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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| I really don't miss it but would take it over a pandemic |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| I brought these back from my most recent travels - there aren't any left now... |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Sudokus have been a daily non-screen distraction |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Over 50 rolls in the house, I think I'll be fine |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| If only my Year 1s could colour like this! |
Feelings: confusion, sadness
Love you all,
Matt
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