25th March 2020
I'm still working online from home. I'm lucky, I live in a beautiful compound and have a lovely apartment that's peaceful and quiet. I've surprised myself at how at how much I'm enjoying being on my own. I also don't feel anxious or worried which I'm surprised about. Far from being bored, the day goes by quickly, I do regular walks around the compound and sometimes walk to the shops for food.
The police and guards stop people to ask where they're going, but it's peaceful and quiet out on the streets, and the traffic is minimal. I notice things I never noticed before, like lizards in the garden and brightly coloured birds in the trees. I also notice that some people in the street look weary, and I swear that some of them look hungry. I see people struggling with big bags of rice they are carrying home from the market. I feel sort of bad that I'm buying my usual food knowing that rice might be all they have to survive on now.
I’m noticing that I’m communicating far more with friends and family. Group chats are buzzing as we’re sharing funny stories and pictures and keeping each other in high spirits. We seem to be acknowledging a lot more the importance of family and friends. Despite my resolution to cut down on using my phone in Rwanda, it is beeping and ringing more than ever. We send each other video clips and inappropriate jokes about stockpiling and other aspects of C-19. Social media seems to have gone quiet. Maybe people are not sure what to say, or whether what they say is quite right in the circumstances. Or perhaps like us they’re communicating with real friendship and family groups.
My landlady has a beautiful garden so I take some photos of her flowers and appreciate the lovely place I'm living in.
Spain’s Coronovirus death toll has now exceeded China's, becoming the second highest in the world. My nephew and his girlfriend are over there. Ironically, he and one of my sons had been skiing in Italy just before it struck big time there. My sister advised him to stay put, the cases had risen so rapidly it didn't seem a safe option to fly home. I felt comforted by this in the choice I had made; I too felt apprehensive about the risks of flying, and with an unknown stopover.
The UK government has asked everyone to stay home “to help protect the NHS”. People are finally maintaining distance and supermarkets are beginning to limit shoppers. My friends in the UK tell me of long queues outside supermarkets, and of priority being given to the elderly and NHS workers.
There is just one new case here in Rwanda.