COVID-19, I'm just not feeling you.

Hey again,

Just felt the need to throw this in before Wednesday expires.

This particular corona virus has proven to be a pain in the worlds behind. It's doing major damage practically everywhere and countries are responding in the only way they know how. Truly, I understand the need for social distancing and quarantine. But if someone told me on Saturday that I would get an emergency phone call from my mum on Sunday telling me to pack my stuff from school (in Osun state), that we would drive to Lagos that day, fly to Kenya the next, just to end up in mandatory quarantine for two weeks, I'd have laughed in their faces. Hysterically.

To break it down, my school had been given the okay by the Osun state government to continue operation until this Saturday, because that's when we were closing. But then my mum got a message saying the last flight to Kenya (where we live) was on Sunday. As you can imagine, she was on the next flight out, on the road and on her way to pick us up. We spent Sunday night in Lagos, and we were being cautious. Or at least that's what I thought (we hadn't yet gotten to full paranoia, but you can trust that we got there eventually). Our flight to Kenya was smooth. But when we arrived, we were informed that we would be quarantined for two weeks. We knew it was a possibility, but knowing it's possible and it being a reality are two different things.

It was chaotic, man. Chaotic. The police or army men or immigration officers (I really don't know their position) took their time in giving us any information whatsoever. We knew we were being quarantined, but that's where our knowledge ended. I previously lived in Rwanda and they're a relatively calm people. Not quick to anger and all that. Truly admirable. But you see, I'm Nigerian. And so, I have a lot of hot blood in my veins just waiting to be ignited. The Kenyans seem to identify with that. They just weren't having it. I thought a full on mutany was about to be formed. They were shouting and getting all up in the officers' faces. And yeah, it wasn't the most respectful scene, but they're citizens. They deserve to be informed. Actually, we all did. Plus, it was comforting to know that other people can get crazy mad at their country. Yay for us Nigerians!!!

We landed in Nairobi at 7:45 pm, but it was five hours of mutany, delay, aggression, heat, then cold, and compressed bodies later that my family and I dragged our feet into our hotel room.

Two days into the quarantine, I can confidently say that airplane food is the worst!!! We're staying in a airport hotel and man, that food is just something else. We finally ordered some edible stuff today, but that was a whole process.

I aim to be more productive tomorrow. More reading for my postponed WASSCE, more helping my mum out with her blog (chatwithdrketch.com), more exercising (maybe), and more spending time on the Word. Definitely less lazing around. Got to make the most out of this quarantine people!!

Stay safe. Use hand sanitizer and keep busy.

God bless.
Dera

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