Maladi pa konn vanyan

 Literally, its English translation would be: "Illness does not know the valiant.”

Haitians are courageous people. They work hard for their very lives and daily food. For them, hard work is normal, and it is the only way. This mindset creates in them a resilience both physically and mentally.

Some people reach a point where they think they are tough enough to fight everything. They forget they are vulnerable. Some ignore rest, neglect feeding themselves, and become careless about threats of illness. They may say they believe that a pending physical threat like the pandemic is real, but they feel they are strong nad will avoid it.

Therefore, they do not take precautions and become sick. Sometimes sickness starts small, but it spreads quickly and can do harm to the strongest of people.

Haitians say this proverb to help those others see reality and be aware of the fact that everyone is susceptible to get sick if he/she does not take appropriate measures and precautions.

In this particular period of Covid-19, this is a proverb that deserves our intention. We should consider applying the measures, take the precautions no matter our sex, age, skin color, religion, blood type or how strong we think we are because

"Maladi pa konn vanyan.”