Kyrgyzstan - 06. May 2020

Stories of people during the quarantine. Almaz uulu Azat

We continue a series of posts "Stories of people during the quarantine". Our next story is from Almaz uulu Azat, who is 18 years old student at university. Azat is a very active participant of YOU Project's activities and events.

I remember the beginning of the year the majority of the tweets on Twitter were about the fires in Australia and an unknown virus in China. After some time, the news about the coronavirus ruled news feed.  I thought that a vaccine would be developed very soon, and everything would be fine. I couldn't even imagine that so many people worldwide would be infected.

But I'm actually more afraid of the economic consequences of the pandemic. My sister works in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. She has her own restaurant there but had to close it because of the quarantine. She took a loan to start the business, and now, because of this virus, she cannot repay it.  The whole family will face difficulties because no one else works except my sister and father. And there are a lot of such families all over the world. I think that the government should support all citizens, for example, by giving deferrals on loan payments.

I don't understand people who buy 10-15 bags of flour, thereby causing panic and shortages in the stores. Actually, one bag should be enough for one family for a month. If the family is large, then a maximum of 3 or 4, but not 15. In my opinion, the worst possible thing now is to panic. People need to calm down and just listen to what the doctors say, follow the quarantine rules and try to help those who need help.

If I had some money, I would support people in need and buy them food. I wanted to become a volunteer, but my parents did not allow me, they did not let me out. We have a small plot, and I work there with my grandfather. Also, I spend my time reading books. The classes are online now, so I study at distance. I hope that by staying home, I also help the community.