“Mabaya ni kuwa kuna marafiki zangu ambao ni walimu wa shule za kibinafsi ambao wamepateza mlo wao kwa kuwa walipigwa kalamu na ‘wakubwa’ wao…”
“She is as still as a breathing creature can be
sound, is for the world, chasing beyond itself.”
“Fast forward months into quarantine at the comfort of my house, the discomfort of loneliness, I found myself dreaming of those who were once in my life; sometimes regretting leaving them. I went through the cycle of grievance during this pandemic, it gifted me with time.”
“Now, as a pandemic ravages the country my parents had so much faith in, they cannot face continuing to live among citizens who don’t care about other people enough to wear a simple cloth over their nose and mouth—continuing to pay a hard-earned income to a military state—continuing to subscribe to the myth of the model minority and “keep their heads down” for the sake of being model citizens.”
“[…]our family has not seen each other in person this year, and I am afraid that we will not be able to make it happen. While my family members and I are all incredibly lucky that nothing has happened to us (yet), the lack of togetherness has affected us all emotionally.”
“[…]the situation led to many low-spirited moments. Firstly, it felt very sad knowing that I wouldn’t see any of my university friends until October, and I had not said proper goodbye to many of them when I left […] However, I would rather reflect on the bright side of things.”
“I still remember the afternoon of March 13, 2020, when I started following the official site of the New Jersey Coronavirus Dashboard and the number of cases started to climb up like mercury on a hot thermometer. I was anxious due to the fact that my nine-year-old was in the school playing and socializing with his peers with no fear and awareness about the pandemic. I requested the school for a day off […] my fears were realized when the mayor ordered a state lockdown the very next Monday.
“The impact of the upheaval in my future was very crucial since it was confused with the deepest despair. This is all the more frightening since a plague in times of war, or if I do not yet know what the end will look like, with the educational life of my milieu, a white year but scary, and the frustration is surely excruciating . How I lived in anguish and misery during the Ebola epidemic in 2013 which shook my society and making fun of the fate when only one feels tired of living!”
“I saw the wave coming way in advance of most. How’s that? I work with international schools and was due to host a conference in Bangkok on 21 February. Mid January the news from China started getting more pronounced and then our host school in Thailand shut down so we had to cancel our event. Sitting in Europe I could see the news of the virus going in all directions”
“I don’t know the next time we’ll dance again in some loud bar that’s sticky with the rhythms and sweet warmed; something akin to lust. I like holding you around other people being held…”
Life in Quarantine: Witnessing Global Pandemic is an initiative sponsored by the Poetic Media Lab and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis at Stanford University.
Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA),
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