This archive report was first published on 8 June 2020.
Published on June 8, 2020, four Kenyan athletes who were stranded in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic have recounted their struggle to survive on a meager diet of ugali and rice for months.
After being stranded in India since February, the quartet of Millicent Gathoni, Michael Kipyego, Isaac Kipkemoi, and Benjamin Kipkasi finally returned to Kenya last Friday and were placed under mandatory quarantine at a government centre in Nairobi.
The athletes, who were set to participate in four races in India, were forced to cancel their events due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown.
Speaking from the St Georges Secondary school quarantine centre in Nairobi, Gathoni recalled how they managed to survive on a daily ration of ugali and rice, with one kilo of ugali flour costing them Sh73.
‘I’m happy I’m back home. It is much better than being held in a foreign country where we were stranded. It was a very lonely experience,’ Gathoni said in a telephone interview with Nation Sport.
The air fare for the four from Bangalore to Mumbai (Sh15,000 per person) and from Mumbai to Nairobi (Sh71,900 per person) was paid by Athletics Kenya (AK).
According to AK President Jack Tuwei, there are still seven more runners held in India, and plans are underway to bring them back home with another flight expected to leave India for Kenya in the coming days.
