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The Attack: 6 April 2020 at 3:45am

Today’s #lockdown video is not a fun one. I was woken up this morning at 3:45am by a man in my room wearing a hoodie, mask, and gloves and wielding a machete. Screaming HELP at the top of my lungs woke my neighbours downstairs, and their scream up to me — a simple, “ANGELA” — made the man panic and rush out, only to hurt my neighbour as he fled (so much so he needed stitches). I don’t know how long he was in my apartment before he woke me up demanding money but I was awake with him for only a minute or two, thankfully. I ended up with one small cut, several bruises on my arm, and 1 large welt on my hip from his machete.

I live on a (usually) peaceful and safe island in Indonesia that relies heavily on tourism. Tourism around the globe is dead and that means that countless people are out of work and will be struggling to put food on the table. I hope this experience is unrelated to the economic downturn caused by Covid-19 and not a glimpse of a pattern of increased theft and assault. It was the scariest moment of my life … and as much as I want to say I am not going to let fear take me, I honestly don’t know how I’m going to get to sleep tonight.

Read the full story from the TribunBatam newspaper here and their follow up article the next day just about me here.

The Update: 8 April 2020

On April 6th at 3:45am I was attacked in my own bedroom by a man who broke in to rob me. He had a machete, hit me several times, cut me once, and then left in a panic when my wonderful neighbours heard my cries for help and yelled out my name. My neighbour ended up in hospital from cuts to his face and we all ended up with anxiety and stress over what that man did.

This is a follow-up video about how these past couple of days have been for me and my neighbours. As well as a message of thanks to everyone who checked on me or sent a message of care and love. That has helped me more than I can convey.