I’ve been living in New Zealand for about five years now and all I can say is that my community is safer than where I was living before. It’s peaceful, so quiet. As a plain housewife, a lot of chores at home need to be done and that includes stocking up the pantry. My husband and I always go to a supermarket every two weeks that’s a 30-minute drive away from home, it’s cost-effective and they have almost everything we need so who wouldn’t want to do it in one-stop shopping?

Going back to early this year, we heard about a virus that killed hundreds of people in some countries. Sure enough, New Zealand was not spared. It was in March when we started having a lot of cases and we were told to self-isolate and that we would be on lockdown. I panicked. It was a couple of days since I’d bought our groceries for the next two weeks when we were put on lockdown. I did not know how we’re going to survive for the next months to come. Fortunately, the lockdown was lifted in our area by the end of April and so my husband and I rushed to the supermarket to stock up stuff that will last, canned goods perhaps. We prepared our 72-hour kit as well.

With everybody following all the lockdown orders, we were able to lift a few more areas that were on lockdown and we’re starting to go back to live our normal lives. Even though we started feeling like our lives are going back to normal, the virus is still a risk and I fear for my husband who goes to work every single day. It’s hard for me as I battle depression, when will this end?