Group Project

Mpumelelo Maphumulo

COVID – 19

The year 2020 was supposed to be a year where everyone gets a fresh start and is able to create new memories and work towards achieving the goals everyone had set out for themselves. This all changed when the news of COVID – 19 started getting more serious as the governments all over the world started to take action.

The panic started to set in when friends and family members from all parts of the world were rushing back to their countries as they were in fear of not being able to get back in or being stuck in their current countries. COVID – 19 gave parents no other choices but to bring their kids back and hope for the worst as soon as they were in safe hands.

I was very nervous as I was afraid that I have would be stuck in `Peru for an uncertain amount of time as no one knew how the governments would react and when lockdowns would take place. I felt like I had to go home as soon as possible before it was too late. A huge role player in my departure was Mr Overrocker who managed to be the communicator between myself, my parents and my teachers. His role played a vital part in enabling me to go home.

He was a news source to us as he was providing the information of what the school was looking to do and how the teachers were planning to prepare with educating the students. It was a tough period for everyone as it was filled with uncertainty considering that everyone had no idea about what they had to do and what the next steps and precaution measures would be.

According to the Internet, the COVID – 19 was starting to take a lot more lives than expected and this was also being broadcasted through national television.  The first real action I witnessed being taken was by the NBA when they decided to stop all matches as a few players had been infected. I felt likes this encouraged other sports codes to do the same as well and this is when the world realized that this situation was actually bigger than we had anticipated.

One of the scariest parts of the whole journey back home came when I was at the airport and I felt vulnerable as I was at a high risk of being infected and you just couldn’t touch anything as I could’ve been infected at any time. The plane rides were also scary as you had to share bathrooms and sit next to someone who could be infected. When we landed back home, our temperatures were checked and if they were normal then we were allowed to enter and see our family members.

I was placed into self-quarantine and before it ended, the president announced a nationwide lockdown for a 21-day period. The president came out close to the end of this period and announced a further two-week addition to the lockdown prior. It was a great decision as we as a country could not take the risk to allow people to do as they please without knowing where we were as a country in terms of our infection rate.

The president announced that himself and other members of the government would take pay cuts to help out the families which could not afford to be in this tough lockdown situation. This was the president leading by example and showing that the people’s health was more important than our economy.

Talking to some friends and coaches, this period is extremely difficult as it’s set back the students academically as well as conditionally. No one knows how we will move forward after this lockdown period as it all depends on how we fight this virus. Students will just have to adapt to what they’re given and try exercise at home. It’s a tough fight but we will get through this.

Having talked to adults, they’ve mentioned how this virus has managed to do our planet some good and might have just helped some people some rare time with their families. It just all goes with how you plan to take on this situation mentally. I hope everyone can stay safe at all times and protect themselves. Together we can fight this and come out stronger than ever.