School Holidays
April 6, 2021
Written by Elizabeth
Schools have closed and other than the Form 4 candidates, all students are home. The Easter holiday that just ended saw students enjoy sumptuous meals prepared at home. In the past, there would have been a beehive of activity as people travelled to spend the holiday with their loved ones. Most of the people in the towns would be travelling to the upcountry homes to visit their parents, and the village folk would be travelling to the big city to enjoy the city life. The school break also presents the opportunity for the children who have been at school to go spend time with their aged grandparents.
The grandparents are happy to have visitors from the city. The city folk come bearing gifts, and warm their grandparents’ often cold homes. When parents go back to the city and leave their children behind, the children help the aged grandparents by fetching water, gathering firewood, washing clothes and cooking meals. Since most people migrate to the towns in search of greener pastures after they finish school, the parents are left at home alone and their families generally only get together during special holidays like Easter and Christmas.
A young boy carries a pump on his back as he helps his grandmother from the garden.
This holiday, however, most of the children stayed in the towns with their parents. The spike in Covid cases caused the government to restrict movement from one county to another.
The third wave of the corona virus has hit hard, and many people have lost their lives. The vaccine is finally here, but it is not enough for everyone. Priority is being given to vulnerable adults who are 50 and above, residents and staff of long-term care facilities, and other group settings such as prisons, homeless shelters and people who suffer with disabilities. Health care workers are also a priority. Most of those mentioned above have not been able to access the vaccine, so curfew has been enforced as a measure to curb the virus.
Having the students at home presents its own challenges. The children often fail to adhere to the household rules put in place. Many are caught having house parties where illicit drugs and alcohol are consumed. A lot of pregnancies took place during the last lockdown; we can only hope this time around at the children will be more behaved and take responsible for their actions. Parents would much rather have the children sent upcountry where they are engaged by their grandparents and kept off ills like social media.
A young boy enjoying the company of his goat. This is mostly witnessed in the village. In the city, he would be playing video games and watching TV.
A young boy enjoying the company of his grandfather