This archive report was first published on 9 June 2020.
On June 6, 2020, four Kenyan athletes who had been stranded in India for months due to the coronavirus outbreak arrived back home and were immediately placed under mandatory quarantine.
The athletes, Millicent Gathoni, Michael Kipyego, Isaac Kipkemoi, and Benjamin Kipkasi, will spend the next 14 days at a government quarantine centre in Nairobi.
"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," said Gathoni in a telephone interview from St Georges Secondary School quarantine centre in Nairobi.
The athletes were among 14 people in quarantine at the centre, all of whom arrived from India on Friday morning. Their air fare from Bangalore to Mumbai and then from Mumbai to Nairobi was paid by Athletics Kenya, amounting to Sh86,900 per person.
According to Gathoni, the athletes survived on a diet of rice and ugali during their time in India, with one kilogramme of ugali flour costing them Sh73.
"We rented rooms and cooked our own meals because we could not afford to stay in a hotel," Gathoni said.
Despite the challenges they faced, Gathoni expressed her gratitude at being back home, saying, "I'm happy am finally back home."
