“I want to come home!!!”, writes Tabitha Fot of Steinbach.

She has been stranded in Bolivia with her husband, 12-year-old brother and 5-month-old baby boy since March 19th when the country closed its borders.

Fot says homeschooling her brother, her newborn baby, and learning to sew have kept her busy

Fot says her family only found out about the border closing on the 17th of March, but by the time they tried to book, there were no more flights available.

“On January 19th we flew to Bolivia for my sister-in-law’s wedding,” she explains, “and since we were making such a long trip, we decided to stay for a bit longer and spend time with my husband’s family and friends.”

Fot says the country has a curfew which allows stores to operate between 7 am and 12 pm with only one member per household allowed to enter. It is worse on weekends where no one is allowed outside at all.

Additionally, those deemed to have broken quarantine are being detained for 8 hours and then released with a fine. On top of all that, if it is determined that a person has put the public’s health at risk, the penalty is anywhere between 1 to 10 years.

Fot and her family are staying in San Ramon, a city of just over 5000 situated about 200 kilometers from the much larger city of Santa Cruz.

To make measures worse, Fot found out that her house back home had been robbed while under lockdown in the foreign country. “They stole quite a lot of stuff,” she says, “but my brother helped us out by dealing with our insurance and the police.”

Fot says her newborn baby helps keep her busy and that she is also learning to sew from her mother-in-law. Homeschooling her little brother is another activity that has kept the two of them preoccupied.

The Canadian Embassy initially told her and her family just to wait. That was until Wednesday when they were offered seats on a flight to Miami. Unfortunately, Fot’s husband is a permanent resident of Canada and not yet a citizen, so his visa does not allow for a flight into the United States.

Fot says even though her husband’s family are in the community, at the moment “everyone’s hands are tied”, and she worries about her own parents. “My dad is a long-distance truck driver so my mom is home alone a lot.”

Still, with so much uncertainty, Fot is finding strength in practicing her faith. “To remain positive, we are praying and trying to trust God more,” she shares.

“He can open the way for us to come back home.”