Are you working from home? How is it going for you? My timelines show bored and lonely people. Others are drained by kids and spouses and others are distraught at the lack of public life – whether clubbing or churching. For introverts like us, others are having a time of their lives. 🙂

I started working from home before the first Coronavirus patient was confirmed in Kenya. That day, I was working at my dining table. Like most of you, I was not shocked. We all kind of knew coronavirus was spreading in Kenya chini ya maji, just unconfirmed. But then, the news made us more aware, or is it apprehensive? I started thinking about the people I may have met directly or indirectly, you know, like in the lift or kibandaski, or office – you never know who they were and who they might have met.

Reminded me of my teacher, Mrs. Maore and what she used to make us recite a certain phrase about HIV (the virus we’re more familiar with): “Everyone AIDS apart from me.” Everywhere you looked after that, you would see HIV. I guess that’s what kept us remain virgins all through primary school and high school.

Now that we’ve gone on to taste the cherries, any time someone talks about HIV testing you start thinking about places you have been in the last five years, who you’ve, you know, known bodily, and the chances of them being positive. Or the unending flu and back pain you’ve been having. That’s how COVID-19 consciously feels. I have personally felt most of the symptoms from time to time as they get mentioned – and they are being mentioned everywhere.

Fear of the coronavirus

I went to a high-end hotel the day after that announcement and as the waiter was sanitizing my hands, my phone and my face, he told me, “Here, we have a lot of international guests who’ve come in the last week, even today. So you never know. Be careful, nakwambia juu wewe ni Mkenya mwenzangu.” Then, the majority of companies in my office building are international companies, including an Embassy of a European country. People travel and you meet in the lifts and washrooms… touching knobs and switches.

This made it worse. Fear was real in those first few days. Remember when I said if you think about something a lot it starts becoming a reality? It’s true. I coughed, I had a sore throat, my back ached. I even had a fever. COVID-19 was literally crawling in my skin and I could feel it.

The symptoms became worse whenever I heard or read them! I even posted it on my Facebook and lots of people confirmed that they were feeling the same. Were you? 🙂

So, I have been working from home since then, only venturing out for walks, or when it’s necessary. Like last week when we had to go to Wangige market because it was being shut down – is there a market in Kenya that hasn’t been shut down due to coronavirus?

There are positives about staying at home. I’m spending more time with the family, I am more productive at work (who knew?), and I’m saving on transport and food (Yaay!). More importantly, it feels and is safer.

I will tell you about the things I have been doing at home.

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Meanwhile…