Coronavirus to me was just one of those engrossing stories I would take home after having a long day at school. My biology teacher told my classmates and me about it first, but I thought it wasn’t much of a big deal, well, —coming from my teacher who’s a well-known germaphobe in school.
Growing up I’d hear of epidemics affecting different countries all over the world but for some reason, they never affected my country.
Retracing my steps to when it all started,—schools where set to open on the 15th of January and knowing that I was just a year closer to completing my secondary education made me feel like I was immortal. I felt this way because completing high school meant the world to me, coming from a family that could barely afford my tuition fees all the other previous years.
Fast forward to two months after schools opened, the coronavirus ultimately hit my country. Cases were rising like the water levels on the mighty Mosi-oa-Tunya Falls, whenever we experienced a year of heavy rainfall.
I was saddened by the unfortunate news, my dreams of graduating, becoming a doctor or even flying out of my country slowly drifted away, as my school headmistress made a speech in the assembly stating “all schools shall be closed until further notice.”
Friday 20th March was the last day I attended school and I couldn’t give my best friend a hug when saying goodbye, because of the new beast in town called Social Distancing. The virus came out of nowhere like an evil surprise and took away the little hope I had left in me. I would sit in my room all day reminiscing about old times and switching to the land of make belief.
Hours turned to days and days to months, that made me realise time was luck, I had to adjust to the new normal and fight for what mattered to me. Going to the market and seeing how hopeful the women selling on the streets were, and how they adhered to WHO guidelines, made me feel greater than what I suffered. I will write my way through all of my problems and hold on to hope.
Like Racheal Platten’s song,
I still got a lot of fight left in me.