I Bi Dem: Woman, Wife, Mother

  The lockdown is still effective in several places. I appreciate all those at the forefront of fighting the virus and making life bearable for us during these difficult times. May the Lord continue to protect them. The call is for all not involved in essential services to stay at home, self-isolate and practice social distancing, but this is not possible for some people due to socioeconomic reasons. Some rely on daily sales to meet their needs while others live in densely populated areas where social distancing is simply impossible. Let’s be involved in alleviating the suffering in our different communities in any way we can. God bless you as you do so. One thing that seems to be a positive in all this mayhem is the fact that families get to spend time together. Perhaps for the first time in long time, some children are able to have five minute conversations with their parents and husbands and wives get to spend time together. The lockdown provides a good opportunity to bond.

We have been home for almost three weeks now and I am getting a bit concerned.  No, it's not because I am not allowed to go out but because my to-do list is not getting any shorter. At the beginning of the lockdown, I had some targets and now I feel they won't be met. I have been able to pin my seeming failure to some factors like lack of real free time, inadequate planning and overambitious goals. Any teacher in South Africa will tell you that this is not a holiday. In fact, it sometimes feels worse than being in school. Teaching online means you are having contact time on Zoom and your email and WhatsApp are clogged with messages from parents, colleagues and students alike. One would need a secretary to get through the messages on a daily basis. And then, you have to prepare for the next day.  So I realised that I do not have the ‘free’ time I thought I had. Usually when we envisage free time, there is the tendency to romanticize it. It is like suddenly time would