As millions of Rwandans, like elsewhere in the world are having to self-isolate to prevent the spread of coronavirus, a sudden surge in free time is leaving many people thinking of things to do during the lockdown. The government of Rwanda announced last week that the lockdown period is extended until April 19th. In some cases, this can be an overwhelming experience, especially for young professionals who were used to spending most of their time outside either working and socializing. Now that you are stuck at home, probably it is not a bad thing after all as you can use the time to learn new things, and there are plenty of resources available on the internet to help you horn your skills. Here are some suggestions. New language It is always useful to have more than just one or two languages on your CV. Duolingo is a free to download language learning app on which you can spend as little as 10 minutes a day perfecting your Spanish, French, German, Japanese or even Latin. There are 30 languages to choose from and your plan is personalised to your ability across speaking, listening, reading and writing. You can also take virtual language classes too with italki. Users can choose from more than 130 languages to learn from a bank of 10,000 teachers. Each teacher has their own course price, by the hour, and you only pay for the lessons you take. It’s a more focused way of seriously committing to learning to speak fluently. Cooking Apart from professional skills, hobbies can become skills that pay. Take time to improve your culinary prowess. Cooking is fun and will need little investment. You can use whatever is available, improve or start from scratch. There is plenty of cookbooks to suit every palette, budget and diet. Browse through the pages of Jack Monroe’s brilliant Tin Can Cook: 75 Simple Store-cupboard Recipes to start with, using ingredients you already have, or those that are cheap that won’t require you to go to the market. If you fail to learn by books, apps such as BBC Good Food, Tasty or BigOven will definitely come in handy. And they are all free. Photography and video editing If indoors life grants you more time, you can entertain yourself with photography. You can pick up tips, polish existing skills and further your interest with an online photography class. You do not have to be outside to take good shots. Once you have started, sign up for Adobe Creative Cloud, to have access to Photoshop and InDesign, along with other editing tools and access to Adobe tutorials in 20-minute video segments for you to follow along to. Coding If coding is completely new to you, it is basically a skill to translate ordinary language to computer language. Computers communicate in a language called BINARY and it uses 0s and 1s. Coders write the instructions using a programming language. To be a coder, start with an online class such as Code Academy, which offers free classes where you will set projects, have access to step-by-step guidance by coding experts and peer support from other students, all without leaving the house. If it’s something you want to do together with your kids, try Detective Dot, for eight-year-olds and older. Art, dancing or playing a musical instrument The word art can be vague, but one’s interest should guide to what kind of art specifically. If it is painting, check out Adobe Illustrator Draw, ArtFlow or MediBang Paint apps. They are all free. For dancing and playing musical instruments, practice might be more effective than platforms. For tutorials, if needed, check out Just Dance Now for dancing or find different apps to learn to play different music instruments.
