Children Story: I Want to Return to School
“I have gained some weight these days for not being allowed to go out.” It was the first thing 13-year-old Qiang said when talking about the impact of COVID-19 on his life.
Qiang, as an eighth grader in middle school, used to live together with his parents and 4-year-old younger sister. Because of the epidemic, daily commute became a risky behavior of carrying novel coronavirus back to home. So in order to protect his sister with lower immunity from being infected, recently his younger sister has been sent out to stay with their grandparents who lived in the same city when their mother needed to go to work from Monday to Friday. Qiang’s family could only ease their feeling of missing the younger sister by video controlshatting with her every night.
▲Qiang doing his assignment given by teacher through internet.
▲Qiang taking "cloud teaching" class in front of a computer.
Qiang and his younger sister couldn’t enjoy playing with each other and with Legos as often as before due to the younger sister’s frequent absence from home. Qiang started taking lessons even not being able to return to school, so now studying was what Qiang spent most of his time on. He attended online courses beginning at half past eight on time and reviewed lessons learned in last semester, after which he studied independently and finished his homework. He then took pictures of finished homework and uploaded them to the website for teachers to grade. From time to time, Qiang also attended online extracurricular classes at nights that his parents helped sign up for him. Above is new studying pattern of Qiang.
Qiang had difficulty getting used to online courses like many other primary and middle school students. “It’s very inconvenient to take online courses because the Internet was lagging sometimes. And it’s troublesome for teacher to make a roll call and to type. I wish the epidemic could soon be over so I could go out and return to school.” Qiang said, expressing his biggest wish at present.
▲Qiang rope skipping on the top floor of the building he lives in.
Qiang felt like there was not much to talk about his daily life. “I felt a bit scared when I heard that the epidemic was quite severe. Medical expert’s suggestion was not to go out, so I don’t go out unless it’s necessary.” Qiang was cautious and remained indoors for the past month following medical expert’s suggestion. Sometimes he helped with cleaning at home. Rooftop of the residential building was his only destination even when out of the door. He also barbecued with family and did rope skipping sometimes. He used to play badminton with his friends after school every day, a habit he formed since middle school. However, he hasn’t been able to play badminton for a whole month because of the epidemic.
▲Qiang doing chores at home.
The fear didn’t strike Qiang out of thin air. Qiang’s father realized in early February from a Wechat mini program called “Yi Kuang” that several suspected cases were found near their home with the nearest one only 50 meters away. Up till now at least four confirmed cases were found within 2 kilometers away from their home with the nearest one found only about 300 meters away. Qiang was required to report his location and health condition to school every day so the school could keep track of students’ health condition, because of which, Qiang’s family even cancelled the routine of having dinner at grandmother’s every Wednesday.
Qiang had some plans when the epidemic is over. “I want to have some fun as usual, going out and watching movie.” There was no movie to watch for theaters across the country were closed due to the epidemic, which upset Qiang quite a lot for watching movie has long been his favorite. He wished the epidemic could soon be over, so that everyone could go out freely. He himself could also go watch cartoons and science fiction movie with his friends or his mother as before.
Children might have similar experience as Qiang towards novel coronavirus and scared being infected because they have been in such close distance to the confirmed cases of COVID-19. World Vision plans to respond novel coronavirus crisis not only by donation of anti-epidemic medical supplies, but also provide psychosocial support with special attention on mental health problem of children in quarantine in order to promote psychological well-being of children and their communities. (Written by Cassandra Li)
For more information, please contact:
Jonathan Su, Director of Resource Development, World Vision China
Mobile: +86-155 8708 7042
Email: jonathan_su@wvi.org
Special Feature: WORLD VISION CHINA REPONSE TO THE CORNAVIRUS OUTBREAK