From Tanzania to UK: University life in a lockdown

For many, studying abroad is a once in a lifetime opportunity. With it, brings the chance to not only learn, but to meet new people, explore a city, try different activities and go on adventures.

But for Tanzanian students who moved to the UK for university in 2019 and 2020, their expectations have been turned upside down due to Covid-19 - it has been a year of lockdowns, restrictions and pandemic anxiety that has swept across the whole of Europe.

Hard but coping

This is the position that Susanne, 33, has found herself in.

Susanne moved to London on 11 October 2020 to study for her Master’s degree.

Despite being excited to get the opportunity to move to London, she says she was initially apprehensive about moving, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I thought that I would start my first semester in Tanzania and then go to the UK in January, because of the travel restrictions. The situation was changing almost daily, so I only found out at the last minute that I would be going in October. I had been trying to read the news to see the situation in London, and I wasn’t sure what I would find,” Susanne says.

Once arriving in October, Susanne just had three weeks before the UK government announced a full lockdown for the entire month of November.

And for two of those weeks she had to spend in quarantine, after having just travelled from Tanzania.

The situation, Susanne said, is something she had never experienced before, and as it was her first time living away from home, it took a big emotional toll.

“When I heard about the lockdown, I was quite scared. Even though it is not as strict as I thought it may be, I wasn’t expecting it to have such an impact on my mental health. I had a week where I was very depressed, and I was not motivated to attend class or socialise. I managed to pull myself out of it, it took a big push, but I am eventually getting back to normal,” Susanne tells.

What has helped her, she says, is socialising with the friends she has made so far, through the university social media groups, and spending time outside exploring the city.

She says, “Now two or three times a week, I go to a park with a couple of friends. I like exploring the green spaces in London, and especially now it is Christmas, the lights around the city are beautiful. I feel like I belong again.”

Going through two strict lockdowns

While Susanne is yet to experience living in London outside of lockdown, Tanzanian students that arrived to the UK in September 2019, started their academic year in normality, but since then have experienced the entirety of the pandemic in England, including two strict lockdowns.

Sabrina Zahor, 29, started her Masters in London at the end of 2019.

She shares that during her first semester, she felt settled and happy, and spent her first few months exploring, making new friends and catching up with old ones.

After around four months of being in the UK, news of coronavirus broke, and from there, she said, things changed drastically.

Sabrina says, “I remember when the news came out. At the time I was not too worried, I thought it was happening quite far away, and it would not affect us too much here. But early in March, we got an email to say that the university was closing and that we were going into lockdown. It was scary at first, and no one knew much about the virus.”

Sabrina shares at that point in time, it was particularly difficult to be far from her family.

“I felt quite helpless, and I wanted to be home with my family. I did consider coming back to Tanzania,” she adds.

And it was not just the social life that was disrupted for students, but their study too.

Sabrina said her classes were swiftly moved online, and this brought about many new challenges.

She explains, “We would have three-hour classes twice a day – so concentrating on the screen for six hours was difficult. And this excludes time spent on your computer for assignments and reading. We also lost out on some of the practical lessons we had, such as speaking and writing Arabic.”

Like Susanne, Sabrina said what has made the lockdown experience much easier is spending time with friends, and she says going through something challenging like this has made the bond even stronger.

“My friends and I became a support network for each other. Even though we could not go out, we still entertained ourselves, we made the best of what we had,” Sabrina shares.

Now that the second lockdown has hit, Sabrina says this one is tougher, as people got used to moving around and exploring during summer, when the restrictions were eased.

“I really enjoyed summer. I went to the parks, I sunbathed, I was able to eat out and reintegrate and socialise again. It was difficult to transition back into lockdown – I am ready to come back home now,” Sabrina says.

Experiencing the city in a lockdown

While Sabrina is getting ready to transition back to Tanzania in December, Yona Kirumbi, recently arrived at Sheffield University in October to pursue his Master’s degree.

Similar to Susanne, Yona was unsure whether his study would be postponed until 2021, due to the pandemic.

With infection rates higher in the North of England, since arriving, Yona has only experienced the city in lockdown.

He shares that one thing he was really looking forward to was exploring the country.

“Although I came to the UK for education, and that is the most important thing, I do love travelling and exploring. I was hoping to visit Scotland and Wales, to see the architecture and experience the culture of different places,” Yona tells. Yona says that as he has only ever been in the UK for lockdown, it is easier to cope with, as he does not know any different.

“It is better than I expected. I thought at first, we would all be on watch but the restrictions are manageable and you can still find people out socialising and doing different activities. As this is my first time to the UK, I didn’t have expectations of what it would be like, so I am used to this now,” Yona shares.

Speaking about his day, “My day is very simple. If it is a weekday, I usually go the library and study for most of the day.

After work, I usually go to the student union’s building to shop. I try to exercise in the evening – walking or jogging with friends.

Most of the restaurants are open for takeaway, so I also sometimes go there to pick up food, or I cook with my flat-mates and chat with them. I am living in student accommodation – there are many of us here, so it hasn’t been difficult to make friends.”

Hope amidst crisis

Despite the challenges that Covid-19 has brought, Sabrina, Susanne and Yona say they have found ways to enjoy and experience a new city, make new friends and learn a lot along the way.

And once lockdown is over, they are excited to explore again.

Susanne tells, “I have been watching British shows, I want to see some of the places mentioned. I cannot wait to visit the museums, and travel to places outside of London. All these places you read about it and have seen in the movies – seeing them all in real life – it will be amazing.”

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By Priyanka Sippy