When friends and family organised a farewell party for Kamikazi Mpyisi in early March, her bags were already packed. Scheduled to leave for Italy where she would spend a year pursuing her Master’s Degree in Arts and Culture at the Rome Business School, neither Kamikazi nor any of her guests knew that the Covid-19 virus that they had only heard of on TV would halt those plans until further notice. Kamikazi told this reporter that although the virus was a matter of interest towards the time of her travel, no one knew that it would be this serious, grounding the entire world to a halt. She explained that her plan was to go to Rome where she would experience the daily lifestyle of Italians, their culture and their food as part of her studies but that was not to be. “I thought the outbreak of the virus would be something temporary but when it seemed to escalate over the months, it was decided that I pursue my Master’s Degree online. I was disappointed that I couldn’t experience the richness of the Italian culture but there was not much I could do,” she says. Kamikazi is not the only person whose plans did not go as planned. Covid-19 has created an unprecedented platform of social isolation and disappointment compounded by personal, financial and career disappointment for most. Patricia Balinda and Nick Mugabe had been planning their destination wedding for two years when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Balinda says that the plan was to fly a small group of friends and family to Mombasa in April where she would tie the knot with Mugabe, who she has been engaged to for the last two years. She says that by the end of February, most of the bills pertaining to their wedding had been cleared and then the pandemic hit. She says that she and her fiancé did not take the virus seriously at first, after all, it was something so far away. “We continued with our plans. We just felt that the virus was something that was in Europe and we never imagined that it would get here that fast and that it would turn everything down the way it has,” she says. Balinda says that although the airports are now open for travel, the wedding ceremony has been put on hold to protect their families from contracting the virus. “We thought that by the end of this year, we would be husband and wife but we still think that our parents, who are in their advanced age, should not be exposed. We have decided to suspend the ceremony until further notice,” she says. Clarisse Uwineza works at Berwa Salon in Nyarutarama, a high end suburb in Kigali. Her new year’s resolution for 2020 was to build a stronger bond with God. She said that her plan was to take two days out of the sevens in a week to go to Church, but that was not to be since Churches were closed for months. “Even when the Churches opened, I was sceptical. It doesn’t make sense to go to church without my son and I don’t think that I want to expose myself or him to the risk of contracting the virus,” she says. Uwineza says that although she is spending most of that lost time reading the bible, she feels unfulfilled. Claude Bagabo says that he had plans to work on improving his fitness this year but it was not to be. “I wonder if I will be refunded the money that I paid to use the gym for a whole year. I can’t even jog because I preferred to do that late at night when the streets are empty but we have had a curfew most of the time this year,” he says. Davis Mugenzi had to take a pay-cut or give up his job at the height of the pandemic. He says that the news from his employer came as a shock because not only was he constructing his home on a loan that required monthly servicing, he had also just enrolled in a costly Master’s program. “It is always said that you plan and God laughs and I agree. I started this year on a high. I was going to complete the construction of my house and wave goodbye to paying but here I am not sure if I will still own that house by next year,” he says. Nine months since the outbreak of the pandemic, the world population has changed how they live their everyday lives to keep up with the standard operating procedures set by the authorities to control its spread. The world continues to adjust, hoping that 2021 will be better.
