COVID-19: Bhekiwe and Eswatini's local policy

By Madison Job
Globally, measures to prevent the rapid spread of the Coronavirus stretch on. Bhekiwe shared how the measures in her home country of Eswatini have impacted her daily life.
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How has the  partial lockdown of Eswatini altered your normal day-to-day routine?
“Only shops for groceries will be open. I have one brother, a cousin, my niece, and my mom, who is a nurse. This hasn’t impacted me much, since I am normally home anyway. We’re told this lockdown will go on for 20 days, but it seems it will be extended because people aren’t listening and staying home.”

When you look around, what do you see happening around you? 

“There’s not too much of a difference. I can see the police and the army outside patrolling to make sure people stay home.” 

What other updates are you getting from leadership?

“I get a lot of my information on Facebook and I listen to the radio. We don’t have a news channel to watch on TV from Swaziland [the king renamed the country "eSwatini," meaning "land of the Swazis," in 2018]. When on Facebook, I look at articles and links on how to keep sanitized.” 

What emotions are you feeling during this time? Did you expect to feel this way? 

“It’s a bit stressful for me because I’m a bit worried for getting a visa into the US. If this ends and everyone is cured and back to normal I feel it might be a bit difficult to get to the United States. As of now, I’m waiting on acceptance letters for college, and after that I am working on the visa.

We try as hard as we can to listen on what to do right now. We are trying to remind my niece who is in third grade to wash her hands. We try our best to explain to her what’s going on. Right now, there’s online learning and my niece is getting a little better at math.”