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There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted many sectors of the society, economy, healthcare systems, social units and religious culture.
On a personal level, my life has changed drastically; from a well-paid college tutor and assistant pastor to a jobless, hopeless citizen.
I work in the education sector and I am a tutor at a private theological college.
The job is commission based and we are paid per class, either on weekday hours or on a weekend.
Since the satellite campuses are no longer operating after a government directive to close down all learning institutions, it means that my sources of income were cut short.
The situation is even made worse by the closure of churches where I get my supplementary income from as an assistant pastor.
However, since I have a personal computer at home, I did a research on online jobs which I used to hear about many times but was not interested because I was already engaged.
After thorough research, I got some clues on the available online working opportunities which I can register for.
I was surprised to learn that it was actually very possible to get a job as an online tutor where you can teach an overseas student for or guide the student in solving an academic problem for a fee.
The payment per project depends on a number of factors including the complexity of the project, the academic level of the student (is it bachelor, Masters, Ph.D., etc).
At first, I used to take only theology related assignments; however, these were very scarce and I had to diversify my subject areas, after all, one could always get plenty of information from the internet especially with the theoretical subjects.
I, therefore, expanded my subject category to include business, case studies, management, sociology, nursing, biology and technology.
Within a day, I am able to make around sh.1500. With this money, I am able to buy food and meet other basic obligations for my family.
I think I will still be able to supplement my income through this way even when the pandemic is over.
This is because I don’t have to undertake this job on a full-time basis but can do it after performing other activities. This pandemic has actually taught me the essence of being creative in times of crisis.
