Her bags were packed, her passport ready and she was all set to fly home. After almost two months stuck in China in coronavirus lockdown, Unarine Jessica Rakole couldn’t wait to get back to South Africa.
All the 22-year-old medical student wanted was to see her family again – even if it meant spending another 21 days in quarantine in a Polokwane hotel.
But sadly, just hours before she was due to be repatriated along with more than 100 South Africans last month aboard a SAA rescue plane (YOU, 26 March), she got some bad news: she wouldn’t be allowed to fly.
Medical tests had shown she and three other South Africans were running fevers – one of the classic symptoms of Covid-19. They had to stay behind to avoid the risk of infecting the healthy people aboard the plane.
Jessica, as everyone calls her, was heartbroken – and what made it even frustrating was that shortly after the flight departed, it turned out she didn’t have the virus.
“I was so disappointed,” she says as she chats to us via Skype. “I was excited to be returning to home soil. I was craving braaied meat and pap – anything besides chicken and rice [what she’d been surviving on for weeks during the lockdown].”
But there was nothing she could do. Jessica simply had to accept the situation with the wisdom and patience only a pandemic like this can teach you.
BEFORE leaving to study in China, she lived with her mom, Portia Tshilidzi, stepdad, Johannes – both teachers – and younger brother, Justin (13), in the little Lim popo village of Mulima.
This story is from the 9 April 2020 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the 9 April 2020 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it