NDINDA: Excitement of knowing I am flying back home

Talk of an emotional roller coaster! That is what these past few days have been. Since I learnt that we would be repatriated on June 12, I have been busy looking for a Covid-19 testing centre all over Lagos.

Testing is one of the conditions given by Kenya Airways for flying back home.

I get the test. Though I have been looking forward to this day, I have to keep pinching my hand to assure myself that it is not a dream.

Staycation has become my home from the first week of April. The two young women at the hotel reception as well as the security guard have been my family.

However, I am immensely happy to be finally leaving for home. There is some sadness when I think of saying bye to this place and the people who have been good to me.

Family is not just our blood relatives. Being the only guest here for most of the two months created a strong bond between us – something tangible but not spoken.

I can tell that they are also sad to see me leave. We have learnt to depend on one another, though I’m the one who needed them most. I depended on them if I needed something urgently.

When I didn’t feel like going downstairs, they would come to my room, collect my food, warm it and bring it up.

They would at times go to the kiosk to buy me eggs and noodles, which was mostly what I ate to save money.

They felt a sense of purpose in serving me. They were aware what a challenge it was for me to be stranded and did all they could to make my stay comfortable.

These two young women have been my rock through a trying period.

I cannot even imagine any kind of gratitude that would be sufficient enough for my new-found friends. The love and support I have received from strangers is something I will probably never be able to give back.

Nevertheless, we celebrate as we look forward to Friday. This evening, I while away the time at the balcony with one of the girls. As I regale her with the painful and upsetting experience that was the Covid-19 test, she attempts to convince me how unnecessary it was.

According to her, there is no coronavirus in Nigeria. My friend says she does not know anybody with coronavirus, “neither is there anyone I know who knows a Covid-19 patient”.

She goes on to say that there was panic recently when an ambulance drove to the next street and word went round that it had come to pick up a coronavirus case.

She says all the locals rushed to their houses and locked themselves in, afraid they would get the virus too.

I ask my friend if she too took off and she says she could not take any chances, even though she does not believe the disease exists!

She ran, just like the rest of the residents.  

I cannot help laughing out loud at the irony.

But her story is not over yet. When they emerged from hiding after the ambulance left, it turned out that the people in the ambulance had come to do a routine check-up on an elderly woman with a chronic illness.

Apparently, it is a trip the ambulance makes here monthly. With heightened fear, thanks to coronavirus, nobody remembered that.

I am so tickled that I burst into laughter. How great it feels to be happy yet again!

After talking some more about this disease that has dramatically changed our lives, we say good night and she retreats to her room.

I don’t go to bed immediately, though. How can I when I am counting mere hours before boarding the plane that will take me home?

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

TOMORROW: I go home today. I have prayed and yearned for this day for more than two months. Finally, it has come. I am so happy and full of anticipation that I am unable to sit still.