Things may actually not be the same as they used to be for quite some time.

I have COVID-19. I have had the virus for the last 26 days. I was very sick with another infection one week prior to contracting COVID-19, and when I returned to work, I unknowingly spent time with an infected person and got COVID-19 before I could fully recover, and boy was it bad. My immune system was at an all-time low and I was still on medication.  With COVID, I got so sick to a point where it crossed my mind that I could die. I wrote down all passwords to my bank accounts and properties I own, where they are, and who to contact because I actually don't have a next of kin, and I was hoping this paper would be passed on to my best friend who also happens to be my little brother, Walt.

It’s not like I didn’t take the measures in place to stay safe from the virus; I am just saying that with a little over 40 people all infected at my workplace, it was kind of inevitable to some degree. Luckily for me, the company I work for rented out a hotel for us, and we have been treated from there for almost a month now.  I am doing ok now. All symptoms are gone, and I am just waiting for a negative test result so that I can return to work.

However, my health is not the main reason I am writing this.  I am writing this because I just want to share with you my concerns about the current situation (pandemic) and what I am trying to do to survive this pandemic for however long it will last. 

Being locked up in a hotel room comes with many privileges, but a ton of bad things happen too. For instance, the fact that you get tired getting stuck in a loop of doing the same thing over and over and every positive test really makes your mental health worse and worse. Therefore, in order to curb my demons, I try to do a lot of fun things like actually concentrating on learning JavaScript and entertaining myself with Twitter and ClubHouse discussions, but that's not all. I also spend some of my time reading the news.

I came across this article on Bloomberg, in an interview with the CEO of Pfizer (a company currently making the vaccines for COVID-19), Albert Bourla, he stresses his concerns about the current situation since he fears that COVID-19 is here to stay.

It got me thinking, “What if that is true? What if COVID-19 is here to last longer than we expected it? What am I doing to prepare for such a thing?” After all, I am working for a project that is at its 95% completion, and my nonrenewable contract ends next month.

To read something like that interview really got me thinking too much, and I realized that what Albert said is more likely to be true especially here in third world economies.

Our economy is already in shambles because of the virus, and it looks like it might be for much longer.

We have spent the last year tweeting and posting — bragging and saying how excited we are about the curfew in Kigali getting lifted back to 9pm so that we could go out to wild out again and how much we miss a ton of outdoor activities, and it's ok, but it's high time we start embracing the fact that the current situation might just stay the same for a long time and we have to brace ourselves for that. Many jobs have been lost already, a lot more will be lost, and things couldn’t get any worse. This, if it happens, will throw us in a “survival of the fittest” kind of situation, and it's better to prepare for that than to wait for it to happen and deal with the effects as they come. I don’t think our government will risk the lives of people and let us go back to our normal lives until there is a control measure in place that will ensure more loves won’t be lost. Albert says that they are aiming to make at least 2 billion vaccines this year, which will not be enough for a world population of 7+ billion people, so we are looking at another year or two until everyone in Rwanda get vaccinated, and it will be only then, that I think our lives may go back to how they used to be pre COVID-19.

It’s time to work out more and get your body in shape now that you have all the time in the world. It's time to read that book you've always wanted to read but never got the time to. It's time to binge watch Game Of Thrones or Breaking Bad because now you have the time to. But it's also time to invest a lot of time into learning that skill you've always wanted to learn but didn't have the time to. It is time to start developing a project plan and do your research on strategic ways to implement your project. I do not think it's time to just sit around and just binge watch movies and repeat the same thing over and over. You might never really get as much time to sharpen your skills as you do now. Imagine when all is over and things go back to normal, whether it's next month or five years from now, all the people that will be competing for jobs just like you.

Fortunately, the internet is full of free resources like Udemy, Coursera, Khan Academy and YouTube is for visual resources. Among all the distractions that the internet boasts, you have to find a way to concentrate and self-teach yourself with all the skills you need for when the time comes, and it will.

There is so much you can learn online

It also goes without saying that there are ways you can make money by working from home for tech savvy people out there.

I tried hard not to touch on financial stuff, but you may need to start saving no matter how little that may be, but only if you have the means to. I couldn't think of a better way to prepare yourself for how long this situation might take but situations differ based on people's circumstances, and for that, I can only say, do what you must to make sure you minimize the possible negative effects of how long this pandemic may last.

Let me finalize by saying that I am not lecturing you or telling you how to live your life. I am just telling you that the idea that we might be stuck in this situation for a while long is worth taking into consideration, and all the things I said above are some of the things that I am doing to make use of the free time that I have and might never have again. The skills I am teaching myself might come in handy at some point, and I decided to start saving up only because I knew my contract was non-renewable and we are in a pandemic, so I made sure to save up enough to last me a good year or two without having to worry about jobs and when next I will get one and that is a habit I encourage some people to do. not because they are going to lose their jobs, but to secure a future where it can come in handy.

Lastly. You may be wondering what it’s like to have COVID. Well, it depends. People experience it differently depending on their immunity. And I can tell you that it was the shittiest situation I’ve experienced so far. If you so much as think like those that brag how this virus is a joke and easy to survive, well I hate to break it to you but strong as you may be or claim to be, covid is as easy to contract as merely breathing the same air an infected person exhaled among other ways. And while you may even recover without any medical attention, you don’t know how strong your neighbor’s immunity is, or your pops, or your grandparents or the other person you live with. It will take one act of stupidity such as breaking the rules to infect them and if they die, let’s just say that I can’t speak positively of your mental health after that. You will feel like their deaths were on your hands and recovering from that will be much harder than merely putting on your mask, 

This is the way indeed. 

sanitizing and maintaining proper hygiene all the time. I can only wish none of what I said or what I went through to happen to you. Good Luck. We're gonna need it