‘My harrowing journey to quarantine’ – a mother’s story

Lockdown regulations have had a profound impact on the lives of every South African. Bernice Bredenkamp (34) and her daughter Ivanke (4) have faced a greater challenge than most.

They were visiting Bernice’s mother in Botswana when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the nationwide lockdown. She decided to stay put until the borders reopened.

But, realising that she would not be able to travel home even during lockdown level 4, Bernice applied for repatriation. Permission was granted to cross the border, and mom and daughter set off homewards on Friday, May 15.

It was an early start for the pair, who faced an eight-hour drive. And, as Bernice pointed out, travelling with a four-year-old was a challenge in itself. She and a group of fellow travellers had arranged to meet up with police officers at the Botswana border sometime between 10am and noon. These officers were to have accompanied them on their journey, but the escort never arrived.

Bernice and the group waited for six hours to start making their way to the quarantine site, only to finally be told that that particular site was fully booked.

They were all instructed to follow a bus ferrying people to another site. This, she said, proved stressful as she was forced to stop frequently to allow Ivanke bathroom breaks, during which time she would lose sight of the convoy. She had no contact number for anyone on the bus, but fortunately caught up to the convoy in Lichtenburg where it had stopped to refuel and purchase refreshments.

“We were really hungry as we’d not eaten properly for hours,” said Bernice. “But when we got to the shop, we were turned away as due to the lockdown, no children were allowed in.”

She was faced with an awful dilemma – leave Ivanke with the stranger sanitising hands at the entrance to the shop, or leave her alone in the car.  “Obviously, neither was an option.  I went to draw money at the ATM, thinking I would be able to pay someone to buy us food, but the ATM was out of order.”

Hungry, tired, thirsty and frustrated they eventually made it to the quarantine site at Bakgatla Pilansberg at 10.30pm on Sunday, May 17.

Both Bernice and Ivanke were tested for Covid-19 two days after their arrival and were told that the results would only be available on day 10.

“The test itself is uncomfortable, especially for smaller children, and it was difficult to see Ivanke in so much distress. We had come from a very low-risk country where we had been isolated on a farm for two months and had absolutely no symptoms,” said Bernice.

“I feel that as per the published quarantine guidelines, we should have been tested and released once the results showed we were not infected, or given the option to self-isolate at home and monitor ourselves for 14 days. We came from a country with just five active cases of Covid-19, and those were all confined to one area.”

Despite the inconvenience, Bernice describes their stay at the quarantine site as ‘very good’ overall. They are well taken care of, she says, and the staff are extremely friendly, helpful and understanding, trying to make everyone as comfortable as possible. Those under quarantine are provided with sanitiser for personal use and the chalets are cleaned daily.

The daily routine is pretty structured – up at 6.30am, and have coffee and cereal, followed by ‘proper’ breakfast at around 9am and the monitoring of temperatures anytime between 8am and 10am. Lunch and snacks, including cereal and yoghurt for the following day, are delivered at 1pm and dinner is served between 4pm and 5pm.

“In between we keep busy with home school activities and I manage to catch up with a bit of work online. We are not allowed out, except onto the porch of our chalet but from reports I’ve seen on social media we are extremely lucky to have a chalet and a porch,” she says.

It’s not always easy, she adds. “It is a challenge to try and do everything alone in one chalet with my little girl. She has boundless energy and becomes so utterly frustrated because she does not know what is going on, or why she is not allowed to play outside. She does not always want to eat everything we are offered, even though the food is really not bad. And of course, to her, everything is my fault!”

Mom and daughter will return to their home in Pretoria this Sunday and life will return to normal on Monday, June 1, which also marks the first day of lockdown level 3.

Last week Caxton Local Media received a report from another woman (who asked to remain anonymous) who was placed in a Johannesburg quarantine centre after being repatriated from Australia. She, however, said she was told to leave after spending just seven days at the centre.

The woman lives in the Western Cape and said that she had made it difficult to make arrangements at such short notice.  She was told she could stay on at the facility at a cost of R1 000 a day, which she said she could not afford. “Friends and family had to scramble to come to my assistance,” she said.

Numerous enquiries were sent to amongst other the Department of Health, DIRCO and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure about quarantine requirements, the length of stay and regulations on quarantine sites, but none of them have responded.

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