Malawi – Quarantini’s, Anyone? – Days 5-8

March 14-17

So far, my quarantine has been…strange. A bit frustrating, sure, but probably better than the quarantine being experienced by other countries in the world. Early days though, and I’m sure I’ll end up singing to myself at some point soon. I would say singing to Mini but I obviously do that anyway. Gets her exercising, running away from my crooning.

Beginning to question her mental state...

Saturday (day 5)

This was the day I wasn’t looking forward to. Mainly because Saturday is usually a day I really look forward to. A usual Saturday involves running with friends, having breakfast with friends, spending some time with Mini at home before Hannah returns from tennis, spending the afternoon or evening with friends…you can see where I’m going with this. It’s usually a nice, social day.

This was an amazing breakfast last month after a 17km run

Not this time. I could spend time with the dog but the rest of it is on hold for now. I said to Hannah that we needed to try to live as normally as possible, which meant that she shouldn’t miss out on these things simply because I wasn’t allowed to leave the house.

This was what I missed on Saturday morning

Possibly because there was no immediate work distraction (though I did do some planning), I found the day to be very long. I’d already done some yoga, planned, read a lot of my book (thankfully the suicidal nature of the book hasn’t passed on), played the ukulele and lay around doing not very much…at 11am.

I could always release a DVD called 'How Not To Do Yoga'

Hannah tried her best to entertain me during the afternoon and evening but today was dull. This was a day I’m always out of the house. The last thing I would want to do is pass anything on to my friends so it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. Doesn’t make it any more enjoyable sitting at home, though.

The boy using many of his toys to pass the time

Sunday (day 6)

When you’re not able to physically see someone, it’s very important to make time to talk. Traditionally that would be over the phone but there are now many different ways of having a virtual face-to-face conversation.

21st Century tech - now there's Zoom, Meets, HouseParty...

Having lived abroad for 10 years, my family and I are used to this method of communication. I spent a lot of Sunday having lovely family chats.

We were last together at Christmas

Not all of it was lovely, of course. Coronavirus is the news. When is the last time you heard anyone talk about Brexit? About climate change?

I really don't miss it but would take it over a pandemic

If only they'd invested the phantom money in PPE

And the tentacles of this virus have spread to just about every aspect of society. I was supposed to be going on holiday with most of my family in a matter of weeks. These Skype calls were the confirmation that we wouldn’t be going. Botswana was locking down its borders.

Screenshot from APA News outlining Botswana's stricter quarantine policy,
which confirmed that we wouldn't be able to go ahead with our holiday as planned

Though tinged with disappointment, the main feeling here is an understanding that far more people have far greater worries than not being able to go to the Okavango Delta on holiday. It will still be there when this passes.

I brought these back from my most recent travels - there aren't any left now...

Other activity for the day - trying to play Spikeball. As you can see from her
face, Mini loves trying to grab the ball. If she played by the
rules, we'd be able to play for longer than 5 minutes!

Feelings: happiness, philosophical

Monday (day 7)

It’s getting close to a week within the walls of the compound (I’ll admit I’ve left the house to walk Mini around our walled surroundings). Things seem to be accelerating at a rapid rate.

Desperate to take any route out

Two main things to report from today. Firstly, I’ve decided to use this time to get hench. Well, in a manner of speaking. I’ve started a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) programme called T25. It’s…intense. Not just because it’s a damn hard workout; it’s also the stress of whether the power will hold up on the computer to complete the 25 minutes or if it goes halfway through. My personal laptop’s battery can’t function without mains power so it’s a game a high intensity Russian roulette.

Before I've become exhausted at T10, no excuses now!

The second is the growing concern in the school that we will soon close. Though Malawi remarkably still ‘has no cases’, it seems that some in the community are wanting to leave or keep children home as a preventative measure. We had a long and emotional meeting this afternoon discussing the effects of a potential shutdown, whether initiated by school itself or the Malawian government.

Note the mug of modesty

The short answer is that if we don’t do anything, parents will see no reason to pay fees, we won’t get paid, the school will collapse and we won’t have jobs to keep us here. We’ve thus been working on a distance learning website for the past two weeks in preparation for any closure.

The front page of our website, where the learning will continue

But the meeting covered many other things as well which made me begin to wonder about whether to stay in Malawi. Hospital facilities, or the lack of them. Basic hygiene, or the lack of it due to a lack of soap. Food security when countries around landlocked and poor Malawi are locking their borders. I didn’t sleep well and think this might be a recurring stress if a decision isn’t made soon.

Sudokus have been a daily non-screen distraction

Even if food doesn't get through, Malawi has plenty of gin!

Feelings: worry about staying in Malawi

Tuesday (day 8)

Since this pandemic has started to spread around the world, our school has made the occasional decision which I’ve queried. What I will also say is that they have stayed ahead of the timeline and have been fully prepared for any massive event, such as a closure of the school campus. Which is what was decided today.

We followed in the footsteps of most European countries -
the UK took the same decision the following day

It’s obviously a decision way beyond my pay grade but it seems to be a logical decision. Many are leaving or itching to leave, desperate to get out (home or anywhere else) before flights get cancelled and countries haul up the drawbridges.

Only three international airlines supply an escape from Malawi -
South African, Kenyan and Ethiopian. Options are limited if they cancel.

It turns out those keen to leave the Warm Heart of Africa include my four best friends in the country. They all have their own reasons, which are all excellent, valid reasons. But they’re reasons I don’t subscribe to at this point. I would go to the UK, which is currently experiencing mass panic-buying of toilet roll and pasta. I would go to the UK, whose health service is already struggling and will be on its own life support machine in a matter of weeks if reports are accurate. I would go to the UK, to be put back into quarantine with my parents who are more susceptible to the virus than I would be. Then there’s Mini and what to do with her.

Over 50 rolls in the house, I think I'll be fine

I think she doesn't want me to go, though that may
be because I'm the giver of cheese

For now, I don’t see how leaving will help. Flights are still coming and going. School were given assurances today from people up high (I’m assuming the government or supermarkets, rather than heaven) that food will still come up from South Africa and down from Tanzania. Those are, and will be, my two red lines. Even if the Malawian numbers (still zero) aren’t wholly true, the likelihood is that there is minimal risk in the country at this point. By taking severe quarantining measures, they’re already trying to stamp out the fire before it has a chance to ignite here.

We still have lots of bananas and avocados
to make smoothies such as this one

Still, a lot of complex feelings swirled around. Not to mention I’d spent most of yet another day staring at a screen, be it for work, exercise or TV. I needed to do something different and settled on…adult colouring. Turns out you can really get lost in the simple colouring of an elephant. It helped to mask my main feeling of sadness that I won’t get to spend much, if any, time with close friends when I’m free of the quarantine shackles.

If only my Year 1s could colour like this!

Feelings: confusion, sadness

Love you all,

Matt

Malawi – Quarantini’s, anyone? – Days 1-4

March 10-13

Hello everyone!

Lockdown. Self-quarantine for 14 days.

Life behind bars

A tiny part of me has wondered what life would be like in prison. I’m assuming it’s different to the movies, and I’m assuming it’s different to my current predicament. Nonetheless, the inability to leave when I want is a feeling I’m sure would be prevalent in both.

Probably don't get those kind of thoughtful messages and pleasures in the slammer

Anyway, here is the recount of the first few days of my self-quarantine. It will outline how I have spent my time and how each day has made me feel, without saying anything overly controversial.

How I spent much of these first four days - staring at a screen

Tuesday (day 1)

I talked about the airport arrival and lack of checks in the previous post. That afternoon is a bit of a blur – two hours of sleep on a plane after a frankly bonkers week has that effect. I had things on my mind though which were gnawing away at me. School decisions that I can’t talk about at present but that didn’t make sense to me, even after various text and email exchanges.

The day after we arrived, an updated quarantine list was
released by the government - USA is on it, Netherlands is not

Speaking of school, I got to see some teachers today. We’re getting used to using Google Meet and we trialled it in our year level meeting. It generally worked, which surprised me – I didn’t think the internet would hold out.

I say generally worked - I saw this screen a few times

That gnawing feeling soon turned to outright anger. Luckily I was able to vent to my neighbour and to various people on the phone. Social interaction, generally over the phone, is going to be vital for the next two weeks.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with these delightful people

If you do self-quarantine, you do it properly. I was determined to make this work and make it a worthwhile time.

I might need some more beer delivered...

Main feelings: determination, anger

Wednesday (day 2)

There are different definitions used for my current situation. My school defines self-quarantine as not having symptoms. It’s for the greater good, I completely accept that. Officially, there are no cases in Malawi yet – this could be true but it could also be because they don’t have enough testing kits.

Cases rising rapidly across Europe - we don't
want to be the ones bringing it to Malawi

I’m still a bit groggy from a general lack of sleep over the past 10 days. I had to keep myself awake as I now had to frantically plan for my cover teacher for the next two weeks.

This didn't help my planning

In between, I was able to join a school meeting and make some banana scones. Hannah also came across to drop the shopping. All in all, a pretty hectic day considering I couldn’t go anywhere!

Banana scones - good. Banana scones with maple syrup glaze - phenomenal.

I’m missing volleyball tonight which is a bit gutting, it’s normally one of the more fun parts of my week, but I was too tired to really get annoyed about it.

I contented myself with this sunset while our team won in straight sets

In other news, the Malawian government today released an official statement explaining that people arriving from certain countries must go into self-quarantine for 14 days. The Netherlands isn’t one of them. I still agree with me and my school trip group being in self-quarantine as a precaution, but there are other bits that deeply trouble me.

Feelings: busy

Thursday (day 3)

Research has shown that symptoms for Covid-19 usually appear between 5 to 7 days after initial infection. I had been in The Hague 3 days ago. I was thus somewhat concerned and confused when told that Hannah was allowed to move back in with me today and that we could live as normal.

One smile is natural. One is paranoid about being within 2 metres...

While obviously delighted that I would have the company of someone I love, I initially refused the suggestion from school. My mantra the whole time was that quarantine is done properly, or it is not done at all. This clearly wasn’t doing it properly. In spite of my concerns, again expressed over many WhatsApp calls, Hannah and Mini moved back in that evening.

Mini was initially thrilled - probably more about
being allowed home than seeing me! 

That’s the other thing, here. Mini! The NHS advice, which the school has said it is using, says to stay away from pets. Mini is a smart puppy (particularly when cheese is on offer), but she would be incapable of staying away from me.

Could you tell that face to go away?

The day preceding this had been spent trying many times to contact my class via Google Meet. Trying, and failing. If our school ends up closing, as many around the world are doing right now, we will need to make internet learning a success. I’m the guinea pig at the moment, trying to find the flaws. No power and poor network connection are flaws which are beyond repairing by me or the school. We’ll keep trying, though!

We hadn't seen each other since February - this was
chaos, with all of them trying to speak at once

Feelings: Joy, concern, frustration with school

Friday (day 4)

The news gets bleaker each day. I’ve become much more accepting of being in quarantine. After speaking to some in school, I’ve also become more accepting of the fact that my vision of how this would go, with me doing group lessons via a stream on my laptop, is less likely to happen. Make good use of the time away. Do something new.

Namaste!

Yes, that’s me doing yoga. Maybe this is why I’m a bit more philosophical about my house arrest. Clearly not content enough to stop calling it house arrest, but in a slightly happier state of mind. Though eating these probably helped, too.

I'd been left a lot of bananas - time for pancakes!

Having Mini back has been an enormous help. I did feel sorry for her though, not being able to take her for a walk. In fairness, our ‘walks’ rarely go further than 50 metres beyond the compound gate anyway, but she loves the chance to do that and then plop down and refuse to move further.

Not only me under house arrest for the day

Instead, she had to be content keeping me company as I read. I will have time to read, it seems. Without really thinking it through, I requested a book by Sylvia Plath called The Bell Jar. After all, it was on a list of famous short novels.

She committed suicide weeks after it was published

It wasn’t until I started getting into it that I really realised what it was about – a person who had a great life, who then slowly turned insane and ended up trying to take her life many times. In isolation. Should have gone with Harry Potter, perhaps.

Someone thinks I could have made a better
choice. Like play instead of read...

All in all, this hasn’t been too bad an experience so far. The only frustrations have been work related. I have a garden, I am relatively free to do as I like in my house, and have company. Many people around the world don’t have this. Normal won’t happen for a while, so there’s no point sulking.

Feelings: acceptance, philosophical

I'm sure Mini is wondering why I'm spending so much time with her

A nice Friday afternoon

Love you all,

Matt

Malawi – Quarantini’s, anyone? – Pre-quarantine

March 8-10

The Beginning

Hello everyone!

March is a great month in Malawi – lots going on, beautiful settings at the tail end of rainy season, pushing towards the end of our academic year. None of this I can experience in 2020.

Last time outside for a while!

Internet picture of Malawi building a quarantine/testing centre

This is the first diary entry of my time in quarantine due to coronavirus (which I didn’t have). Quite liking the job I have at the moment, it only lightly touches on school decisions and policies so that I don’t write something which can be used against me. This first blog will focus on the days leading up to self-quarantine, and my feelings during them.

A WhatsApp screen grab of the Malawian situation as we left

To those who haven’t seen previous blog entries, this story starts in The Hague, where I was leading a Model United Nations (MUN) trip for the secondary school…

Brr...

Day -2 (Sunday, 8^th March)

Our final day at the HagaMUN conference. More pertinently to this tale, this was the day when, at 1:20pm in The Hague, we received an email from the director of our school. This message explained that the school’s ski trip, which had been in France, had been met by a government delegation at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe that morning. They had been taken aside and told that they had to quarantine for 14 days. Due to a combination of this and anxiety among other school parents, the decision had been taken that those on the MUN trip would also have to self-isolate upon our return on Tuesday.

The school is in a building which is old
enough to have survived many a virus

At this time there had been about 300 or so cases in The Netherlands, and 2 deaths. Further research revealed that only 2 cases had been in or around the area of The Hague. In spite of this, I accepted the consistency of the school on the matter – if the government had stepped in, they had to follow their procedure.

The global response is clearly visible
around The Hague

I wonder how their business is going right now...

After making contact, both our director and heads of school both offered supportive messages. The key was to reassure the children – they are all children – that everything was going to be fine. This is in spite of the fact that both teachers on the trip had dozens of questions whizzing through our brains, from living arrangements to teaching. I wanted them to bask in the glow of their personal successes at the MUN conference for a bit, and we all went out for food before returning to the hotel, where I sat them down and explained the situation.

The Food Hall was cashless, which I guess helps reduce germ spread

The conversation was a tough one – a few tears were shed, questions were asked which I often couldn’t answer. The important facts I stressed time and time again over the next 36 hours were that we were allowed to go home, and that we were allowed to be at home.

Main feelings: acceptance, nervousness

Day -1 (Monday, 9^th March)

Quarantine from coronavirus involves staying at home for 14 days, with no option to enjoy the outside world. Our final day in The Netherlands was thus a final chance to walk freely, to roam and savour an ever-changing environment.

A stroll along Scheveningen Pier

The Sun briefly showed itself, though it was still pretty cold

The students spent the morning shopping – I spent it being swept up by consumerism I can’t experience in Malawi. I also spent it stressed. Very stressed. So many questions.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese

These got me through one WhatsApp call

What would happen with Hannah? With Mini? Had a cover teacher been organised? Would we even be let into the country?

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I wasn't allowed to use my
reusable cup due to new rules linked to coronavirus

Lots of this was assessed and animatedly discussed over cross-continental WhatsApp calls and from constant checking of governmental advice and so on. It was also happening when strolling along Scheveningen Pier for a final time, before travelling to Schiphol Airport to begin our journey back to Malawi. This part is usually the most stressful time for a trip leader. With this on top, I felt like I was going to spontaneously combust. Though that may have been that fourth cup of coffee…

Main feelings: anxiety

Day 1 (Tuesday, 10^th March)

Should it be day zero? I was technically in quarantine for over half of this day so I’m counting it as day 1. Anyway, we arrived at the airport fully expecting to be whisked off by government officials, have our temperatures taken and locked into our houses.

We had to complete this form on the plane, with the main
question being whether we had been to China recently

None of this happened. The airport had put out chlorinated water in big buckets, which we were to use to wash our hands. Entering the airport and proceeding to the first checkpoint, we were asked where we had come from.

‘The Netherlands’

Had we been anywhere else?

‘No’

On you go, she says. Same at immigration. I’m wondering when this medical task force will storm in in their masks and white coats, demanding our contingent stay two metres away from anyone else.

Part of a leaflet handed out at immigration at the airport

It never happens. Nothing is mentioned. Nothing happens. Parents meet children, the bus drops us home, the trip is over.

Part of a leaflet handed out at immigration at the airport

And the house arrest is beginning.

My home and where I will be for quite a long time...

Love you all,

Matt