New values of luxury and poverty for 14 years old teenager from mountainous country
I live in a small mountainous country in the very heart of the Central Asian region — in the Kyrgyzstan. Here nature is amazingly beautiful, but the economic situation is very vulnerable. Here took place two revolutionary changes of power also ethnic clashes. Before the COID 19 we talked a lot about economic and political problems, but COVID19 forced us to reconsider the system of values and opportunities.
Education as a luxury
The first thing what I have discovered during the COVID19 -it is free education in our developing country.
In March 2020, our teacher announced that we would study remotely. Hooray! No need to go to school! But we were overjoyed early, not knowing what challenge were to be passed. Teachers, especially the older generation, were unable to immediately grasp gadgets and for teaching in online methods. The lessons were not adapted for online education: they did not change lessons according new format, they simply transferred everything into online. 5–6 hours lessons in online every day, it was terrible!
My eyes were tired, there was no feedback, it seemed that all the lessons were fake. I was sitting at my laptop and for the first time in my life I felt annoyed at the pointless waste of time. It seemed to me that someone was stealing my time and the time of everyone else. Of course, I’ve done a lot of things before what adults asked or forced. But I accepted the sense and therefore obeyed. But here this meaning was lost.
At that moment, my uncle, a photojournalist Maksat Osmonaliev, began working under a project — how does COVID19 affect the availability of education in the Kyrgyz Republic.
https://kloop.kg/blog/2020/12/26/devochka-i-oslik-doroga-v-shkolu-s-fatimoj/
This is a story about how a little girl gets to school on a donkey for an hour. She had not other way .
https://rus.azattyk.org/a/30989753.html
Photo story of how children are trying to learn in new conditions.
It was obvious that in such situation it was hard for children from poor families — there were no gadgets, the Internet, also they had a lot of homework outside of education.
My uncle told how he did the project, and what he discovered. It helps me saw situation under the various angles. Wealthy families hired tutors, private schools very quickly launch face to face education. But public schools with limited resources were online. The most popular video in social networks in our country was the video where the teacher uses the gate as a board for explaining theme in online.
https://bilim.akipress.org/ru/news:1637559
Free education, which seemed like an obligation to us, was actually our luxury. We have never felt this so clearly as during covid 19.
I saw how much human solidarity means. After publishing uncle’s photo stories, he received lot of calls from ordinary people who wanted to give gadgets and books to poor families.
We have learned to value time and knowledge. For the first time, we saw clearly how today’s time can determine our future.
Breathe!
The summer of 2020, was a very difficult time for the country. Every day news agencies updated the statistics of patients with covid19. Some of our relatives got sick. One of them was in intensive care for a month, connected to an artificial respiration apparatus.
The sound sirens of ambulances began to sound more and more on the streets of the city. Young volunteers were involved in the rescue of the sick. In social networks, a video was sent as a young girl says to a patient: “Breathe, please breathe.” And this gave the motive for the creation of the song the phrase: “Breathe my Kyrgyzstan”. The song was a like a hymn to life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpYompKNUuc
My perception of breath like a self-evident acquired the main value.
Do you remember the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry when he was thirsty in the desert and began to value water forever?
“Water, thou hast no taste, no color, no odor; canst not be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself, thou fillest us with a gratification that exceeds the delight of the senses”
People who faced depriving of the opportunity to breathe will appreciate this opportunity. Breathing! What could be easier than breathing? Who would have thought that what we do with such ease and naturalness would be the most difficult during an illness.
I remember my anxiety, fear when my mother’s health was fulfilled. She didn’t tell me, but I saw her try to isolate herself in another room, go to the doctor and take medicine. She tried to do everything as if everything is ok, but I often caught the sad expression on her face. And then one early morning we went for a walk. I remember that summer morning, crisp after the rain. Mom breathed in deeply fresh air.
“I felt a headache, my nose was stuffy, it was hard to breathe, and now I felt how fresh air heals into every cell by force”- she said me.
I saw sparks in my mother’s eyes and felt her joy. And at that moment I realized how important it is to be able to breathe, just breathe.
The values that were revealed in difficult moments become turning points in life, the main thing is not to exchange them, not to lose them.
Breathing, appreciating, exploring the world are the main values for me at my 14 years old!
Aiturgan Osmonalieva
