Rural COVID, Urban COVID: Africa Sees Sharp Divide 

It is hard to see COVID-19 here, in the small village of KaMatsamo. Goats pick their way through a path that runs from the highway, the main thoroughfare in this South African town of some 23,000 people. On a recent day, most residents were not diligently wearing masks outdoors, as is the law. About half were. Africa’s megacities will bear deep scars from this coronavirus pandemic. But 59% of the continent’s population lives in rural areas, according to the World Bank, and large-scale lockdowns have effectively sealed off these rural areas — for better and for worse, residents say.    On a recent fall day, VOA spoke to a group of residents who had gathered by the side of the road in this town just 12 square kilometers in size. Several said they knew of someone who had contracted COVID-19 — but most said that they did not think the virus itself has penetrated their community to the extent that it has urban areas.  But the pandemic is deeply felt here, say residents — who point not to death tolls, but to economic and social devastation. South Africa is the continent’s epicenter, with more than 1.5 million confirmed cases and more than 52,000 deaths.  Phakade Sambo is a bright 22-year-old with a dream — one that she said the pandemic has slashed. “It's been a problem — like, a really problem, a big problem — to me,” she said.  She wants to learn a trade and, eventually, set up her own carpentry shop.  “I can't continue with my carpentry studies,” she said, after re-adjusting an already neat row of avocados at her roadside stall. “I just stopped, and I can't even start my own business because the money is too low. People are complaining they can't even buy this fruit, they are complaining They say it's too much money, I'm being expensive or something. They say that.” Data about COVID’s impact on Africa’s urban-rural divide is st