When will I ever get home to see my family?
We talk to NI expats in New Zealand,
TWO people from Northern Ireland have spoken of their relief after the New Zealand city of Auckland exited a snap lockdown imposed earlier this week.
Last Sunday, the country’s largest city was placed in a three-day lockdown after the discovery of three unexplained coronavirus cases in the community.
At least two of them had the more infectious UK variant.
The lockdown was the first in New Zealand in six months and represented a significant setback in the nation’s largely successful efforts to control the virus.
In the latest case, an Auckland mother, father and daughter caught the disease. Officials said the mum worked at a catering company that does laundry for airlines but had not been going aboard the planes herself.
But Co Londonderry natives Una Lagan and Todd Sweeney, who have both been living in Auckland since 2014, believe more snap lockdowns are likely in the future as new coronavirus variants emerge.
“While there is a sense of relief that we seem to have dealt with this latest outbreak, you still feel like you’re treading on thin ice and wondering when we’ll have to lockdown again. There’s also still a bit of reluctance amongst some people to go out in case the virus is still circulating,” Una told the Belfast Telegraph.
Last March, Una (34) had an idea for a company selling traditional soda bread, largely to expats like her.
When Covid-19 hit that same month she used the time in lockdown to create Irish Born and Bread and offer people “a familiar taste of home”.
Una’s mother had been planning to come to New Zealand last Christmas, in what would have been her first visit over, but that trip was cancelled.
Una, her partner George, who is from Co Antrim, and their three-year-old daughter Lucy had also been planning to return to Ireland this August for her brother’s wedding, but she doubts that they will be able to travel by then.
New Zealand’s response to and control of Covid-19 has been admired internationally.
With a population of five million, it has reported just over 2,300 cases of Covid-19 and 25 deaths since the pandemic began. In recent months many people elsewhere looked on in envy as New Zealanders went back to work and began attending concerts and sporting events, without the need to wear masks.
“Prior to this week’s cases, everything was normal and people were heading to the beach because we’re in the middle of summer,” Una added.
“There was an element of guilt too because I realise that back home in Northern Ireland people can’t do that. I’m still always asking myself when will
this get back to normal and when can I get home to see my family? The unknown is very scary but then everyone else is in the same boat.”
Despite New Zealand’s success in conquering Covid, Todd Sweeney (61), a senior project manager in construction, believes a return to complete normality is still some way off.
“I have two daughters living over in Australia but I don’t think I’ll be seeing them again for another year or so,” he said.
“Even though we only had a few days of lockdown this week, you could see the panic setting in with people, both in the supermarkets and on buses, and all wearing their masks.
“Everyone just knuckled down and looked out for each other because we knew we would beat it again. But I really think New Zealand should just close its borders to everyone for their own safety, especially with all these new variants emerging,” Todd added.