This is #2 in our ARISING from Disruption conversations about adaptation, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency at this time of global pandemic. 2019 Churchill Fellow Jane Milburn is chatting to Kerrie Richards from Merino Country, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia who said the business is pivoting to focus on face mask production and ”using what we have, to make things happen”. More notes below.
What Kerrie Richards said:
We are busier and under pressure but our routine is the same: we go to work and we go home.
Local production and manufacturing is coming to the fore at this time.
Pivoting Merino Country to produce wool face masks for personal protection (non-medical)
Skills of problem-solving, resilience and thinking out-of-box are being applied
We’re using what we have, to make things happen
Preparation meets opportunity – online business systems and protocols are coming into their own
We’re used to lockdown and being prepared because we grew up on the land.
Tips:
- Find your purpose, be busy, do something to contribute as society navigates this crisis
- Daily routine of walking in the sunshine, gardening, eating well
- Use humour to cope, rather than sitting around wallowing
- Do what you can, within what you can control, when so much is beyond your control.
- Value friends, family and health – slow down and look after ourselves
Changes
- Long term changes will include a resurgence of local production and manufacture
- Frontline careers will be more valued after this – those producing and supplying food, and essential services and health care.