‘It is like a feeling of loneliness, full of disappointment’

Name: Abshiro Mohamud
Age: 16 years
Somalia

My name is Abshiro Mohamud. I am a girl aged 16 currently studying in class eight. In this story, I am going to talk about how the coronavirus has had a bad impact on my life, family and my studies.

At the start of the Covid -19 pandemic my life became miserable, faced with numerous challenges. The most unforgettable one was the lockdown of the population, with no movement allowed.

I really missed the freedom to play with other children in my village but in order to keep safe from Coronavirus transmission I had to comply with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and government restrictions of practicing social distancing.

The Wizard’s Quest

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‘The never-ending question: Are you a boy or a girl?’

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‘I’m 16 years old, raised on the Barn of the Crumlin Road’

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Before the Covid-19 pandemic, we used to eat together in my peer age group with no fear or distress. The arrival of the pandemic has made our life upset and gloomy, being stuck in the home and not going to my beloved school, where my dream of becoming a doctor lies and where I used to enjoy taking part in reading and writing competitions. It is a feeling of loneliness, full of disappointment.

The school closure around mid-March 2020, followed by my father’s loss of his job because of the pandemic was a devastating situation for our family. All these have been tough indeed as our household daily routine has completely changed because of the loss of income the family has experienced due to my father losing his job.

This has badly affected our household’s daily meals as we are not able to cook three times a day as most families do for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In fact, this increased the depression of our family alongside our increased vulnerability during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed my life. Formerly I used to go to school regularly. But at the height of the pandemic, by the end of the day I was accustomed to being unhappy, exhausted mentally as well as physically and sometimes I slept badly.

Nowadays, things are gradually progressing in the right way despite the continued existence of the virus. I try my best to feel calm and be focused on my education, to wake up early in the morning and prepare myself not to miss my studies.

Before Covid-19, I used to be well motivated and wake up as early as 5am and attended school with passion. During the weekend when there were no classes, I used to visit my neighbouring friends, in order to have fun with my friends.

Fear of the unknown and the pandemic forced me to stay at home and help my parents to do the housework. I missed the golden opportunity we used to have to sit together in class to fully and physically attend our studies without separation (social distancing) from each other.

During the onset of the pandemic, the teachers were trying to teach our classes’ through distance learning to mitigate any possibility of the virus spreading among the students, but I can confidently say that remote classes are boring, not as interesting as the normal classes.

There were distance learning programmes developed by the ministry of education during the early phase of the virus but honestly, living in a remote area whereby there is less access to internet, television or smart phones, you can imagine how hard it was for me and my friends to take part in the online education platforms set up by the ministry.

The little access we depended on during those hard times was the radio programme, though even it was not free for all. In order for remote learning to be effective, the Ministry of Education, with support from international organisations, should develop a special online method that covers all needs of students regardless of where he/she is, whether they are in a town or rural. Mostly, online education was beneficial for students in big towns of Puntland

One year is gone now since the start of the virus; thankfully all students are back to school now. The challenges of the virus are still felt in many ways but thank God things are not like the way it was during the start of the pandemic.

I am lucky my loved ones and I are safe and healthy and I am grateful for all the hardworking first responders that sacrificed so much to help us during this difficult time.

I am very grateful to parents who struggled with us during the past difficult time. I am not saying the virus is done now, but hopefully as soon as possible by the help of the almighty God it will go away for good.

Thank you for reading.