A sad-luxurious quarantine

On March 17, 2020, I left my country Haiti to travel to Cuba with the aim of going to another country for studies. At that time, the coronavirus was not yet in full swing. Many people around me had discouraged me from making the trip because of the coronavirus but I did not pay attention being someone very stubborn and I took my flight. I never would have thought that things would be like this. When I arrived, I was welcomed in a private house thinking that the following week I would travel to my other destination but unfortunately that same week all borders were inaccessible to foreigners, cases of coronavirus were increasing, everyone was under shock, so I should stay here. The Cuban government required quarantine and more strictly for tourists. I spent about 22 days in this house and 15 days without internet connection because I would have to go out on the street to connect by Wi-Fi in a park and it was impossible. I was not too afraid of the disease, and I was locked up. In the house I read books like, Do you trust Isabelle Filliozat, thoughts on the Apocalypse of Ellen G White. I was also playing an intelligence game I had. I wrote texts, which I like to do a lot, for example I wrote a text entitled: "The power of the word". I watched episodes of soap operas and my parents had heard from me through the phone of the owner of the house. I was not too well especially without the connection but I had to get used to and until when this situation, I did not know. Sometimes I cried and said it was all my fault. One day the government asked all the tourists to stay in hotels to have better control of them and to protect them against the coronavirus and I was taken to a hotel very close to 5 stars because the lowest were already filled. I was worried that things would get more and more difficult because the house was much cheaper and I had a money limit and my parents could not send me money either. Yet God, because I am a Christian, had a plan for me and that my situation would rather change. In the hotel, I was making inquiries to find out if I could no longer pay what was going to happen and it was there that I met someone who put me in contact with a Haitian who contacted the government of my country and he agreed to support me economically. So in quarantine in a luxury hotel. I had 100% privacy. I did what I wanted, I had a superb room with 2 double beds, a table and chairs, a mini sofa, a jakouzi and a beautiful view of Havana because the hotel had 25 floors and I was in the 18th, ladies on duty who did the cleaning and put everything at my disposal and I had a wifi connection. I woke up like a princess between 9-10 am to go have breakfast in the hotel restaurant with some choices of course. Around 1-3 p.m. for my lunch with dessert and between 7-9 p.m. for my dinner. And there were servers. This time, I feared the coronavirus because there were a lot of people in the hotel and therefore I took the prohibited precautions. Fortunately after several days there was no case of coronavirus in the hotel. Although every morning nurses and doctors from the hotel took our temperature. Living this life, I was happy and I considered myself lucky. I got to know foreigners from Italy, Spain, French Guyana, Algeria, India, Greece, Canada, Jamaica, Japan etc. Some have become good friends at me. I learned a lot about their countries because the majority spoke Spanish and French and me too. For example, I learned that India has a lot of language and dialect. After I followed online courses either on coursera, futurelearn, openclassroom concerning management, technology, courses to improve my English. I have read books, one of which is to act to make a success of Dr PIERRE Achard because this time for me was not only precious but also an opportunity. I know that if I had stayed at home in Haiti, I would never have had this experience. I learned a lot about Cuba, I listened to talk about Cuba but now I was not only living in Cuba but in one of these best hotels in Havana called "Habana libre tryp" an hotel with which is linked a lot of history especially concerning the revolution and this since the beginning of April. I have listened to a lot of foreign language, I have been able to understand and see what a life of luxury and life in a hotel is not just any. I learned a little more about the personality of some when they have nothing to do. After the deconfinement, I took the opportunity to visit certain tourist places with caution like "The place of the revolution". The most important things I learned is to be patient, what is for you will happen at the right time and also if you are a Christian to always trust God even in the worst times, he will always be there always has a plan for her children. I am not yet in my final destination but I hope it will be soon and this experience here in Cuba, will always remain etched in my memory especially in a time like this.

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Lukas Klessig

Author of Words With My Father

Central WI and South Florida, United States