April 3, 2020
A little past midnight on a Thursday night, I called up my friend Batul, who I knew was in quarantine in a hotel room upon arrival into her home country, Tanzania.
I’ve known Batul since my last year in university. Without her class notes from the 8am psychology class that I struggled to show up to all term, it’s questionable if I would have been able to graduate that year.
Current location: Moshi, Tanzania
Turns out, this girl’s been watching Netflix shows and learning how to solve the Rubik’s cube while in quarantine.
“It is April 3rd, 10am in Moshi, Tanzania. I traveled here from Toronto twelve days back. And the day before I arrived, my government passed a regulation that any international travelers would be put into quarantine for fourteen days due to COVID-19.
I don’t know if it’s changed overnight, but there’s only 20 cases throughout the country. They are trying to keep it really low. We’re not allowed to have big gatherings, concerts, or events. Yesterday, I talked to a health official and learned that they have set up COVID-19 centres and different levels of quarantine depending on whether or not you have symptoms.”
Batul’s flight was one of the first ones arriving into the Kilimanjaro International Airport after the regulation went into effect. “Because there was such short notice, when my flight arrived, we were left in the airport for 8 hours while [the authorities] were trying to figure it all out. No one knew what was happening or how to handle the situation, as they had no time to prepare.”
Batul and her fellow passengers were eventually brought to the hotel in Moshi that they are now staying in. Health officials visit their rooms every morning and evening to take their temperatures and to ask if they are exhibiting any symptoms. For Batul, the fourteen days would be up in two days, after which she would be allowed to go home.
Birthday in quarantine
It was Batul’s birthday last week. “My mom and my brother came to visit on my birthday. They weren’t allowed in my room, but I could meet them in the hotel reception. They brought a cake. It was a black forest cake that my sister-in-law made. It was really good.
Usually you cut a cake and feed it to the person. But I had to feed it to myself! And they had to rinse the knife in the kitchen and take it home. They left the cake with me.”
It’s not a conventional way to celebrate a birthday, but I’m glad there was cake! Happy belated birthday.
Batul’s an aunt!
While it has been a rather unusual and stressful journey home so far, Batul is back for a very special occasion.
“Two days ago, my sister-in-law delivered a baby girl. So when I leave quarantine on Sunday, I get to see the baby! And Monday is when her naming ceremony is, and I get to perform the ceremony.
The ceremony is called Chatti, which basically translates to six. The baby is named on the sixth day, and before that, you just call the baby baby. Even if you know the name, you can’t call her by the name yet. Usually it’s the sister of the baby’s father who performs the ceremony.
The ceremony happens after the sun sets at night. In both ears of the baby, you say a prayer, you tell the baby its name, and then you tell it to everyone.”
Chatti, Batul explains, is mainly a women’s event, where family and friends of the newborn’s parents gather to celebrate its arrival. They had originally planned to invite around 90 people, but because of COVID-19, it would now be a small gathering with immediate family members only.
“It’s the first grandchild in the family. Everyone is super happy. My grandfather is a great-grandfather, and my uncles are trying to figure out what the baby should call them. They are granduncles, super uncles!”
Arusha is home
Batul’s hometown Arusha is roughly an hour drive away from Mount Kilimanjaro. Two with traffic, she adds.
“It’s a very hilly city. I live on a hill. When I was growing up, it was a small town, and now it is a city. Arusha is where the UN Tribunal for the Rwandan genocide took place. We had a lot of foreigners come to work for the tribunal, and a lot of businesses formed out of it.”
The UN presence in Arusha for the tribunal makes up a big part of Batul’s childhood memory.
“I would hear sirens of security and police cars every morning with 4 or 5 tribunal cars passing by real fast. I would always look outside the window, watch them pass by, and get dressed for kindergarten.”
Arusha today is a tourist town, with travelers visiting Mount Kilimanjaro stopping by the city. It is also merely hours away from the country’s famous national parks, including the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.
“I used to go to Ngorongoro so much growing up! The park is at the bottom of the crater, You have to drive around it. It’s basically like a massive hole.
When you come visit, I’ll take you to the national parks. One of my favourite places is Momela. In high school, we used to go there for camping trips. It has a lot of flamingos, it’s crazy! I love that park. Serengeti can get really expensive, but if you have the time and depending on the season, it’s really worth it.”
Uploaded by Elitre, CC BY-SA 2.0,
“I’d definitely take you to Zanzibar, which has the best beaches in the world. It’s also where you go party.
If you have time, maybe climb Mt Kilimanjaro. It can take a week. I haven’t done it, but I really want to within the next two years. Even if you don’t climb the mountain, you can definitely come to Moshi and come see Kilimanjaro.”
Ooooh, time to make some travel plans!
Photography and art
Batul has been living in Canada since she first moved to Vancouver to pursue higher education in Visual Arts and Design. She has since studied at UBC, and moved to Toronto after graduation. She has kept up with her design work, and has also taken up photography.
“I really enjoyed doing landscape photography when I lived in Vancouver. I would go on photo walks on the waterfront from Granville Island all the way to False Creek.”
“I also studied a little studio photography, back at Emily Carr after I finished my studies at UBC. I really like people photography, and every now and then I do children’s’ photography.
One thing I want to say as an artist is this. People would often show up with their phones and say that they can take a better photo. You might get lucky and get a better picture than me, but you don’t know that photographers stand at one spot for three hours, take two hundred photos, go through each of them, and spend hours editing them. Don’t undermine the work of an artist.”
Theme of spring 2020: Plans are up in the air
Batul had intended to fly back to Toronto on April 22, but that does not seem like a possibility at the moment. “With Ramadan starting on April 23, I was hoping that I would get back before it begins. I’m in the process of looking for a job in Toronto. So I wanted to come back to job hunt, and do Ramadan in one place instead of two.”
Right now, she doesn’t know when she would be able to return to Canada. Most likely, it will be the moment international travel normalizes and the Canadian government allows non-citizens to return.
Home for now
Life is looking more or less normal in Tanzania at the moment, without business closures or lockdown measures in place. With land border crossings restricted and international travelers being put in quarantine upon arrival, Batul hopes that the virus won’t spread further. With limited resources and widespread poverty, she worries that the country wouldn’t be able to handle a large-scale outbreak.
Batul can’t wait to meet her baby niece. She has brought a ton of camera gear with her in hopes that she would get a chance to do photography with the baby. Other than that, Batul says she’s excited about the food. “In Toronto, I live in a vegetarian household. I’m excited about all the meat I’ll have. My dad makes really good steak. Whenever you come to Tanzania, you’ll definitely have it. It’s damn good steak.”
Batul, you are going to be an amazing aunt! Congratulations to the family on the baby girl. Miss our photo walks and late night study/procrastination sessions. Stay safe!
Follow Batul on Instagram @batul_m_photography
