Pictured: Yvonne Boden, CEO of Garlicke & Bousfield Inc.
As we celebrate Women’s Month, Yvonne Boden, CEO of Garlicke & Bousfield Inc, reflects on the past year and considers her most memorable goosebump moments.
Preferring to live life looking forward, I pause to reflect on the goosebump moments of the past year, which, we all agree, has indeed been a year like no other. A colleague described it as our generation’s equivalent of World War II, but I believe what we faced – and sadly continue to face – is a different type of enemy. This enemy has no address, it does not discriminate, we are its target, and for too long now it has held the world in its grip.
Out of adversity, and at times lawlessness, inevitably emerges some good – some goosebump moments that remind us of the immense capacity and generosity of spirit that exists within us. This is what emerged following that Monday night, March 23, 2020, when our President announced the hard lockdown. Disbelief and fear were the emotional yardsticks of that address, but the goosebump moment for me was his closing comment which characterised many “family meetings” that were still to come: “May God bless our country and keep her people safe.”
This month I was permitted to register for a vaccine which I did at the first opportunity. Two hours in a queue late on a Friday afternoon in the corner of a car park of a local shopping centre did little to quench my enthusiasm, however, my goosebump moment was not getting the vaccine itself. It was the moment when the nurse – who had been on her feet all day administering injections to hundreds of people, and who had been at it all week and for weeks prior to that – smiled at me and said, “Thank you so much for coming – thank you for helping to keep us all safe.”
I salute the humanity we have found within us in the past year, the people who have reached out and connected beyond the safety of computer screens, in whatever way they could, to help others in fighting the effects of this pandemic, the feeding schemes they initiated, the selfless care they provided.
I salute the employers who dug deep to avoid retrenchments in the face of decreasing profits, the entrepreneurs who reinvented themselves and launched new businesses, providing employment where optimism was being sorely challenged.
And, of course, I salute the frontline workers – the doctors, pathologists, the testing station staff, the laboratory employees, nurses, and those who are so often overlooked – the people involved in the “end of life” work, who have tried to maintain dignity and compassion despite the grim daily reality they faced.
Covid is not behind us yet, but we have hope. May the lessons we have learnt in the past year make us a better version of who we were, and may God bless our country and keep her people safe.