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Namibian cricketer Chris Coombe, 28, is stuck in New Zealand, and sees no easy way of getting home.
Chris Coombe comes from a country where it rains five times a year, so he found it hard getting used to Taranaki.
But the cricketer had no choice – he has been stuck here for more than a year because of Covid-19.
Coombe came to New Zealand with the aim of giving local cricket a go for six months before moving again to carry on his career.
Seventeen months later, the 28-year-old is still here, and he has no idea when he will be able to get back to his homeland of Namibia, in Southern Africa.
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“I’m trying to figure out what to do at the moment,” he said.
He could spend $10,000 on 55-hours worth of flights, but he would have to transition through four or five countries and have to wait days in each for the next flight – without the right visa to do that.
“It’s quite hard to get back home,” he said. “It’s a bit risky.”
ANDY JACKSON/Stuff
Coombe has been coaching at schools all across Taranaki, as well as regional women’s teams.
There are no direct flights to Namibia, where Coombe has played cricket for the majority of his sporting life.
“It’s a bit tough.”
Coombe was brought over by the Stratford Cricket Club in October 2019.
He had been in Denmark, where he had been playing for six months, when the club captain, Grant Commerford, got in touch.
“I wanted to try to see what cricket’s like in all the associated countries I know,” Coombe said.
He started playing for the club before becoming one of its coaches, a role he also undertook at schools in the central Taranaki area.
He had enjoyed his time but was ready to fly home on March 20, 2020, before heading off to play in England.
Coombe was at the Auckland Airport when he discovered he could no longer fly through Australia as it had gone into lockdown, with New Zealand about to follow.
supplied/Stuff
The 28-year-old has been enjoying his time playing cricket while he’s been here. Pictured with a successful South side (Third from left, back).
In the hours that followed he sat in a hotel, speaking to his family back home on the phone every half hour, quickly finding that flight after flight was being cancelled.
“Everyone was panicking.”
He came back to Taranaki and spent his lockdown with members of the cricket club.
“The first month was a bit tough,” Coombe said. “But it was quite nice. I went into the next cricket season.”
In his time here, Coombe has been showered with support from the Stratford club and other Taranaki locals.
“I’m surrounded by really kind people,” he said. “There was no cricket in winter, but they paid me the whole time.”
He is still coaching at schools and for Taranaki women’s teams, and living with his cricket-playing girlfriend, Amy Foreman, whom he met here.
The pair plan to travel around New Zealand – something Coombe has not yet had a chance to do.
Coombe’s visa comes to an end on April 15, as does his cricket club contract, but he is planning to get it extended and stick around until travelling home seems easier.
“It’s the same struggle all over again.”
However, he has also become used to the rain – which he wasn’t used to when he first played in Taranaki.
“I wanted to run off the field,” Coombe said. “It was bloody cold.
“Back home we get five days of rain a year.”
In Namibia, his family is “in and out of lockdown” and cricket does not always go ahead, so he is liking New Zealand.
“It’s the better place to be at the moment.”