Cape Town resident documents Covid-19 journey in funny Facebook post — 'I want to give hope'

23 June 2020 - 11:15 By Cebelihle Bhengu
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Leila Amien says being diagnosed with Covid-19 can be scary but her parents' support and bravery have helped her cope. Stock photo.
Leila Amien says being diagnosed with Covid-19 can be scary but her parents' support and bravery have helped her cope. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/Jarun Ontakrai

Living in fear of contracting coronavirus and spreading it can be stressful,  but Covid-19 positive Cape Town resident Leila Amien is giving South Africans a ton of reasons to laugh in a hilarious account of her experience in isolation and her parents’ support.

Amien lives with her parents but testing positive meant she had to move out of the main house and isolate in her parents’ cottage which has a glass sliding door, allowing her to see her father's killer dance moves or get her mother's virtual hugs.

She shared on Facebook “every day my parents insist that I open my curtains for communication while my dad entertains me with dance moves, I can see my OCD mom scanning my room to see if it's clean. Every hour they knock on my door to see if I'm alive and every time I answer they ask me why I'm not sleeping.” 

Her family has established a whole new system to accommodate her. They now have what they call a “Covid-19 trolley” which her parents use for meal drop-offs. She says she times their footsteps and opens the door just as they leave the food to watch them “run for their lives”.

She also lost her sense of smell and taste, which are some of the known Covid-19 symptoms, and her parents have tried vitamins and natural herbs to help her heal faster, none of which have worked. She documented her journey in a hilarious video where her mom tries to convince her to tape an onion on her chest to “kill” the virus.


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