Yamam Nabeel

Teresa Rocha, Key Worker: “It might sound selfish, but I really enjoyed the peace and quiet of the empty streets. Just the mood itself, for a change. After the first couple of weeks you could tell how blue the sky was. I found that people in general are more friendly and more relaxed and much more appreciative.”

Jess Liaudin, Actor, Stuntman and former MMA Fighter: “I bought a few dumbbells so I could train at home, because if not, I would have gone mental, if I wasn’t able to train. Because of that I was still living a pretty balanced life. I moved to East London just before the lockdown. It’s a very mixed area. You have Muslim people, black people, white people, young people, old people – all living in harmony. I live with things, I just adapt. I struggled when I was a child, we were very poor. I was homeless when I was 14. I travelled the world with just a back-bag, with no money. Doing all kinds of jobs, in countries where I couldn’t speak the language.”

Sarah Gregory, Writer and Social Activist: “People are looking for ways to help. We have slowed down a bit. We have found a pause, just to spend time with family and explore the things that you have not time to do during normal, or whatever normal times are.”

Anthony Barclay, Actor: “I got to spend time with family, some serious quality time. I got to spend time with my little 6-year-old. I’m her supply teacher. That is a great honour to spend time, one-on-one for hours each day. We are incredibly privileged that we are still healthy, that we have somewhere to live, a roof over our heads and we have enough money to survive. I speak to my mum, my brother and my sister more. I’m interacting with them more than I would normally do. More people, I suspect, are doing more work from home, than when they were at work.”

Melissa Fung, Television Journalist and Author: “The first two months of the lockdown were ok; I was doing post-production on my Thailand story about people sending their elderly family members to care homes in the UK. There was a sign next door asking if anybody wanted to cook meals for the needy and sheltering. I started cooking 50-60 meals a week. It was nice to help out. The nicest thing that has come out of this, is making new friends. Getting to know your neighbours.”

David Fussel, 'The Homeless Filmmaker': “I used every second I could to be productive, working on a short film. The streets were empty; it was lovely not to have people on their phones running into us. I’m a hopeful person.”

Marianna and Stella Criscuolo, Freelancer and her daughter: “It reminded me a bit about my childhood, when you made the best of getting on your bike and going to the park; a simpler way of life. This has taught us that a slower pace of life is OK.”

Melania Wicks, Financial Services: "I used the time to reconnect with people, making sure I reached out to friends who are single, so they don’t get lonely. At work we have virtual coffees, we stay connected, and not just about work. On the positive, it has just confirmed how much I love my husband, we just really enjoy each other’s company.”

Nobantu Dube, Full-time mother: "There as a community coming together to help me and my child. Hopefully people will understand that you don’t need that many cars on the road. That you don’t require all your employees to come into your building, if they can work from home. I hope people will have more time for each other.”

Antonia Vaughan, Yoga Instructor: “For me it’s been a more of a personal journey and a personal experience. I’d like to think that it has taught me gratification if anything, and to appreciate what I’ve really got. Essentially appreciate all I have, and I’m talking about health, a healthy body and a healthy mind. Because at the end of the day that’s what matters the most. Kindness and a conversation with neighbours. That really goes a long way. I’d like to believe that this had to happen, as awful as it was. It has forced us to slow down to a point of almost coming to a halt. We’ve had to stop living the way we were, and I really hope it’s going to change the way we have been living.”

Mendy Korer, Rabbi: “Suddenly now there is a need of having a local community. People are looking out for each other and caring for each other. At that positive community elements, how do you keep that going? Is it possible to keep it going or are we just going to slip back to the way we used to be in the past? Regarding the positives of that community spirit, ultimately it’s a challenge for all of us. It’s not something that is just going to happen. It’s for each of us to go and say, ‘I want to be different’. It is up to us to go and say that we are going to make a new society.”

Doreen Graham, Business Owner: “There is some kindness, especially from my clients. They have been quite caring. They told me: Doreen, please stay away, to keep yourself and us safe, and we will continue you to pay you 100% of your wages. And they kept checking on me and my family to make sure we were ok. When people show you kindness and in turn you show them kindness, it just goes like a chain. If everyone could be like this, then the world would be wonderful.”

Reverend Gordon Jeanes, Vicar: “There are silver linings, particularly peace and space. One of the great things is, no evening meetings. I think we all have to take enormous decisions, as individuals and as a society if we are going to benefit from this experience.”

Mariana and Clara Winckler, Dentist and he daughter: “People have been discussing new ways of delivering education, working remotely, housing conditions, the kind of relationships we have, and how we can keep these relationships up even in a virtual world. I hope all the social inequalities that most developing countries have faced throughout their histories can be better understood by the government and international authorities. Being able to stay at home looking after my family, I don't face food uncertainty, and have a roof over my head can be considered more than 'positive experiences'. It has put the concept of being privileged on another level.”

Eleni Kiomourtzi, Businesswoman: "My philosophy of life is you have two ways: are you going to sit down and keep crying about what you have lost, or are you going to pull your sleeves up and do what you do best and work to bring back everything you have lost? It was the biggest holiday ever. I have never had so much time off work. So much time to think, to put things right; to read, to do things I didn’t have the time to do before. For the very first time I got to meet my neighbours. One of our neighbours set up a WhatsApp group for the whole street, to help all those who needed help with anything, from shopping to garden waste. There was help for everything and they even raised money for charities.”

Sibusiso Mamba, Actor, Director and Playwright: “We need stories. Stories are how we process our own world. Stories are how we process the world around us. Stories are how we process crisis. The urge to create is primal. The urge to tell a story is primal. For the live arts, one of the things that us creators have to do is make the work so worthwhile that people are willing to come and sit in that space for two hours, with masks on. The biggest positive was spending time with my children. Every single day, all day, watching them transform and grow. It had to take the world to stop, for probably the most natural things, to spend time with the people you love.”

Sofian Ferrad, 5-a-side Football Player: “Enjoy your life. We only have one life. When we die, no more. We belong to God. I’m keeping fit. I’m playing football by myself. I’m riding my bike and hopefully soon we can play football again.”

Reginald Arkhurst, Barrister (Specialising in Immigration and Human Rights): “Sitting in the house all day is a bit boring, I have a lot of books to read though. We have a very nice community here, it’s a very nice place to be. I’m lucky. My mother-in-law lives next door, and my brother-in-law lives a couple of doors down. He does all the shopping for us. I’m very lucky in that regard. One lesson is the value of people. All the people that some people look down on should be elevated and show the added value they bring.”

Lily Edwards, Singer/Songwriter: “Me and my siter were fighting a lot towards the end of 2019, and we have gotten a lot closer over this period, which is really nice. I think the good side of it that people might not feel cocky anymore about the environment.”

Tamsin Lewis, Musician: “What I have missed immensely is playing music with people, but also playing music for people. So I decided to go and play music in my front garden, so at least I can connect with people.”

Dr. Rafik Bedair, Consultant Intensivist at St George’s Hospital: "People understand these are exceptional circumstances. The sense of teamwork and coming together was fantastic. There was no such thing as ‘no we can’t do it. The focus it provided was fantastic. People just wanted to do the right thing.”

Paula Claramunt, Online Marketing Executive: "It’s a blessing that we can still exercise, because exercise is big for me. The best has been the community spirit, to come together to fight something that is unknown to everyone.”

Tatenda Van Vesenbeeck, Student in Drama and Theatre Arts: "We have been dating for 5 years and we have not spent more than 6 days consecutively in the same space until now. So, for me, I was thinking that this is a fantastic experiment to see if we actually like each other when we are not thousands of miles away. It’s nice to see people bond, from 6 feet apart. At the most recent BLM march, there were people at every traffic light with masks and hand sanitisers for those who needed them.’

Sutesh Sharma, Fund Manager: “We are fortunate that we are in a business where we can carry on working from home. Work has carried on fairly seamlessly. In general, I have only seen the good from people. People have gone out of their way to see how they can help. I’m not worried about recession in the long term. The country and the systems in the country are sufficiently robust. We will figure it out over time.”

Bo Hess, Artist: "It was peaceful, quiet, you can hear birds, animals, clean skies. No airplanes, no nothing, like the Garden of Eden. I was OK. I need to be inside to get more done, to be left alone, only let people in that I want. It sounded really nice. It looked really nice. For about a month.”

Eric Ohlund, Political Sciences Student: “There is a French radical group that believes in communism in the literal sense, about living in communes and being self-sufficient. They call these areas ZADs (zone à défendre). I got a glimpse of what that might look like. You start to see people as more human than faceless. Suddenly I recognised the people on my street. There was a new sense of kinship. A sense that we were bound together, in a way that wasn’t the case before.

Geraldine Crimmins, Artist: “I sat down one morning and thought how could be creative in this negative time. A lot of friendships have developed, people got to know their neighbours. I decided to set up a welfare programme for the homeless, and with the support of others, I managed to help 20 people. My car got stolen, but the insurance company were amazing and paid me within five days. One morning there was drama – the next thing, I had the money to buy a new car online, which I have never done before.”

Hania Akhtar, Business Owner: “I’m communicating with people way more and I’m giving time to communicating with people more than before the pandemic. There is something about the slowing down process, how we look at ourselves, rethink our relationships, realise how much we care about each other.”