Ugandan student stranded in China

Juliet Nsiima who was supposed to travel back to Uganda

WUHAN, HUBEI PROVINCE - It is a cold Wednesday night in Wuhan and I have cleaned up my dormitory room. I am ticking off my final checklist before I leave university to return home. Suitcases packed, check. Passport and tickets, check.

Travel money, check. I hang out in my friend's warm room happily chatting about my return to Kampala to much-needed sunshine, family and friends. I left her room at midnight with a plan of either going to sleep or watching a movie.

Early the next day (Thursday), at about 4:00 am, my phone started pinging with new social media messages. I ignore them. The pinging continued and my sleep was interrupted. I grudgingly woke up to see what the fuss was about.

It was my Facebook friends outside China asking me if Wuhan city had issued a travel ban. What travel ban? All I knew was that we were instructed to wear facemasks and cotton gloves to stop us from catching the coronavirus. I had done that for a week and I felt safe.

My friends advised me to check out the local news networks. So, I went ahead to look for online news updates.

Lo and behold, there is breaking news on the China Daily website that public transport in Wuhan would be temporarily shut down starting at 10:00 am as a way of containing the spread of the virus.

What! I am travelling home tomorrow morning. Am I stranded in Wuhan? Can't they wait another day until after I have left? I, thereafter, notified my friends who were also supposed to travel the next day via WeChat. They, however, did not respond and since it was still 5:40 am, I assumed they were still asleep.

The Spring Festival starts Saturday midnight, so they will be allowed to travel. I nod off.

At 9:30 am, I checked my WeChat and found responses from my friends.

One had left Wuhan via Hankou railway station on a fast train at 8:00 am. How did he get there so fast? The railway station is close to his university, so he was able to get on the fast train bound for Guangzhou.

Later that afternoon, my other friends told me that their travel agencies sent them messages in Chinese encouraging them to pick full refunds for their tickets.

I also checked to see if I got any message as my friends did. Yes, I received the message. So, I forwarded it to my university officials who worked on my ticket, asking them if the airlines sent them a similar message. No message was sent to them.

So, my Guangzhou flight was still scheduled to leave for Entebbe. I left the university for the city to see how serious the travel ban was.

It was tight. The public transport system had been shut down. There were no buses or taxis picking up passengers.

The metro (underground train) gates were locked with notices informing the public to stay at home. The police had mounted blockades on the major roads and were vigilantly patrolling the streets.

I hurried back to my dormitory and met the manager, who blamed me for leaving without informing him. He also lectured me about the dangerous coronavirus.

Wuhan city, the capital of Hubei province, currently has 11 million inhabitants. It is the major transport centre of central China because of its proximity to the northern, eastern and southern regions and their cities.

It is located on the Yangtze River, making it a popular shipping stopover. It is a safe place and I resided there for eight-and-a-half years. I am glad to call it my second city.

Wuhan is now infamously known as ground-zero for the coronavirus because it mutated and ‘jumped' from animals that they illegally sold at local animal markets.

As of today, this majestic city has, unfortunately, reported around 580 cases of this deadly respiratory virus since December last year.

It is a cluster virus with an incubation period of 10-14 days.

Carriers can quickly spread it to 5-10 people closest to them.

Since it is the beginning of the Lunar Festival (Chinese Christmas), the carriers are infecting their families.

The elderly are the most affected victims, closely followed by spouses and children. By the end of Saturday Xinhua was reporting that the Hubei province had reported 1,052 cumulative confirmed cases with 52 deaths and 129 cases in severe condition.

Winter brings its fair share of coughs and influenza and since this virus has similar symptoms, the Hubei provincial government has locked down Wuhan city to control the spread of the epidemic.

Shanghai is said to follow suit along with Hong Kong.

I, therefore, request you all reading this to pray for our safety (we are hundreds of Ugandans living here) during this lockdown and the recovery of this ever-changing and vibrant city.

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Filed by Juliet Nsiima