I thank God for his help in the midst of this catastrophic virus that is dominating the world. In Cuba, all our provinces have reported positive cases of the virus. The most critical situation is in Havana, as it is the city with the largest population. Whole neighbourhoods are quarantined here.

As for me, I feel comfortable with my family. I continue to dedicate time to prayer. I also practice a lot with my child, read and watch videos and films. Gradually it gets a little boring. That is why I have decided to create a small garden on the roof of the house. In addition I dedicate time to sewing. I am released from my work. So I am a housewife for the duration of this pandemic.

Now I have time in the kitchen to try out new recipes. But many foods are scarce and very difficult to find. Recently we made “congris” (a typical Cuban recipe made of rice and beans) with spaghetti. I don’t know if you can imagine it, but the invention worked. Cubans are always innovative.

We are also very careful when someone from the family goes out to buy food or other basic needs. It is a huge effort to try to save the lives of my 10-year-old boy, my 94-year-old grandmother and my father, who is over 70 years old.

We recently bought a bicycle to get around. Public and private transport for people is already paralysed. This measure should help to reduce the number of people infected.

There are still long queues in the shops, so I check the internet before most purchases, but unfortunately our network is bad. Sometimes it takes three days to place an order. I am lucky that my aunt and cousin helped us by getting us food. Twice a week a doctor comes to my home and asks us questions about how we are doing, and that is very good.

I trust in God, but at the same time I am careful. In my neighbourhood a lady was hospitalised on suspicion of corona. There they did a test. The result will be available in two days. If her test is positive, my whole neighbourhood will be quarantined and we will all be tested.

On the other hand, a friend and fellow believer has been sick and tested positive for two days. We were very worried because his parents are very old and did not want to leave the house to go to hospital.

At home we have a prayer time every day at 9 pm; this time starts with one minute of intercession for the doctors and the people working against the pandemic. Then we take time to sing, we thank God for life, we pray for the situation the world is experiencing, we pray for God’s mercy for humanity, we pray for the countries that are very much affected by the virus and that have so many dead. We pray for an awakening of the Church and a revival for our lives.