Phones still work, right? For things that can't wait for Whatsapp to get back online, I would imagine a phone call would then be an option? Or open up a Jitsi Meet just for the time being and share the link through mail?

There's so many alternatives, I'm always surprised that a Whatsapp outage seems to mean the end of the world to many people.

I don't see how that conclusion follows from the premise. Why doesn't email work for you in particular when you're in Africa and your clients in Europe?