NDINDA: Cost of ticket drains the joy of returning home

It is Thursday June 4, the day has been uneventful and with no meaningful updates about our return home.

However, at 6pm, some unexpected yet long anticipated news lands on our repatriation WhatsApp group.

It is a link from Kenya Airways confirming our flight and the consequent requirements. I am so jolted by this news I have to get out of bed, where I had spent the entire day drifting in and out of sleep, and walk around my room just to make sure I am not dreaming.

The date of travel is June 12. The link comes with a count down timer indicating how much time we have left before we begin our journey home.

After a minute of letting it all sink in, I sit to go through the information provided in the link. My heart is pounding and I am a roller-coaster of emotions, the most prominent ones being panic and excitement. I hesitantly scroll to the bottom of the document to see how much the trip will cost. My heart sinks.

My fears have been confirmed and even surpassed. I will need Sh167,000 to return home. Nothing could have prepared me for this shock. I knew that the air ticket would be steep given the circumstances and had anticipated the possibility of it coming to around Sh100,000 which could somehow have been raised, but a whopping Sh167,000 seems unrealistic. My dream of finally going home is so near yet so far.

I say a quick prayer to calm my nerves and get some composure since my thoughts are spiralling out of control. I decide to go back to the top of the document and read slowly.

It is seven days and nine hours to that day I have been desperately praying for. Before then, we are expected to find a Covid-19 testing centre and get tested, something I will soon discover is not a walk in the park. We will also be expected to go to mandatory quarantine at our own cost on arrival.

I share the link with family, friends and others that I have kept in touch with these past weeks including Lanre, people who have been praying for such a chance and then I turn to the WhatsApp repatriation group to see other members’ views and get guidance on the way forward, now that we have a date to work with.

Shocked as everyone might be regarding the airfare, everyone commenting in the group sounds optimistic, and the discussion quickly moves to where to get tested. Meanwhile, the people I’ve shared the link with, although thankful that a way has finally opened up, sound shocked by the steep airfare.

Fund raising suggestions are floated and I ask to be given the night to think about what next. This whole time, I confront the possibility that I might end up being left behind since the airfare is beyond what I can afford and feeling dreadfully afraid, I consider the possibilities at hand aware that only God can salvage the situation.

By 11pm, I am mentally exhausted and drained from all the thinking. Just as despair sets in, I receive news that changes all the views I’ve had about life. As I absorb this marvellous news, I am convinced beyond doubt that miracles do happen.

Daniel, my employer and my friend, informs me that our client has volunteered to pay for my ticket. I can hardly believe it. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I am unable to sit still. I am so giddy with relief and disbelief; I am short of breath. Yes. Miracles do happen.

After rejoicing on text back and forth with Daniel and thanking God for good tidings, I excitedly inform my family of the good news. I tell them that all is well, that they no longer have to worry about fundraising for me.

I lie back in bed emotionless. Immense relief takes over my body and I continue to lie still, unable to react in any way after going through a five-hour wave of every emotion imaginable. All this seems like a dream. It is as if I am in a parallel universe going through a phase that will soon bounce me back into reality.

Eventually, a wave of deep sleep overcomes me and I wake up hours later feeling refreshed. It wasn’t a dream after all. I will be going home in a few days’ time.

Ms Ndinda is Research Manager, Transform Research Africa Ltd. She is stranded in Nigeria, where she has been since March 21.                       

TOMORROW: My search for a Covid-19 testing centre begins. The first day is one big disappointment marred by the never-ending traffic jam in Lagos.