Day 56: COVID-19 and the Lake of Milk

Day 56: May 21, 2020
Global cases: 5,190,496; Deaths: 334,173
Egypt cases: 15,003; Deaths: 696

Heba Fouad
Senior Administrative Affairs Assistant
Caravan, Journalism and Mass Communication Department
School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP)

If someone had told me before that I will be locked down with my two children for more than two whole months, I wouldn’t have believed them. Quarantining with two toddlers – a six-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy is much like quarantining with a parrot, and a monkey (no joke).

On Thursday, I opened my eyes to my son flooding me with water, jumping on me with his messy diapers, and yelling in my ears. I looked at my mobile to find it still 7:30 in the morning, checked my mail and my WhatsApp for any new notifications, then I tried in vain to get more sleep.

I gave up and decided to start checking how gloomy the situation is, I started moving around the house to find a lake of milk in front of the kitchen — well, we now have a lake in our house, lucky us! I skipped this part and headed to the living room, but I couldn’t step through because there were cereals all over the floor, along with the small most annoying blocks, whose only role in life are to stick to your bare feet.

Well, this is not the scene where I transform into She-Hulk, and scream at the kids like a monster; no, I am saving my power, I know this is not the worst thing they will do today.

For The Caravan‘s previous diary entries in Arabic and English go to our COVID-19 Special Coverage page.

I am trying to be optimistic and encourage myself that this will all come to an end, and we will return to our normal lives, but I can’t hide how much I am missing my office, my morning coffee and peace of mind, my colleagues and our morning talks, and for sure my kids’ school and nursery.

I keep doing the same things all day long consequently until it is their bed time; it is so similar to unplugging a machine. At the end of the day, I look at them and recognize how I’m grateful for everything that has happened, how this time has helped me to be present to watch my children growing up, and enjoying their presences and smiles.

The situation is horrifying but we still have our homes, food and electricity, and we are actually blessed that our families and friends are safe and sound Al Hamdullillah, may God bless all of them for us and show us no harm in our beloved ones.

The day comes to an end. It feels like it is the zillionth day of quarantine, actually I stopped counting two month ago.