An Open Letter, No. 1

When classes were cancelled during the first week of March, Young Seed teachers and I were busy preparing for the culminating program of the Nursery classes and the Moving-Up Day of the Kindergarten students.

Things happened very quickly a week later. The lockdown was imposed and public transportation was suspended.  We were not fazed by what was going on, however, because we’d always collaborated using Google docs and Canva. By end of March, the report cards and awards were almost complete.

The reality of the COVID-19 health emergency then started to sink in. Suddenly, we were all lost inside our private bubbles. I busied myself trying to relearn how to cook 3 meals a day, 7 days a week with no day off, for a family of 4. I devised a way to wash loads of laundry by color, size and according to the sampayan size available. My stay-out cook and labandera, who lived in the same city I lived in, couldn’t get to work because there was a tanod guarding the entrance and exit to their barangay, and there were no jeepneys. Despite all these, though, I managed to hire a new teacher. Speaking of which, everyone else got just as busy.

One focused her energies into writing her thesis. Another teacher took the challenging task of going to the grocery weekly in full safety gear. Still, another spent time cooking meals for the family, her favorite past time.  

(By the way, all the herbs and plants in our school dried up during the lockdown, except for the tanglad [lemongrass]).  

Nowadays, we have a skeletal force of teachers and staff working in school twice a week. One employee is assigned a room and a comfort room cubicle in the school. Everyone is required to wear masks and slippers inside the school, to eat at their work tables and to wash their hands many times a day. The only socialization rule allowed is to video call each other when lonely.

For all of us teachers, the school looks different. We feel different when we are inside. We miss the children’s voices and laughter.

When I visit the school, the first person I look for is Kuya, our janitor, to ensure that he disinfects high-touch surfaces every 2 hours. He lives in a nearby city and borrows a bicycle just to get to work. 

Indeed, we all long for better times. But to dwell in the difficulties is to disregard the things we have learned in our journey and the blessings that have come our way. I have become a better cook. My children have learned to do chores. We have also started to pray as a family again.

Yes, I am looking forward to becoming an effective e-learning teacher too!

Sending you only good vibes,

Teacher Eileen