March 18-21
Hello everyone!
Into the second week of my house arrest (others call it
self-isolation or self-quarantine). Much has changed since my return to Malawi
from The Netherlands, and much will change again over the coming days.
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| Mask at the ready! |
Wednesday (day 9)
Yesterday we were told that our school will close its campus
on Friday and transition to distance learning from Monday. We have been
preparing for this for a few weeks – what we now need to do is put all of our
plans into action. The main thrust of this is website building.
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| If I ever felt I was spending too much time in front of the screen, Mini would be a welcome distraction |
With power and the internet the way they are,
this…takes…time. Even so, there was more time to pursue the other things I’ve
been focusing on to occupy myself: yoga, cooking, exercise, colouring, reading. I also
finally have my own phone back (I spilled water on and in it a few weeks ago)
so have been reminding myself of how great/addictive it is.
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| Cooking for the day: butter bean and sweet potato tikka masala |
It looks like quite a few teachers are leaving Malawi as
soon as they can. I’m sticking with my current stance: unless there is evidence
of flights in and out beginning to be cancelled, or food security is
compromised, I will stay in Malawi. The UK is under massive strain at the
moment – today they’ve announced that all schools will shut. I have thought
about America as an alternative but no health insurance arguably makes that an even
riskier proposition than here.
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| It also rained today |
Main feelings: busy, content
Thursday (day 10)
Days are beginning to blur into one another. I didn’t get round
to noting what I did on Thursday so it’s safe to assume that what I’ve done on
previous days is what I did today. I baked a carrot cake for Hannah to take to
school tomorrow – I remember that because it put the mix into an oval-shaped
tin, resulting in it looking weird. But same old, same old, otherwise. I wonder
if that’s what happens after a while – it all becomes routine and a bit
mundane.
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| Our house cleaner, Flora, came today - she didn't seem bothered even after I said I was in quarantine |
This actually brings me to one of the more important aspects
of social isolation: maintaining contact. My 2020 resolution, before all of
this unprecedentedness kicked off, was to contact each and every person in my
contact lists, through Facebook and email. If I don’t remember them, I remove
from my contact lists. If I do, I send them a personalised message explaining
how we know each other and initiating a conversation.
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| I'm sending them in first name alphabetical order, and am currently on the letter L |
This has been an overwhelmingly positive experience so far,
reconnecting with people I haven’t spoken to or seen in many years. It’s also
giving me something to talk about – my conversations about my day are otherwise
a bit limited at the moment. If you’re stuck in quarantine or lockdown, I’d
recommend it.
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| I think someone else needs some more social contact... |
Main feelings: I can’t remember 😉
Friday (day 11)
Today is the last day of school on site before we move to
distance learning. It is a wrench to not be able to properly say goodbye for
now to my students, particularly as I haven’t been in the same room as them
since February. I did at least get to speak to them on the phone in small
groups to answer some of their questions – no I don’t have the virus, no you
can’t have my phone number, that kind of thing.
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| Chatting to groups of 1MSM kiddies from my 'outdoor classroom' |
One other thing I’ve been doing during my house arrest is
playing my ukulele more regularly. I’m very average with it, and even worse when singing
along, but with no one else around during working hours, who’s going to tell me
to be quiet? A funny picture changing song names to link to the virus has been
doing the rounds on social media so I thought I would try some of them. Judging
from the videos, this might also be the day when I went slightly insane.
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| The quite brilliant list! |
More importantly, the President of Malawi addressed the
nation this evening. He announced that all schools were to close as of Monday
(good thing we’ve been preparing!), gatherings are restricted to less than 100
people and that a 15bn Kwacha fund will be used to fight the virus. This will
impact a lot of Malawian life, not least the upcoming presidential election
which was scheduled to take place between late May and early July. Whether it
can be enforced is another question entirely, particularly as officially there
are still no cases here.
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| The video above is Peter Arthur Mutharika's address to the nation |
Main feelings: sadness, looking
forward to relative freedom
Saturday (day 12)
The school campus is now closed to students. Indeed, even
the Malawian government has decreed that all schools will be shut as of Monday.
The reason for school quarantining me, to prevent any potential infection
spreading through school, is now irrelevant. Therefore, I am releasing myself
from my house arrest.
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| Over the course of the weekend, I went out a few times and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of soap and water outside shops |
You’d think I’d be happy about that. I am, but right now I
feel a bit dazed and lost. My first venture out of the compound gates was to
take Hannah to the airport. She’s flying back to America.
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| This was the beginning of March. How our lives have changed... |
We’ve been given the option of leaving at this point, the
thinking being that airspaces may soon close. Many have chosen to go, including
my four best friends in Malawi. Two of them I haven’t seen since February due
to the school trip and subsequent house arrest. As I’ve said before, I’m minded
to stay.
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| The Sun rising on my freedom near Kamuzu International Airport |
Ironically, I didn’t have much reason to go out on Saturday.
Taking Hannah to the airport meant I’d missed my morning run, and most friends I
would see have left. Having the option to venture out is quite nice, though,
and I’m well aware that much of the world doesn’t have that choice at present.
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| Mini and Maxi, the best of friends. So we think. |
The quarantine itself hasn’t been that bad at all. Having a
garden, having people and pets around, having decent weather – I think this has
all made a massive difference to both the experience and my mental state.
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| A celebratory cigar next door |
Main feelings: freedom, sadness
Post-quarantine update (March 22-27)
A lot has changed in our lives since January. A lot has also
changed in the week since I ended my quarantine. On Monday, 23rd March,
the British Foreign Office put out a statement saying that any British
travellers should return home immediately. Though I’m not classed as a
traveller, it spooked me a little bit.
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| Domonic Raab is the man behind the message |
I then found out that:
- Kenyan Airways had cancelled their Malawian flights;
- South Africa had announced a 21 day lockdown as of
Thursday, which included the suspension of international and regional flights;
- Ethiopian Airlines had cut many of their routes to
countries affected by COVID-19 (interestingly, not the UK, USA, Germany or
China, which have four of the highest number of cases).
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| Taking this at face value, Djibouti is more dangerous than the USA. Economics, anyone? |
This was one of my two red lines. I had a lot to weigh up
and a quick decision to make. Was I being naïve by staying? Was I being
unnecessarily reckless? Was I being overly cautious if I were to leave? Would
it be any better for me in the UK, where their own lockdown seems imminent?
What about Mini? What about the house?
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| I would take Mini with me if the paperwork could be done in time - being Malawi, I know it wouldn't be. |
Talking it through with various people began to make me
realise that I was actually being a little bit selfish. How would it impact my
family if there was an emergency in the UK and I couldn’t get back? Or if
something happened here and they couldn’t get into the country?
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| Plenty of loo roll here! And pasta too! |
To keep it short, I agonised for an hour or so and then
booked a flight. Mini could stay with her sister at our friends’ house, where
they have live-in staff. I’d fly on Thursday, partly because flights before
that were insanely expensive (flying on the Tuesday was pushing $2000 one-way),
but also because it would give me time to mentally prepare and get my students
going on their online platform.
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| The world order crumbles under COVID-19. Meanwhile, in rural Malawi... |
After working from school Tuesday and Wednesday, hacking
through a final round of golf on Wednesday, and giving food to various people
such as my teaching assistant, house cleaner and compound guards, I left for
the airport on Thursday. I dropped Mini off in the morning, by far the hardest
part of all of this.
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| Walking down the 10th hole at Lilongwe Golf Club - assuming it stayed open, I would have spent a lot of time here if I had stayed. Would it have stayed open, though... |
Face mask in tow (for most of the trip I did have a proper
face mask on under the picture at the start of the blog), two flights done,
back home for another seven days of isolation and distancing. As with my last
quarantine, I’ll have a garden and people for company. This is a strange time for
all of us – though living in Africa, I’ve spent the start and end of March in
Europe, and will probably be here for some time.
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| The reality check in the UK - Big Brother from 1984, anyone? |
Stay safe and love you all,
Matt