Hello Old Friend – An Update From Seychelles

Wow so it has been around 10 months since my last post! Certainly a lot has changed since then! It’s time for an update

Things went pretty much back to normal for a few months last year but right at the end of December Covid finally wormed it’s way into the community. Up until that point we’d had the odd case here and there but nothing that really felt too threatening.

Catching Up

Of course the most important change is that we are now 5!! Our newest little member of the gang, Magnus arrived 22nd December 2020. I am going to write all about him super soon to introduce him properly! But here is a little peek!

While we were on Mahe having Magnus there was an annoucement that there had been a group of people who had contracted Coronavirus through community transmission. So we really kept ourselves to ourselves while we were there.

A couple days after getting back the first covid death in the country was sadly announced and cases were rising. Another lockdown followed.

Schools were closed and the boys had homeschool again. I’ve never been so thankful to be married to a teacher!!

I was so thankful to be out of the hospital and back on Praslin, and it was so special to be able to have that time just the 5 of us. It was beautiful to watch Arthur and Freddie be able to really bond with Magnus. Mark was obviously also home, and although he was still working we definitely got more family time than we would have otherwise. I don’t know what I would have done if I had all three boys home and Mark was still working!

We were allowed out for exercise, so we could take the boys for a run around on the beach or to the Vallee de mai. It was really nice for me to be able to start getting a little gentle exercise too.

Sadly as the case numbers rose, the lockdown got more restrictive with exercise being limited to only 2 people from the same household so we were no long able to go down on to the beach as a family!

Luckily after a few weeks this was ammended…..it was tough not being able to leave the house at all!!

How Things Are Now

Right now we are working our way slowly out of lockdown.

Schools were allowed to reopen from the 8th March. If they could prove they were able to follow all the new government regulations. I am so proud of Mark for getting the school open as quickly as he did. The boys are now back in school until lunch time each day.

They are really happy to be back in school and I am really enjoying getting to spend the mornings with Magnus. By lunchtime I’ve got all three boys home with me again and we get to spend the rest of the day together!

As it stands at the moment we still are not allowed household mixing. I have to say it’s been tough not to be able to form a ‘bubble’ with anyone else especially since we had a newborn at home too!

We are making sure we get to the beach as often as we can. I’ve honestly never appreciated getting out and enjoying what we have as much as I have done this year.

As of today, we have had almost 4000 cases, 600 of which are active and a total of 18 deaths. I honestly could never have imagined we would get this kind of numbers if you had asked me the last time I wrote a post.

The good news is that there has been a big push on vaccinations here and Seychelles has one of the highest % of population vaccinated in the world. Herd immunity is definitley what the government is aiming for.

Mark, and all teachers have been given (or offered) the vaccine and I think it’s so amazing that he has been able to have both doses already. I can’t have mine yet as I am breastfeeding.

Tourists Returning

As of the 25th March, Seychelles is reopening the boarders to tourists. The only country not permitted is South Africa. Everyone else will be able to come here without quarentine. The only thing required will be a negative PCR Test 72 hours before travel.

I’m hoping that with the return of tourists, our restrictions will also be lifted, or at least lessened. Fingers crossed!

Taking the Time

It has been so nice to sit and take time to get on here and write a little update. I am going to introduce Magnus properly on here very soon too!

One thing that lockdown and general covid life has taught me is to enjoy simple things. And for me, writing is really one of those things!