FABI research Fellow Dr Neriman Yilmaz shares with us her thoughts on working from home, like so many other FABIans, during the CoViD-19 lockdown.

Like so many other FABI team members having to work from home, I felt so motivated at the start of 2020 with many plans for new projects and other exciting research activities. Then reality struck; reminding me of the old Yiddish proverb “We plan, God laughs” and made me feel like asking the question “Can we please restart 2020, the current version has a virus”. The Government of South Africa acted relatively quickly and they locked down the country for three weeks. This was the best decision ever made I believe. Of course, it brings with it some serious consequences, but I like living within the rules. 

I left my birth country, Turkey in 2009, and since then I have lived in three different countries on three different continents. These experiences have definitely improved my adaptation skills. After the lockdown was announced we had four days to prepare. I had, and still have, a lot of lab work to complete but needed to accept that under these extreme circumstances, this would not be possible. I then decided to focus on what I could do, rather than what was not possible. To achieve this goal, I prepared a list of what I might complete during this time period and I set  some priorities. The first of these was to keep everyone at home alive, healthy and happy. I have found that this first goal is perhaps the most challenging one especially, as in my case, I have a 2,5 year old daughter (who incidentally has a Penicillium species, “Penicillium lunae” named for her - see pg 498 in the referenced article).

My second goal has been to focus on research work.  In this aspect, I am fortunate in that  that my husband, Prof. Cobus Visagie, is also a scientist, and we are used to accommodating the fact that neither of our tasks is more important than that of the other. We need to take turns to work and we do so (mostly) happily. When we must work at the same time (this happens for example in the case of meetings), we have ‘hired’ a great nanny by the name of YouTube. She is very well equipped to keep Luna occupied! I always thought I would not be able to work from home, but the last week has shown differently.  I actually feel quite efficient and I hope the students who sent me their research proposals to work on feel the same when they notice my quick feedback. It is a challenging, new and unclear time for all of us.  And I know everyone will handle this differently. But I also believe that acceptance and resilience are the key issues during this time. I hope that everyone is safe and happy. These are the most important things to ensure before you start your to-do list!.