It is safe to say that our lockdown lasted over two whole years.
(We are not yet sure if we shall be sent back into another lockdown)
Wait….could I be mistaking that, for the unending curfew, we lived under for all that while?
Photo credit: The Guardian
Personally, it was my first time ever being under a curfew
(Yeah….) it can be a real thing when you are a boy, a last-born at that and in a severely capitalistic patriarchal world!
Photo credit: RFI
Only difference is that this level of control over my movements was ordered from the top of the command-chain….
Hehe….may the gods you genuflect to, be in your favour if you dared to “disrespect” the orders of the “big man” in Nakasero!
Our lockdown here was quite different from what so many other people in the world had….
Our lockdown mainly stopped as many of us as possible, from crossing from one end of the country to another with the corona virus.
That did not mean that we were stopped from visiting one another in the neighbourhood!
Photo credit: LSE Blogs
We did go to the shops and markets, walked to and fro our places of work (for those who couldn’t have it any other way)
Hang out with our most little ones for all that time, lost so many of our people to the COVID, took part in the country’s general election, took off a moment to really reflect on our lives….among other things.
Many of us donned our improvised masks from then on
Photo credit: LSE Blogs
As the months went by, the authorities would ease up on what we did and us.
On a number of occasions, we even made them our close friends…even after what happened in 2020 and before and after!
Then and occasionally, the “Big Man” we talked about earlier, started switching things up….
Photo credit: The Telegraph
He would experiment with a number of things that have worked in the past, when it comes to times of viral infections like these…
Like “advocating” for temporary closing of all public meeting places, easing up on the restrictions on transport means in the country, deciding on who gets to enjoy some fresh air for the next 3 to 4 weeks among others.
Until, he felt it was a conducive time to finally set all the sheep and goats in the “cowntry” FREE!
Photo credit: Bankers Journal Uganda
I must say it feels so different
Being able to stay out past 7 in the evening and not feel scared that the popo or the military will grab you and bundle you up in our jails.
Photo credit: Anadolu Agency
To be able to reset our mental clocks to their “default Uganda settings” that do not function on the conventional 24 hours of time, per day!
Most of all, to recognize the permanent presence of COVID-19 in our lives without being so much afraid of it like we were in lockdown 1!
Photo credit: The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes
~How was your lockdown 1? ~