Will I get back to normal? Time will tell

What surprised me on leaving the quarantine camp was the normalcy of life in the streets.

People walked and drove freely without supervision. It felt strange; almost foreign.

How could the Earth continue rotating around its own axis when some of us were languishing in the miasma of pain, confusion and panic for over a month? I felt like a stranger.

I had travelled out on March 1 to ease my pain and that was the last time I had seen my countryside.

After a month, it looked so peaceful. No tension. As we drove home, I felt so tense and tired as if I had carried the whole quarantine camp on my back!

The yoke of bitterness and uncertainty still hang on me. My head felt strange. Every bone ached. Something akin to grief or sudden loss of some sort. That's when I realised I had put my grief on hold.

I looked at my chirped nails, then my lips, then my hair. I saw a warrior. God had indeed protected me. I had flown and walked through two Covid-19 epicentres - Madrid and Rome airports - and survived infection.

SAFETY TIPS

However, I didn’t know what the world had for me — and it was on the way. I noticed my driver was unusually quiet. On nearing home, he enquired whether I needed to buy anything.

I got to a supermarket for some essential buys. Water and handwash was provided at the entrance. The shopping baskets were being sanitised. This to me was unbelievable.

I had not seen this in Madrid — where there were so many Covid-19 cases. Kenya, I realised, was way ahead in fighting this virus.

I noticed the queues at the tilling counters were also marked for social distance keeping. This, again, was incredible. While I was away, a hygienic transformation took place.

I got home. But to my astonishment it all looked different — I have lived in this home for over 25 years, but it now appeared all new to me.

Before getting home, I had already decided to keep my luggage outside the house. Under a shade, just as a precaution.

Honestly, I didn’t want to take chances with someone getting a cough and feeling like I had brought some disease home. I was also aware of a mandatory seven-day self-quarantine.

STRINGENT RULES

What I was not aware of is that the declaration form was full off dos and don'ts. As I later learnt, it had some harsh rules.

I think it had not been drafted for someone who had already tested negative. However, while I was busy shopping, my driver had gone through it word for word.

He looked so uncomfortable with me based on the content. He looked at and treated me suspiciously.

For instance, the letter indicated that I should not share a toilet, or utensils, or touch any surface that other healthy members used. That I should strictly, contain myself in a separate room.

That I should wash my bathroom thoroughly with disinfectant. That anything I touched or shared, such as door knobs, phones, remote controls and sinks, should be cleaned and disinfected for they might be contaminated with body fluids.

The final rule was that failure to adhere would result in a mandatory quarantine for another 21 days at my own cost. It actually read like a leprosy patient’s guideline.

As an ordinary Kenyan, I had signed the letter without reading it, but my husband had read all the details and had made it his business that it would be followed like the “Law of Moses”.

HOSTILITY

I got to know the gravity of the rules after life in my house became unbearable by the second day. I demanded an explanation about the hostile treatment, and at one point I even threatened to go back to the quarantine centre.

That is the time my husband read out the Covid- 19 Self Quarantine Declaration Form rules to me. All the anger and bitterness I had let go flooded back.

Family members had not been told how to deal with people coming out of quarantine. It was not their fault.

As a family, I decided, we had to talk. I had not survived all that to come and break down in my home. I called my counsellor.

With all her experience and knowledge, she explained to me why my partner was behaving the way he did.

Not surprising though, my son had not bothered with all the print-outs. All he knew is his lost mother had resurfaced and life would get back to normal.

In fact, I had to keep reminding him to keep distance. He was my pillar of strength as he did everything to make me comfortable.

Now that we all understood each other, the way forward was to keep safe and face the new normal: washing hands, masking and keeping distance.

Self-quarantine calls for self-discipline. How easy would that be and how would the Ministry of Health confirm I was up to the task? What about my mental health? Will I get back to normal?

Only time will tell.