Emirati filmmaker Amal Al Agroobi documents life in quarantine from Dubai hotel

'I'm here to protect my family,' says Amal Al Agroobi, who has been in self-isolation since she returned from a trip to London

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Amal Al Agroobi is not usually an avid sharer on social media, but overnight her Instagram account has exploded.

The Emirati filmmaker had been in the UK, working on a documentary about the history of her home country, when the UAE government called on all of its nationals living abroad to return home in light of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Al Agroobi packed her bags and took one of the last flights from London to the UAE. To keep her family and friends updated, she decided to document her journey on Instagram – from the moment she boarded the plane, all the way through the medical checks at the airport and until her arrival at a hotel in Dubai, where she is currently in self quarantine.

"As soon as I got to the hotel, [my account] just blew up. People started sharing it, it went totally viral," Al Agroobi tells The National from her hotel room at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, where she will remain for the next 14 days.

While Al Agroobi never intended to share her personal story on such a public level, she says the response from people within the community and even abroad has been overwhelming. She has been receiving hundreds of messages of support.

“People were saying, ‘what can we do for you?’ And I said, ‘listen, this is not about me. This is about what we can do for us’.”

Al Agroobi had planned to use any time in quarantine to work on her documentary and do some research, but that plan changed very quickly. She now hopes that, with people following her story, she could help and support others who are finding it difficult to go through this on their own.

“I have a social responsibility,” she says. “You don’t ask for this, but you get nominated and I feel that’s what has just happened.”

She has already amassed a list of things that people can do to maintain their mental well-being while in self isolation and she’s sharing it with others who are in a similar situation, some of whom she says have already reached out to her via Instagram.

The point is if you do carry the virus and you give it to someone, they could potentially die from it

“I’m a documentarian, this is my job. My job is to reflect society and to represent things within society that we don’t know and hopefully to help other people.”

Al Agroobi, who also has a background in science, says that while this is going to be a challenging time, she is happy to be in self quarantine. “All of this is for protection,” she adds. “The point is if you do carry the virus and you give it to someone who is vulnerable or somebody who is old, they could potentially die from it. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to protect my family.”

You can follow Al Agroobi's story on Instagram at @amalalagroobi