Article #12: Lockdown but not locked-down
2020 can be considered sui generis [unique, peculiar, of its own kind, not like anything else]. We have had to do things differently in the last 12 months, and some of us have had to do different things, to be able to carry on with our lives in the midst of the lockdown brought about by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Our students, who have joined us in the midst of this disruption, were often on my mind. While we often focused on the problems and challenges we and our students faced in the last year, I wanted to look at the experiences of our students from a different perspective, focusing on what positive things have happened in their lives during the Pandemic.
So, I asked my students to share one interesting thing they feel they have done over the last year, and I have been so impressed by the positive attitude our students have, even as they faced such restrictions on their movement and interaction. I will let them tell you what they have been up to, in the rest of this article.
Many of them have started doing something they have not done before and picked-up new skills. Here are just some examples:
“Learning C Programming; …learning to edit videos, learning a new language which has proven to be difficult but still working on it; writing poetry on the WattPad writing app”
Others have focused on their hobbies:
“re-start my project of making miniatures, write more stories and reading more novels”
“Since March 2020, I’ve started painting on various types of surfaces such as canvasses, glass, and even on medium-sized pebbles!”
“Started a plant collection and got a pet dog”
“Gardening, painting”
“play chess, typing practice everyday to type faster, workout at home three times a week, read books, a lot of books!
“Mid of 2020, I have taken some interest in learning about astronomy and history….quite fascinated by how this field of science has been studied and have great importance since ancient Egypt and other civilisations”
Those who know me will know how much excitement I get from seeing children/young people pick up reading as a habit, so I was thrilled that many of our students have been reading A LOT of books, not just their textbooks! Here are some titles recommended by a student: “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World-and Why Things Are Better Than You Think” by the late Hans Rosling; and “The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?” by Michael Sandel.
This next one is not a hobby, but it just shows that, sometimes, you just got to give it a try!
“I used to HATE kids,… they are so annoying and loud and they always make me wanna shove something inside their mouths (ok that’s brutal, sorry!) ….. during the pandemic my uncle asked me to help babysit his kid and I agreed despite … my hatred for kids. The kid was just half a year old so around 8 to 9 months old at that time [so, it was actually an infant], I learned how to take care of a kid and most importantly I realised that apart from them being annoying, they can be cute sometimes and I had fun (!) so I took care of that kid even until now :).”
I must say the uncle is very brave to put a 9-month old baby in the hands of a teenager!!
I was also very glad to know that they have been taking care of their health. Many have mentioned doing home workouts during the lockdown. I am especially proud that our students did not just take care of themselves but were also looking out for others. Here are some other things they have been doing:“
…virtual volunteering programme like Radiance (AIESEC) for five weeks, made lots of friends from various activities”
“I also participated in many extracurriculars such as AIESEC in UNMC, iCUBE International and started my own student society at UNM as well with my fellow foundation friends & seniors”
“…volunteering to help mentor children from B40 families who are learning online.”
I think that this last one by our student, Tzy Hwan and his friends, deserves a special recognition for their big hearts and great teamwork, innovation, creativity and enthusiasm:
“I started a social initiative with my high school friends called 'Laptop4All' which aims to make e-learning more accessible to underprivileged students by purchasing laptops for them to assist the students in their online learning (check out our page - https://www.instagram.com/laptop.4.all/). We fundraised more than RM 2800.00 and bought 3 laptops for our beneficiaries. I personally learned a lot from this experience and I hope more students like me can start their own social initiative or even just volunteering as we could help the … underprivileged in our society.”
Tzy Hwan and his friends are into their second campaign now, having raised over RM2300, and you can support them here: @Laptop4All | Linktree. Their plan is to turn this work into a social enterprise in the near future. Fantastic!
I want to end with this heart-warming account, because for me, family is the foundation for everything else.
“I had the opportunity to spend more time with my family and it is definitely something really valuable to me. Before March 2020 (MCO), my parents were always at work and only came home earliest by 8pm. Even when they came home early, I didn't have much chance to talk to them because I was always very busy with my school work (typical high school stuff). With the 'help' of MCO, my parents and I finally had the chance to actually talk to each other. My siblings also started having online classes at home and thanks to that, it had given us plenty of bonding time together which is … very rare ….. because we study at different schools in different places, or different countries I should say.”
So, as I reflect on these, I am very glad that our students have spent their year of lockdown not locked-down, but enhancing their range of skills and experience (apart from taking their Foundation course), building relationships and being a blessing to others.
Contributed by:
Wendy Gan