Ousmane Koutou is a Ph.D. student in Mathematics from the University Nazi Boni in Burkina Faso. This semester he is studying at the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Murcia under the framework of the Programme Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility.

Ousmane would like to share his experience with the lockdown in Murcia caused by the COVID-19.

---

I am Ousmane Koutou, a PhD student in maths from BURKINA FASO.

First of all, I would like present my condolences to all the people who lost their beloved ones during the pandemic.

And I would also like to thank Lucília and all the members of the international relationship, for building in us a mental stability to face the crisis through theirs messages of encouragement and information to keep us updated on the ongoing of the situation. 

I did not to take online courses apart from the English class that I decided to follow myself.

However, during the lockdown I was mainly working on my thesis document and also learned a lot about the Covid-19 transmission dynamics via the papers that have being published on the disease.

I would also like to thank my co-locators for the good moments we spend during the confinement.

My flight back home has passed while the lockdown were still on and I am trying to find a new flight as soon as the crisis is over. I would like to share a story that may help some people to to shift  their paradigm. Here is the story:

In China there was an old farmer who owned an old horse to plow his field.
One day, the horse fled into the mountains and all the neighbors came to sympathize with the old man because of his bad luck. But he said to them:

- Chance or bad luck, who can say?

A week later, the horse returned from the mountains taking with it a horde of wild horses and then the neighbors came to congratulate him because of his luck. He also said to them:

- Chance or bad luck, who can say?

Then, while his son was trying to tame wild horses, he fell and broke his leg. Everyone felt sorry for his bad luck. But not the farmer who says to them once again:

- Chance or bad luck, who can say?

A few weeks later, the army arrived in the village and all the young people capable of making war were conscripted. When the officers saw the cultivator's son with his broken leg, they left him free. Was it luck or bad luck? Who can say?

And you, how do you see the events of your life?  How do you see the advent of Covid-19? Chance or bad luck, who knows?

Ousmane Koutou