depressions) and
that by studying them just like a doctor
studies many cases of a particular
type of disease, I could gain a deeper
understanding of how they work.
The way I work is to study as many
of the important cases of a particular
thing I can find and then to form a
picture of a typical one, which I call
an archetype. The archetype helps
me see the cause-effect relationships
that drive how these cases typically
progress. Then I compare how the
specific cases transpire relative to
the archetypical one to understand
what causes the differences between
each case and the archetype. This
process helps me refine my understanding
of the cause-effect relationships
to the point where I can create
decision-making rules in the form of
“if/then” statements—i.e., if X happens,
then make Y bet. Then I watch
actual events transpire relative to
that template and what we are expecting.
I do these things in a very
systematic way with my partners at
Bridgewater Associates.
If events are on track we continue to
bet on what typically comes next, and
if events start to deviate we try to understand
why and course correct.
My approach is not an academic one
created for scholarly purposes; it is
a very practical one that I follow in
order to do my job well. You see, as
a global macro investor, the game I
play requires me to understand what
is likely to happen to economies better
than the competition does. From
my years of wrestling with the markets
and trying to come up with principles
for doing it well, I’ve learned
that 1) one’s ability to anticipate and
deal well with the future depends on
one’s understanding of the cause-effect
relationships that make things
change and 2) one’s ability to understand
these cause-effect relationships
comes from studying how they have
played out in the past. How practical
this approach has been can be measured
in my performance track record
over several decades.
This Approach Affects How I See
Everything
Having done many such studies in
pursuit of timeless and universal
principles, I’ve learned that most
things—e.g., prosperous periods,
depressions, wars, revolutions, bull
markets, bear markets, etc.—happen
repeatedly through time. They come
about for basically the same reasons,
typically in cycles, and often in cycles
that are as long or longer than
our lifetimes. This has helped me
come to see most everything as “another
one of those,” just like a biologist,
upon encountering a creature in
the wild, would identify what species
(or “one of those”) the creature belongs
to, think about how that species
of thing works, and try to have and
use timeless and universal principles
for dealing with it effectively.
Seeing events in this way helped shift
my perspective from being caught in
the blizzard of things coming at me to
stepping above them to see their patterns
through time.
Ray Dalio
The more related things I could understand
in this way, the more I
could see how they influence each
other—e.g., how the economic cycle
works with the political one—and
how they interact over longer periods
of time. I also learned that when I
paid attention to the details I couldn’t
see the big picture and when I paid
attention to the big picture I couldn’t
see the details. Yet in order to understand
the patterns and the cause-effect
relationships behind them, I needed
to see with a higher-level, bigger-picture
perspective and a lower-level,
detailed perspective simultaneously,
looking at the interrelationships
between the most important forces
over long periods of time. To me it
appears that most things evolve upward
(improve over time) with cycles
around them, like an upward-pointing
corkscrew.
For example, over time our living
standards rise because we learn more,
which leads to higher productivity,
but we have ups and downs in the
economy because we have debt cycles
that drive actual economic activity
up and down around that uptrend.
I believe that the reason people typically
miss the big moments of evolution
coming at them in life is that
we each experience only tiny pieces
of what’s happening. We are like ants
preoccupied with our jobs of carrying
crumbs in our minuscule lifetimes instead
of having a broader perspective
of the big-picture patterns and cycles,
the important interrelated things driving
them, and where we are within
the cycles and what’s likely to transpire.
From gaining this perspective,
I’ve come to believe that there are
only a limited number of personality
types going down a limited number
of paths that lead them to encounter
a limited number of situations to produce
only a limited number of stories
that repeat over time.
The only things that change are the
clothes the characters are wearing
and the technologies they’re using.
15

ASSURANCE & ADVISORY
HOW TO MINIMIZE THE IMPACT
OF COVID-19 ON YOUR BUSINESS
Globally we are seeing the effects of
COVID-19, as known as the Coronavirus,
on businesses. When the
Chinese government put containment
measures in place after the
Wuhan outbreak, the global supply
chains were thrown into disarray.
This led to a dramatic slump in the
movement of global shipping vessels
leading to product shortages including
medicines, medical equipment,
hand sanitizer and toilet paper. In
Aruba we have been assured by the
wholesalers that there is no shortage
in products and produce and that we
will be receiving containers every
week with supplies. Hence, no need
to panic, no need to buy in bulk for
months. There should be enough for
everyone.
“No perde cabes”
In whatever type of business you are
it is important to “keep your head
cool” – “No perde cabes”. Since
last Friday when the news hit with
the first two cases of Coronavirus on
the island, things went from global
to local very fast. It is no longer at a
safe distance from us, but it is right
here on the island. How could you
not go into panic mode? However, it
is important to keep the risks in perspective
and make sure you have a
plan. Adjust your plan according to
accurate information from reliable
sources. Try not to be swayed by social
media.
Keep things in perspective and understand
the real risk levels, otherwise
you have people sitting on
stockpiles and other people shut
down, which just serves to make
the whole situation worse. You
shouldn’t go out and place a double
or triple order – your suppliers will
probably reject it anyway.
By maintaining your head cool,
working in line with your business
continuity plan and communicating
clearly to your employees and customers,
you can give your team confidence
and help ensure the organization’s
ongoing success.
Where is that
business continuity
plan when you need
one?
Business continuity planning is one
of those “necessary evil” activities
that doesn’t feel important or urgent,
until it is. If you don’t have a plan,
you’re going to be in a much worse
position when disaster strikes.
Traditionally, business continuity
plans and crisis management plans
describe the steps that you should
take in case of an emergency or disaster.
These plans are usually focused
on buildings and IT-systems and they
don’t contain or to a much lesser
extent tell you what you have to do
when something happens that has a
direct impact on the people working
with these systems and in the buildings.
If we look at the Coronavirus from
a risk management perspective, we
must first describe the core of the
risk. The risks related to the Coronavirus
are for example:
- not being able to deploy employees
on critical business processes;
- no longer being able to receive
raw materials and/or semi-finished
products;
- the lack of demand for products
and services.
This results into not being able to deliver
products and services and that
customers will no longer purchase
the products or services. Hence, the
scope of your business continuity
plans, and crisis
16

grantthornton-dc.com
management plans should be expanded.
You should know what
key components of your business
are most likely to be affected; think
about what could go wrong and include
them in your plans.
What can you do
on a short-term?
Install a project or crisis team
This will help with the centralization
of knowledge and information
regarding the Coronavirus and the
impact on your business. You can
appoint a designated employee that
should follow the latest developments
and provides advise to the
team including management.
Define your critical business
processes
As mentioned above it is important
to define or identify your critical
business processes in order to have
an insight on the impact of the Coronavirus.
This insight should include
what would happen if employees are
no longer available to conduct these
processes and what are the alternatives
to handle this issue.
Have an insight into your suppliers
and customers
The lockdown of several countries
around the world might have an impact
on your suppliers. Therefore, it
is important to gain insight in the impact
on your own supply chain. In addition,
you can also identify alternatives
to ensure a continuous delivery
from suppliers or different suppliers.
Communicate internal and
external
Communication to employees, customers
and suppliers is essential in
times of crisis. Employees should be
timely informed about management
decisions regarding business continuity,
amended policies and procedures.
In addition, you should keep your
costumers informed regarding your
decisions that might have an impact
on them as well, no matter the industry
you are operating from.
Make it possible for employees to
work from home
Depending on your business delivery
model it is essential to make it
possible for employees to work from
home, if so required due to measures
taken by government. This is a vital
part of modern business continuity;
trying to ensure that some work can
continue even in a crisis.
In conclusion
The above mentioned are certain
measures that you can take to minimize
the impact of the Coronavirus,
or any disaster, on your business. In
addition, preparation is the key to
minimize the impact of any disaster
on your business operations. This
starts with having a solid and robust
business contingency plan in place
that should periodically be evaluated
and adjusted.
Lastly, follow the guidelines of the
authorities and
Be
safe!
How can we support you?
We are available for any questions you might have regarding the abovementioned topics. As Grant Thornton we have
a toolkit available to support you in these challenging times. If you have any questions regarding business continuity
and crisis management plans, feel free to contact us.
Edsel Lopez
Partner
Advisory & Assurance
edsel.lopez@aw.gt.com
Shelby Maduro
Senior Manager
Advisory & Assurance
shelby.maduro@aw.gt.com
17

READING ROOM
Innovative ways are always risky.
Why? Because old or new things are
tested in way they have never been
tested before. Therefore, innovative
people attracts critics. Actually there
are no new things. It is a matter of
combining old things in new ways.
So, when you step out and start doing
untested things you’re attracting
people who already did things in the
tested ways. The problem with crisis
is that it exposes the fact that your
tradition has come to an end. I would
like to repeat this once more, “Crisis
is an announcement from God that
your traditions have come to an end.”
Do you know what they’re saying
right now in the world. All the experts
are saying, “What’s happening
in the world today, has demanded
that we think a different way about
things that really matters.” This simply
means that our T and colleges
are not working anymore. Any material
that will be written out of this
crisis will have new content. Books
that children will be taught from and
study, will be completely different
from what we have known, since
what we have been taught no longer
applies. Therefore, crisis exposes the
end of tradition, and traditions die
hard. Do they not?
Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly
expecting a different result.
If you keep doing what you been doing,
you keep getting what you been
getting. We have a lot of insane people
in the world right now which is
not a pretty sight. Many people are
going through this encounter with
the same attitude, and this should not
be taken as a single encounter out of
many. Therefore, God has sent this
word today. You cannot think that
this crisis is business as usual, hope
there is a revelation in this for you.
Innovation is the capacity to think
beyond the known and believe in
one’s ability to solve problems. This
is a statement that encourages me
and keeps me positive, because I am
convinced that there is no problem
that cannot be solved.
SEASONS OF CRISIS
by Gerrit J. Scheper
Do not throw in the towel. Do not quit.
Why? Because every problem has a
solution. Just say it out loud, “Every
problem has a solution.” That’s an
important revelation. No matter what
happens in this crisis, you can solve
it. I will share a few points to practice
during the crisis so that we can
get through this crisis together. In the
United States of America, it was proposed
that the crisis would be over by
the second week of April just in time
for Easter, but they were wrong and
had to adjust their mindset towards
the seriousness of the crisis. Like the
rest of the world, they are focused on
the medical pandemic instead of the
second wave of the pandemic which
involves the economy and the possibility
of a global recession. The world
is under attack by an invisible force.
Life will not be the same after this
pandemic. Every day, we get updates
from all over the world talking
about the effects of this pandemic. It
is nothing one experienced before in
history. There is a lot of uncertainty
concerning the pandemic, its effects,
and symptoms. The best that health
experts and our leaders can do is
comfort us and warn us to be careful
and wary of our habits and surroundings.
It is only by believing, trusting,
hoping and having a whole lot of
faith that we can make it through this
pandemic.
Therefore, learn to live and think differently.
Be innovative, and do not
be afraid to think out of the box. You
will find rest, peace, and the solution,
you are looking for. Begin to realize
that what you really need is in the inside
and not outside.
Here are a few steps to take. Number
one – Initiate solutions. Don’t wait
for things to happen to you! Take
control and decide what happens. Be
in charge! You have to take control of
your life.
Secondly, place demands on your
potential. This means that you need
to go after your dreams and aspirations.
There must be a way for you
to come out of this. You just have to
find it. Lastly, test the creativity of
your surrounding. If you are working
with people, sit down with them and
find the new ways to think. Take time
to sit with co-workers, friends, wives
or husbands, children, neighbors and
start thinking how to come out of the
things happening around you, and
how to solve problems. Remember,
every problem has a solution. You
just have to find him! God says, I am
not going to move this crisis till you
think differently. That’s what this crisis
has come to expose.
Find a new
way of
doing the
old things.
18

READING ROOM
As the coronavirus rattles the globe,
governments and aid organizations
everywhere find themselves in a
race to acquire scarce medical supplies
and protective equipment – but
some say the United States isn’t
playing fair. It seems that recently at
high political level, officials in both
Germany and France accused the US
of diverting medical supplies meant
for their respective countries by
outbidding the original buyers. The
accusations come as demand in the
US for facemasks surged, particularly
after a new recommendation that
all Americans should wear face coverings
in public. The US has flatty
denied allegations of diverting supplies
from other countries. The fact
is that President Trump also tried
to force American companies into
prioritizing US orders by invoking
the Defense Production Act (DPA).
The president used the DPA to order
American companies - located
around the world – to immediately
stop exporting these kinds of medical
protective equipment to other
countries such as Canada and Latin
America. By doing so the U.S. cause
significant humanitarian complications
in the global war against the
invisible deadly disease.
This misbehavior of the historical
richest country in the world has
divided the international medical
community. The question to mask or
not to mask the entire country in an
attempt to slow down the spread of
the coronavirus, has been answered
negative! From the start, the World
Health Organization (WHO) said
the answer was ‘no’. Masks should
be worn by those who are sick, and
medical and care workers, according
to the global body. There was, and
still is no need for people who are
well to wear them. That position of
the WHO was adopted by countries
such as the United States, the United
Kingdom, much of Europe, Australia,
New Zealand, India, South Africa
and Singapore. They emphasized
frequent hand washing and social
distancing, by keeping at least two
THE FUTURE
OUR TOMORROW IS BUILT BY OUR PRESENT AND PAST
by Gerrit J. Scheper
meters apart from others in public
places, and the need to save available
masks for health care workers.
“There is no specific evidence to suggest
that the wearing of masks by the
mass population has any potential
benefit,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, executive
director of WHO’s health emergencies
program.
All that changed the moment the
United States switched to advising
citizens to wear masks when
they leave their homes. It is fair to
mention that the WHO also made a
U-turn itself, with Dr. Ryan saying:
“We can certainly see circumstances
on which the use of masks, both
home-made and cloth masks, at the
community level may help with an
overall comprehensive response to
this disease.” Prompting the change
was growing evidence that some people
infected with the coronavirus did
not show symptoms and were still
able transmit the virus making others
sick, President Donald Trump said
shortly after Americans were now
being advised to wear “non-medical
cloth” face coverings when they
go out. Trump said wearing a mask
would be voluntary, and he was unlikely
to wear one himself. “I don’t
think I’m going to be doing it.” he
said. “Wearing a face mask as I greet
presidents, prime ministers, dictators,
kings, queens – I just don’t see it.”
But the latest advice out of the office
of the President of the United States
of America represents quite a change,
considering that only in February
it was tweeted: “STOP BUYING
MASKS! They are NOT effective in
preventing the general public from
catching Coronavirus, but if health
care providers can’t get them to care
for sick patients, it puts them and our
communities at risk!”
One reason for the change of heart is
that as Covid-19 ravaged countries
like Italy and Spain, and spiked
alarmingly elsewhere. Experts noticed
that communities used to wearing
masks had recorded slower infection
rates, however, the authorities
did not mention that the Asian countries
have been wearing face masks
for more than a decade, and as such
are trained in the proper use how face
masks can prevent spread of disease.
Therefore, it is not strange to see that
in countries as Hong Kong, Taiwan,
South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam
the infection rates were low. Wearing
of masks in public has been the culture
since 2003 and has been widely
accepted that those who leave home
barefaced risk dirty looks or being
told off. Their trained skills and discipline
aren’t by far to compare with
the western overall “freedom” mentality.
Only the future can and will tell us
if masking the entire country worked
protective against public spreading in
this specific case, or whether if gave
users only a false sense of security,
causing them to ignore critical medical
instructions.
But either way we can’t afford to
ignore the misbehavior of President
Trump by claiming the mass production
of masks solely for the American
people, leaving out the rest of
the world without masks without
taking into serious consideration the
medical and care workers around the
globe.
Today’s US arrogant attitude can
build a foundation for world forces
getting together as a yet unseen solid
rock against the so-called superpower
America. In this matter I refer to
several European countries under
the leadership of Germany drawing
themselves near to Russia, and becoming
one force. Only with wisdom
we will be able to cross the rivers of
deep!
19

READING ROOM
More than 3.9 billion people, or half
of the world’s population, have now
been asked or ordered to stay at home
by their governments to prevent the
spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus.
Data from an AFP database collated
compulsory or recommended
confinements, curfews and quarantines
in more than 90 countries or
territories. Due to the introduction
of a curfew in Thailand (effective
from Friday), the threshold of 50%
of humanity will be reached. Meanwhile,
the number of dead in Spain
from coronavirus has now risen
above 10,000, according to the latest
health authority figures published on
Thursday last week. It’s a new record
for the country, with 950 deaths
in the last 24 hours. The total number
of deaths stands at 10,003, with
a total of 110,238 confirmed cases in
Europe’s worst affected nation after
Italy.
However, the infection rate appeared
to ease. Health authorities say contagion
in Spain has dropped from a
daily average of 20% until March
25 to less than 12% after that date,
more than 10 days after Spaniards
were ordered to stay home. But the
government has acknowledged that
the real number of infections could
be much higher due to limited testing.
The figures also show that more
people are recovering. The total now
stands at 26,743 in Spain - up from
22,647 the previous day. That number
represents more than 20% of the
overall number of cases. There were
reasons for optimism from Italy,
too, late on Thursday afternoon. The
number of new infections continues
to fall, down to 4668, a slight fall on
Wednesday’s figures, and a drop of
1,500 compared with a week ago.
Italy’s daily death toll was 760, a
slight increase against yesterday, but
down from the more than 9,000 fatalities
announced last Friday.
ECONOMIC CRISIS
The hit on the second European country
by Gerrit J. Scheper
evidence of the devastating effect the
pandemic is having on the economy.
Jobless numbers rose by over 300,000
in March, the highest increase on record.
The number of people out of
work has risen far more sharply than
happened during the financial crisis
of 2008, Spanish media say. The
European Union has designed a new
program to raise up to €100 billion
to tackle surging unemployment
brought on by the pandemic. The aim
is to provide financial assistance to
the 27 member states via loans from
the European Union.
In the US new Labor Department
figures showed that more than 6.6
million Americans applied for unemployment
benefits last week - doubling
a record high set just a week
earlier.
The economic fallout of the coronavirus
pandemic has been unprecedented.
For the first time in history,
the European Union suspended its
fiscal rules on public deficits and the
European Central Bank launched a
750 billion euro’s stimulus package.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in
Europe, and especially in the countries
that are most affected, such as
Italy and Spain, many companies had
to shut down completely.
The loss of tourism
In Barcelona, one of the most visited
cities in Europe, the impact of this
sanitary crisis is visible. Concern is
growing over the economic consequences
and the measures that
will be taken at national and European
level to protect businesses
and jobs. Tourism represents almost
13% of the economic activities value
within Spain [GDP] and is one of
the sectors which contributes most
to the economy of the country. This
sector has been hit hard by this crisis.
Hotels and restaurants that were
ordered to close down do not know
how customers will come back. They
do not know if international tourism
will continue to be there in the major
tourism cities in Spain, as Barcelona.
What they really want is to re-open
as soon as possible, and real concrete
financial support for their businesses.
A cash fund that allows them to relaunch
their tourism activities on a
day by day basis. Thanks to the creation
of a European fund and more
flexible budgetary rules in Europe,
the Spanish government will mobilize
200 billion euro’s, that’s about
20% of its GDP, to support the country’s
economy. So, if the tourism industry
in Spain do not have efforts
from the banks, from the government,
from suppliers and customers,
within Spain itself, it will not be able
to get out of this situation. The impact
of this pandemic on the Spanish
economy, hospitality in particular, is
significant as up to almost 1.5 million
jobs could be lost.
Uncertainties remain
Even if the European Central Bank
announces that it will create liquidity
thanks to an emergency plan of 750
billion euro’s, uncertainties remain.
Unemployment soars
Spain also reported catastrophic unemployment
figures on Thursday,
20

Under Coronavirus

March 2020, Brooklyn, New York City
March 2020, Paris, France
22

March 2020, Washington D.C.
March 2020, San Francisco, California
23

March 2020, Pisa, Italy
March 2020, London, England
24

March 2020, Sydney, Australia
March 2020, New Delhi, India
25

Colofon
March 2020
StA Cruz 84
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TElephone: +297 6418816
Whatsapp: +297 7447395
Managing Director:
Mirella S. Scheper Werleman
Chief Editor:
Gerrit J. Scheper
PuBLISHER:
The Source Media
Graphic Design:
Valentino Zschuschen
Photography:
Art on the move
Gerrit J. Scheper
26

STAY CONNECTED, STAY INFORMED
Courage isn’t always
a lion’s roar....
It’s also the silence
of an ant working
patiently, persistently
and never giving up.