Sunday, April 26, 2020

COVID-19: A Case of Isolation


As I sat right there on my bike, I could hear my heartbeat louder than ever. I felt the adrenaline rushing through my bloodstreams. I held the bicycle’s handlebar tightly with one of my legs on the pedal and the other on the ground. I could feel the earth move under my foot. I fixed my gaze on the policemen few metres away. They were flogging and frog-jumping some defaulters of the sit home order.

As I looked on, one of the policemen saw me and shouted orders at me to come to them. A thousand thoughts raced through my mind. To obey or not to obey, that was the question. When I realized quickly that there was only one way out, I quickly made my decision. I made a quick U-turn and raced off with my bike and rode away as fast as my leg could pedal.

My name is Luke Orji, I live in Lagos, Nigeria and you might want to know what led to the situation above. Well, it was as a result of the isolation order relating to the COVID-19. Social distancing, isolation and other precautions were advised as ways to prevent the spread of the virus. Different countries put measures in place to curb the spread of the virus.

To help stop the spread of the virus, the government declared a lockdown. The lockdown somehow prevents communal gatherings and favours restriction within one’s home. One failure on the part of the government was that they did not provide financial support for people to survive the lockdown. It was every man for himself.

Day one of the lockdown, it was 6.30am and my alarm went off, as I wanted to hurry out of bed to take my bath, I remembered that there was lockdown.  Immediately, I sank back into bed and rolled under the sheets again to catch another round of sleep. As I shut my eyes to force the sleep to come, there was a knock on my door.

“Who could that be this morning?” I cursed the knocker under my breath and rolled over and covered my head with a pillow.

As I laid there hoping the knocker would go away but to my amazement the knocker persisted then resort to calling my name.

“Luke! Luke!! Lukie!!!” A female voice called from the back of the door. I recognized the voice immediately. It was my nosy neighbour, Agatha.

In anger I yelled, “Agatha, what do you want?!”

She replied in a rather soft voice, Luke, I need to borrow a little salt.”

I was angry and cursed the virus - it was the lockdown that caused me to be at home to be bothered by Agatha. Agatha was my annoying neighbour who has a crush on me. I reluctantly got up from bed and walked to the door to interrogate her more. I spoke to her through the door without opening.

“Agatha, it’s too early for you to be disturbing me.” I said in disgust.
“Well, there is lockdown, where are you gonna go? Please let me have a little salt.” She said in a rather casual manner.

“Agatha, there is coronavirus out there, it is not advisable for you to come in here let alone borrow anything from me. I don’t know where you have been or who you had had contact with” I queried.

“Lukie, Lukie, my Lukie, I’ll rather contract coronavirus from you than anyone else. It would be like Romeo and Juliet, Luke my Romeo.” She said flirtatiously.

“Agatha, I have warned you to stop saying that, I am not your boyfriend.” I said firmly as I turned to the kitchen to bring the salt.

I took a polythene bag then poured a portion of salt into it and took it to the living room. I put on my face mask, put on my gloves and in my nightwear headed for the door. I opened the door a little and stretched the salt out to her.

She was delighted as she grabbed the salt but before she could grab my hand, I slammed the door shut.

“Luke, one day, I would get you!” She said in a cheery voice.

I turned and made my way back to bed, but on getting to the room, the desire to sleep left me. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared round my room like a prisoner, I have become a prisoner in my own home. I stayed in a moderately furnished one room apartment which became a refuge or fortress of some sort. I converted it into everything possible; it became my gym, my church, my movie theatre, my office, my sanctuary.

Well, I thought to myself, that the first time in a long while I was away from the four walls of the office. I never have to wake up early to run out of the house to the office. I became another person entirely – it was like a dream come true for me. So, I said if I must make it through this isolation, then I have to be fit. Then I started vigorous workout routine.

Two weeks down the line, my money was depleting and sooner or later I just have to find a way out to make some money. Going by the nature of the country, power is the major problem here so I started my business around it. I connected with my friend who sells power bank. I placed an order for like 20 units of power bank. I put up an advert on Facebook and placed my phone number there for door-to-door delivery.

The advert paid off immediately, my phone began to blow up with calls. I was surprised and happy at the same time. It was an overnight success because many people wanted to stay online with their phones on. It was a risky venture, the government restricted movement of people from place to place except for people on essential duties like medical personnel, policemen, pressmen etc.

I was able to harness my way to every delivery point without issues using my bicycle. However, one faithful day, things didn’t go according to plan. It happened that after my deliveries I was four streets away from my home. I saw some policemen like 50 meters ahead on a roadblock. They already had like five people detained being frog jumped. I was lucky to have sighted them from far off.

Immediately, one of the policemen yelled out to me, Hey, boy just come here!” I quickly made a U-turn to start riding in the opposite direction. Where I was riding to, I never knew, I just wanted to avoid being manhandled.

As I rode like few meters, I saw another police officer in front of me waiting for me with a horsewhip. I did not stop, I kept riding like a maniac but when I was a little closer to him, I swerved into the bush, and began riding off-road. He chased me like a crazy man, but I was too fast for him. I rode like crazy thanks to the daily workouts.

I rode for a while and when I saw that I was out of their range, I slowed down. It was a long ride that took extra hours to get home. On getting home, I rushed to the bathroom to have a very cold bath and after lay on the floor and slept off without eating.

I spent the rest of the days indoors, watching as events unfold. The time seems to be very slow; I began noticing every detail in my home. I saw every crack in the wall, noticed every tree and building in my surrounding that I never knew existed.

The whole situation after a while became monotonous. I was bored, needed to meet people again, the isolation was beginning to have its toll on me. I am now beginning to nurture the feeling of having Agatha come over and be with me. I must be losing it though. I am seeing from my mind’s eye how beautiful she is and how caring she can be. I think I have secretly fallen in love with Agatha.


Tuesday, February 20, 2018

6 Steps To Take When Applying For A Scholarship



You have read about Scholarships either online or any other channel but you do not know how to go about apply for it. We write this post with you in mind. After reading this post, you should be able to know how to apply for scholarships.

 

Education can be very expensive and to get ahead you need all the money you can get. Many universities, government establishments, states, NGOs etc have scholarships for students and undergraduates. All you need to do is to know where they and how you can go about applying to them. One caveat though you need to drink a whole bottle of patience when putting things together for it.

Let us now swing into the steps:

Step 1:    Research Available Scholarship

As the saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. You cannot jump this step to the next. Do your research to discover available scholarships. Your research should start early so that you will have ample time to complete the process. It is better you start early to avoid racing against time at the last minute. By experience, anything done out of pressure for want of time will always fall short of standard. Note the expiry date and programme yourself towards it.

Step 2:     Answer the Question – Am I Eligible?

Because it is a scholarship does not mean you are eligible. You need to clear that in time. The earlier you realize that the better. This will save you from wasting your time and energy. Put is as part of your research to discover if you are eligible to apply for the scholarship in the first place.

Step 3:    Manage Your Scholarship Materials 

Embarking on scholarship application task calls for organization. You need to put all your documents together carefully and conscientiously.  Get a folder for an application and organize all materials properly in the folder. Write the closing date of each scholarship application at the back of the folder. Do not forget to add all required information to each folder. Please update regularly.

Step 4:    Prepare For Your Presentation

You need to prepare for your presentation. First impression, according to an over-used adage, matters a lot. You need to prepare to dazzle the scholarship board when the time comes. Cross check the forms you filled for spelling errors and so on. Ensure your writing is legible enough. Make sure all submitted documents are clean and neat. Much more than that, all information supplied to the board must be correct! Ensure nothing of importance is missing.

Step 5:    Choose Your Reference Team 

Many scholarship boards request for references or referees. You have to note this area. Select your reference team carefully. Make sure you choose people that know and can vouch for you. Let them know ahead what you are doing and give them all the information they required. This will go a long way to assist them in recommending you well by the time the board/panel called them on phone.

Step 6:    Deadline Is Everything

After you have put all the above in place and miss the deadline, everything you did will amount to boxing the air! You need to have the deadline in your head all the time. Deadline is everything. Start early, give yourself space to work. Schedule your time well such that you enough time before the closing date. Do not wait until the week of submission before running around. Who knows some unexpected delay might show up and destabilize you. Note that there is no room for late applications.

Conclusion
Now there you have them, six steps to take in other to apply for a scholarship. If you stick with the above steps, you will succeed in your scholarship application. Remember, delay can be dangerous, start your research today. Please watch out for more exciting topics like the available scholarship you can apply for in 2018.

All the best!

Image Courtesy: www.publicnotice.ng