-baby now Instagram hit

By Amanda Wilson

Savannah-Rose Bassoo turned three-months-old on May 4th and she has never met her Guyanese grandparents.

From video calls and photos and videos on social media, relatives have followed her transformation from tiny wrinkled newborn to a baby developing her own personality. For the last four months, as countries around the world battled to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Chris Bassoo, spouse Stacy Khemrul and their baby daughter Savannah-Rose have lived in a hotel suite in Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil.

Like all new parents, Chris and Stacy wanted to share their daughter’s changes with family and friends, so they created an Instagram page. “It started off as a few shots, but then she started gaining followers, over 500 in a few weeks,” Chris shared. But the cute baby pictures taken in the hotel suite also caught the attention of a few baby brands. Savannah-Rose became Instagram famous.

“Stacy started to do more creative shots with what we have in the hotel suite and now Savannah-Rose has four sponsors and other companies have recently contacted us to showcase their clothes. So this has become a daily thing we do.” As the largest country in South America with a population of 209 million, Brazil recorded its first COVID-19 case on February 25th. Savannah-Rose was just 21 days old.

Until then, the country seemed far away from the pandemic, which at that point had infected more than 80,828 people and killed a total of 2,763 in China, Spain, Italy, South Korea and Iran. Over 18 weeks, Chris watched a country, including the political elite, become engulfed in a political tug-of-war, and mixed messaging, a president publicly leading protests against quarantine policies and thousands of Brazilians buried during mass funerals.

The Bassoo family’s Brazilian story started in December 2019. Chris and Stacy departed Guyana on December 21st on a flight to Suriname, and then travelled to Brazil on December 29th. “Stacy was 34 weeks pregnant then and we were travelling to Brazil to have the baby. This was Stacy’s first trip to Brazil and my second. I came here in 2016 to have my son Zayden-Fox,” Chris shared from his hotel room.

The couple broke the new year in Brasilia, and spent a little over a month enjoying the city’s social life, from dining out to shopping. They were excited to see their unborn daughter. But ten days after their arrival, the world heard of a health concern out of China. Chinese health officials informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) that 41 patients connected to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan City had a mysterious pneumonia with symptoms including fever and difficulty in breathing. Researchers found that the virus originated in bats and spread among humans via respiratory droplets within six feet. It could also survive for several days on many surfaces.

On February 4th, the day Savannah-Rose was born, the WHO confirmed 24,545 coronavirus cases and 492 deaths globally. It was now a global pandemic. But Brazil had only three coronavirus cases. “Brazilians told me that they were used to dealing with dengue, Ziska, Malaria, so when we saw the pandemic had started in China in January and started spreading, we didn’t see an immediate change in any activities here. At the hospital in February, where we had Savannah-Rose, there were no extra sanitising as the hospital is always cleaning and no emergency procedures were in place,” Chris explained.

By March 14th, 151 Brazilians had been infected with the coronavirus, and like other South American countries, lockdown measures were implemented. Residents were told to stay home except to purchase groceries, medications and cleaning supplies. Non-essential businesses were ordered closed, including restaurants, salons, gyms and movie theatres.
Chris and his family were scheduled to leave Brazil that same day.

“At 9 a.m., our flight was scheduled to depart Brasilia, however the afternoon before I got a call from a government official in Suriname that Suriname was going to lockdown the airport at midnight. We went immediately to the GOL airline and enquired, and they had the flights all scheduled and no changes. I contacted my travel agent in Guyana and we were on the phone until 4 a.m. looking for alternate flights out of Brasilia linking with other countries. They were only available later in the week. The problem was we had a 40-day old baby and I did not want to get stuck in an airport with her and Stacy, who was still recovering from stitches. So, at 4 a.m., we made the decision to stay in our hotel suite and wait out the pandemic and airport closures.”

Brasilia, a city of 2.5 million people, became a ghost province over the next two months.
“The country shut down and all malls and stores closed only leaving grocery stores and pharmacies open. We are in the hotel sector and in speaking with the few English speaking staff, we were told the hotels were all either closed or at one to three percent occupancy. The hotel we are staying in has shut the rooftop pool, rooftop restaurant, gym and sauna whirlpool and they are only allowing long term guests to stay.”

Chris informed the Guyanese Embassy in Brasilia of their plight and now receives regular updates about quarantine measures in Brazil and new procedures for immigration extension. “They have been super supportive and check up on us every few days. We were even invited to the embassy a few times for lunch and swimming, and it was so nice to speak to two fellow Guyanese for sanity breaks. Savannah-Rose technically has been on Guyanese soil already. The First Secretary Jevon Rodrigues even brought us proper pepper sauce as Brazilians don’t have anything close to what we eat,” Chris laughed.

By April 10th, Easter weekend, and following a month of quarantine measures, including staying at home, frequent hand sanitisation and social distancing, Brazil’s coronavirus cases had jumped to 19,789 with 1,068 deaths. Its worse hit cities were Manaus, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

A week later, President Jair Bolsonaro fired Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta because he strongly promoted preventative quarantine measures across the country. Bolsonaro has openly downplayed the danger of the virus calling it a “little flu” and opposed lockdown measures he believes will stagnate the economy. Then hundreds of Brazilians, including residents in trucks, cars and on motorcycles in Brasilia, took to the streets honking horns and demanding the lockdown end.

“The problem here is that the president is downplaying the virus and the governors are treating it seriously so the population is getting mixed messages. The president is pushing for the economy to reopen but due to cases on the rise the governors are keeping it closed, so it’s a standoff right now.”

As the death toll continued to increase, Brazilians, especially those who have lost loved ones to the virus, were frustrated that politicians were using the pandemic to further divide the country. “At the end of April everyone had to wear masks in any public spaces. We see about half the population adhering to the rules. The stores and salons and haircutting places have been shut down since mid-March.

Social distancing
The grocery stores implemented strict social distancing rules immediately and also installed sanitising stations as well as Plexiglas covers for the cashiers. Also the grocery stores have certain limits on various items and they did not increase prices here. The pharmacy allowed us to buy five masks per person and they used our Brazilian national CPF number to regulate that.”

For Chris and his family, the only thing left to do was wait for the borders to reopen. “Being stranded in a country where one percent of the people speak English is hard because you can only talk to your partner and no one else understands what you are saying. We feel like we live in a bubble because no one understands us. Thank goodness for technology because we can at least stay in touch with everyone. I’m in daily contact with my family, especially daily video calls and messenger with my other kids Krystiana and Alexandra in Canada, and my parents and son Zayden-Fox in Guyana. Stacy is in daily contact with her family in both Guyana and the United States.”

With several reports of xenophobic attacks especially in China, Chris, his spouse and daughter have been treated well by the small group of Brazilians they are in contact with, including hotel and hospital staff. “Brazilians are amazing to us. They try to speak English words and giggle. We walk forty-five minutes to the grocery store and no one has ever bothered us and we never feel unsafe and we usually go to the store late at night when very few people shop, like between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. In the hotel district, they have armed guards that patrol the area and many keep their eyes on us as we walk late at night. They really roll out the red carpet for expectant mothers and also people with babies; they don’t wait in any lines anywhere.

We had amazing service at the hospital where Savannah-Rose was born; some of the nurses even remembered me from 2016 because of my hair and also because I speak English. The hospital paediatrician also kept in contact via WhatsApp to assist us. When she realised we were still stuck in the hotel she brought a bag of fruits and snacks for us. We became friends with many of the nurses and doctors and still send them updated pictures of our little girl and many follow her on Instagram.”

The couple’s days revolve around Savannah-Rose’s sleeping schedule.
“We’re up at 5 a.m., get breakfast, sort laundry and clean the hotel suite. We watch Netflix a lot during the day, streaming videos and movies to the television. After lunch, I’ll take baby out for a walk around the hotel complex to get sunshine, do photoshoots for Savannah-Rose for her Instagram page, and then do some work via Zoom and WhatsApp. We have dinner; I work out with Flex Gym in Guyana via Zoom, do laundry in a bucket and hang the clothes in shower to drip, then shop for grocery at 11 p.m. When she is down for the night, Stacy cuts and colours my hair.”

While Chris misses Guyana, from spending time with his mother, and young son Zayden-Fox to buying fresh fruits in Bourda Market, having a cold Banks Beer and a delicious box of Chinese food, he is making the best of his quarantine in Brasilia. “I’m getting fat here in Brazil on lockdown. I had to make weights out of water containers filled with rice,” he laughed. Guyana has extended its quarantine measures to June 3rd, further hampering Chris’s ability to travel home.

“I agree with the airport shutdown to keep the borders locked to reduce the curve and stop the spread through our Guyanese borders. I do believe that this is necessary to maintain control and keep ahead of this virus. It’s unfortunate that we got caught outside the country but we are taking every precaution to stay safe as Brazil has turned into a COVID-19 war zone.”

COVID-19 cases
By the end of the first week of May, worldwide coronavirus cases stood at 4,038,785 with 276,884 deaths and 1,402,716 recoveries. Brazil recorded 10,017 deaths and 146,894 total infections with 59,297 recoveries, making it the hardest hit South and Latin American country. “The death toll and cases have been climbing here in Brazil so we don’t know when things will be reopened,” Chris said.