Hi. How are you? We are still in Accra.

We are fine. We started staying home in mid-March, only leaving to get groceries, and even then that was rare as the grocery stores moved to delivering.

Now it’s mid August. We are still staying home for a majority of the time. Our youngest has left the housing area twice in five months. The other kids have left a handful of times. I’ve gone grocery shopping as stay at home rules have relaxed.

The stores and building have hand washing stations in front of them and you have to use them before entering the building. You also have to wear a mask when you go inside, you won’t be let into the store if you don’t have a mask on. And depending on where you go, there will also be hand sanitizer stations set up.

I have been to two places outside of grocery shopping, both fabric stores. I had to go look for the Ghana Lockdown fabrics!

And I found them! It took a bit of searching, and we’ve been told that the fabrics are limited.

Otherwise, we are home. We’ve started homeschooling (more on that later) and are safe.

Let’s get this out of the way – the way we live while living in Ghana is SO vastly different compared to Ghanaians.

And so we sheltered in place. We have ordered from grocery stores and had fruits and veggies delivered. It’s been three weeks, and the shelter in place has lifted. The restrictions on social gatherings are still in place, the borders are still closed, as are the schools.

While we may be annoyed at staying inside, and getting tired of it, and gently teasing each other about how often we are (or are not) going outside, I keep thinking of everyone else.

Ghanaians can’t socially distance from a wide variety of people, they live together in small places, and multiple people live in the same house. They don’t have running water in their homes to wash hands all the time.

It’s similar to the Navajo Nation in the US, and other reservations and places where people live in poverty.

And so we will continue to stay home. Please do the same, we need to do what we can to protect the vulnerable population – the elderly, those in high risk categories, the people who have to work. Stay home so that they may stay safe.

News story on Navajo Nation: Coronavirus batters the Navajo Nation, and it’s about to get worse

We are into week four of shelter at home/stay at home/quarantine/whatever it’s called. We started staying home a day or so after Ghana’s first confirmed case, school was quickly closed, and a couple of weeks later Ghana put a shelter in place/stay home order out for the larger areas of Ghana.

Week one was full of anxiety and tension. We were unsure what would happen – would we have to evacuate and return to the US? Would we be okay to stay here?

We have supplies here, a small stock of food, cleaning supplies, the all important toilet paper. And this is our home. As much as we feel at home with any family member we stay with at any time, this is our home. Our stuff is here, and we were also unsure as to if our cat Diana could come with us if we had to leave.

And if we had to go to the US, where would we go? We had a moment of thinking we would go to my husband’s family in California, but after about a week, we realized that wouldn’t work. It was quickly decided that we would go stay with my Dad, after a time of quarantine.

That first week was a lot of deep breathing, a lot of staring at the phone, a lot of thinking and wondering and waking up each day not knowing if that would be the day things would have to change for us.

Week two was much more productive. We packed a few suitcases just in case we would have to leave, we organized bookcases, and we went through files. The stack of paperwork to shred was huge. We’ll move this summer (or maybe this fall?) so it was kind of like prep to moving.

Week three was a mix of productivity and staring at my phone. I started packing my fabric (I always pack my fabric and sewing stuff when we move), I stared at my phone, I sewed a quilt block, stared at my phone.

Weeks one and two were also online school for the kids, which we did each day and there were moments of normalcy.

And this is week four. It’s a spring break week so no online school. It’s the middle of the week and so far I’d count it as productive-ish. I’ve started cutting and sewing more face masks. I made a few last week in case we would have to travel, I figure it would be good to have them on hand. Now the CDC in the US has recommended everyone wear a mask in public so I’m glad I started making these. I’ve offered a few masks to a few people here as well. We don’t have access to the mail anymore so I can’t mail any home to anyone.

I’m waiting to hear from the school to know the plan for the older kids, and I’m sure that online schooling will continue next week for the youngest. We also signed up for an online home school supplemental website, and of course there are SO MANY free resources out there for homeschooling in this time.

We are safe here. We have food and supplies, and the grocery stores are delivering, as well as others like veggie, pasta, and bagel vendors. We are sheltering in place and hoping that others are also able to be safe during this time. I know how hard it is to try to shelter in place or quarantine in parts of Accra and other communities.

We are all getting fresh air and sun, and taking it easy with each other, and we hope you are too.