Staying Inside

Megan awaiting COVID test

Some cultures are indoor cultures and some cultures are outdoor cultures.  Americans are mostly indoor people—at least the parts of America where I have lived.  We spend the majority of our time inside buildings.  We get outside for sports and walks and other leisure activities, but day-to-day life and work for most people are usually inside.

It’s not like that on the islands.  People simply prefer to be outside.  For instance, a shop owner will sit outside his shop most of the day, only going inside when a customer calls.  Carpenters, mechanics, welders, seamstresses, even computer and phone repair—often take place outside.  Sometimes it’s out on the street, sometimes it’s on a porch.  The fact that I am sitting in the living room and not outside on the porch while I write this reveals my American indoor tendencies.  People even prefer to watch television outside.  It’s not uncommon to find a crowd of people on the street at night watching sports or a movie on a television that has been set up in a doorway or brought out to the street.  Cooking is done outside too!  The house we used to live in had a large, spacious kitchen, but in preparations for the wedding, an outdoor kitchen was being added to the premises.  Islanders are outdoor people.

Science lesson on the porch

It has been my suspicion that this was why COVID has not done more damage here.  While in America we move from room to room most of the day (or air-conditioned space to air-conditioned space in the summer), islanders are outside almost all the time.  Could it be this helped flatten the curve?  Who knows?

We are dealing with a virus surge on the islands—the more virulent strain from South Africa.  Lots of people are getting sick.  Including our team.  For the past ten days, because I (Tom) tested positive, our family has been quarantining at home.  All three of our teammates have suffered COVID symptoms and are in various stages of recovery.  Many of our colleagues on the other islands have tested positive too.  

What’s the big deal?  10-14 days of isolation.  The whole world is doing it.  It’s the way things are these days—but somehow it feels different on the islands.  We know what it is to isolate.  We did it while we were in the States more than once.  Yet somehow, there it was easier.

On the islands, isolation just goes against so many of our routines—so many of our normals.  For the past week we’ve been turning people away from our door—generally keeping our gate closed—this is bizarre.  Normally we have people passing by, saying hello, picking up some library books, staying to chat, asking us English questions, asking to borrow something, asking for something to eat or drink.  All of that has been greatly curtailed this week.  

Then there is the aspect of not going out.  We realize that because of the outdoor culture, we are used to seeing lots of people.  Some of our visits are intentional, but a lot of them are incidental.  When we walk through town on our way to class or to buy something at a shop, we are bound to be greeted by numerous acquaintances, friends, students, and neighbors.  All these people are used to seeing us and we’re used to seeing them.  Our absence was surely noted.  Moreover, walking around town is our way of getting news.  We’re much more likely to hear about what’s going on from someone on the street than from a news source or facebook.  Apparently there was a big fire down at the port, but we didn’t hear about it for days.  

Baby geckos can't get COVID!

By the end of the week it was getting pretty tough.  Islanders were starting to call us and ask if we were alright.  (They noticed that we haven’t been seen.)  We would explain to them about isolating, since many islanders don’t really get it. They’d say, “You’re feeling better.  You can go back to doing what you want.” Ultimately we’d tell them that we will be out on the streets again soon.  Assuming no one else gets symptoms…Oh Lord, please let there be no more symptoms!

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Thank you so much for your prayers! Tom is feeling much better, no more symptoms. Megan got retested but still hasn’t heard the results (days later), but is also feeling much better. Thankfully the kids have not had symptoms. We continue to be thankful for our new house— we’ve gotten to know if pretty well this past week and continue to enjoy it. The newness of the house helped the quarantine time to pass quicker too. We were thankful that there was always one teammate healthy and not under quarantine at any given time so there was someone to call on to run errands. 



PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our teammates still struggle with COVID symptoms— two were feeling better but had a sudden return of their symptoms that sent them back to their beds. Pray for complete and full recoveries. We have two new teammates arriving on the islands on Feb 10— we are preparing to host them and working to set-up a home for them. Our preparations have been hampered somewhat by the team being sick and under quarantine. Pray that we would all be healthy and able to have everything ready for our new teammates and begin to pray for their transition to life and work on the islands. Our team’s annual proverb calendar has also been delayed by sickness. Pray that we would find printers that can do a good job and give us a fair price, and that it would be a blessing to the islands