Description
When the Covid-19 virus spread to South Africa in March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown. Universities closed, and students were required to move back home at short notice. To record their experience of living through this unprecedented period, students in one Economics class at Stellenbosch University kept a diary during the first month of lockdown. The 333 diary entries in this anthology reflect the diversity of experiences and reactions of this relatively privileged group of students.
From the humdrum of everyday life to anxiety about lost incomes, societal inequality, and the physical, mental, and economic health of the nation, the diary entries reveal the hopes and fears of young people during a time of crisis. The purpose of the anthology is twofold: to preserve these thoughts so they can be integrated into future historians’ accounts and to help a generation that continues to experience the painful effects of a pandemic and lockdown to think about how our perceptions have evolved and how much has changed in such a short time.
