COVID-19 has affected me in my business. The first activity is that my business is not moving well because people are not allowed to move from one place to another. At the same time police arrest people who don’t wear masks or who don’t wear their masks properly. Because of this people are afraid to come to the market. This is one way this pandemic has affected me.

COVID-19 has also affected me because children are not going to school because schools are closed. They are just staying at home. They are not learning anymore, they were just moving around. And other children who were girls were busy moving around with boys and as result, for example, my brother’s child is pregnant because she is not going to school, she is just at home. She has no time to learn, and we heard that the government says children can learn through the phone but only a few parents have access to those smartphones that children can learn on. As a result, children are just staying at home and they are doing nothing and there is nothing they can do. 

The disease has forced me to spend more time cleaning with an aim of reducing the possibility of getting COVID-19. It has also changed the lifestyle of my family. At first, we were not following any measures but we’re following them now. At the same time, they have brought stigma and discrimination. When someone has signs and symptoms, it makes me afraid.

The pandemic has changed the way we are using public transport. Why do I say that? The first thing is that the transport costs are high because they have reduced the number of passengers and if you want to ride in the vehicle you are forced to put on a mask. If you don’t have a mask, you’re not allowed to ride in the vehicle. At the same time if you have got signs and symptoms you are not also allowed to ride a car.

There are some of the steps which I follow when I am with family and friends: I always put on a mask and sanitize myself when I have touched something. I observe social distance and avoid moving from one place to another. Before COVID-19 I was in a support group named Y+. This is a group of young people who are living with HIV but we can’t meet anymore.