Far away from the spate of human dramas triggered by the unprecedented outbreak of the deadly coronavirus and unfolding daily in many parts of the world, a South African family in China were quietly praying and hoping that their personal dilemma will blow away and this family of four will return to normal life.
As the coronavirus sped in the past few months, the Challenor’s adult children – Keah, 25, a law student at the University of Cape Town, and Joel Timothy, 22, undergraduate from the University of Pretoria, visited their parents in Gingbo, 1200 kilometres from the first epicentre of debilitating disease, Wuhan.
Days after they were placed into stringent quarantine, Challenor told me: ‘’It is great to be back on home soil and feel free. I will not trade my freedom for greener pastures.’’ ‘’I knew once the virus started in Wuhan, it would spread in China and then across the world. I did not mind taking the risk of coming back home.’’
When inter-city movement was relaxed, Challenor made a break to board his connecting flight from Wuhan on July 7. But he was to spend 20 extra days holed up in isolation in hotel when the Air Zimbabwe flight charted by former SA pilot Tertius Myburgh’s Maple Aviation, based in Toronto, Canada, was cancelled after the aircraft was diagnosed with engine problems in the Far East.
She returned home to study for her online examinations while keeping tabs on her brother’s repatriation: ‘’The whole ordeal was quite stressful. We were all anxious about Joel’s visa expiring while he was stranded in Wuhan.’’ ‘’At first I was very nervous at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. Throughout this ordeal where local movement was stringently controlled, I have always wanted to come back to my home country. I cherish my freedom and I am happy and relieved to be home again.’’‘’My priority is now to get back to the new normal and enroll at a technikon to study and qualify to become an auto-electrician.’’
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