Stay at home curfews should become the order of the day

Restrictions to stay at home between 5pm to 6 am should be put in place for life to protect and safeguard people from gangsterism, drugs and drunkeness, writes 13-year-old, Nduduzo Dlamini, a Grade 8 learner at Advent Hope Christian School in Hlhuhluwe.

Coronavirus is an enemy – some even call it a beast with a crown because it destroys everything around it and kills innocent people from the respected rich to the despised poor. It terrifies me badly. It locked me at home. I could not even go fishing. I had very special events planned. They were all cancelled.

And Oh! during the winter holidays some thing bad happened to me. It was so embarrassing. I went down the stairs of a big mall in Sandton. I was on my way to the shops. When I was about to enter the door, I remembered  I had forgotten my mask. Security told me to get out. It was a long distance to walk, and I decided to stop and take a break. The owner of the mall then came and told me  I was going to be charged a R500 fine. I was upset at him. People were taking photographs of me during that wrestle between the security and myself, left, right and centre. What suddenly came to my mind was the question: ‘Are they going to post the pictures to whole world? It was my worst day ever and I couldn’t believe it. If could invite everybody in my community to bring their masks, I would burn them.

The future I want: I wish we could have a good and healthy future – and start to do things differently. I would love my government to make rules that protect young boys like me from having their dignity despised.

And why not have a future where sanitizing is the order of the day? It is hygienic to keep our environment free from pollution. It is also good to stay indoors. Staying at home builds up family ties. If children remain at home, they are safer than when they are in the streets or outside homes where peer pressure rules. In future, let wayfarers be stopped by rules that make it a crime to be outside at night. This will safeguard and protect families. Drunkenness and drug abuse could be lessened too.  When people wonder up and down, they get tempted to indulge in drug abuse. They start gangsterism. They teach each other wrong things. They influence each other badly.

Let such restrictions like stay at home as from 5 pm to 6 am be put for life.

• This is an edited and revised version of Nduduzo Dlamini’s entry to Roving Reporters journalism themed writing competition, Life After Lockdown – The Future We Want

For adjudicators’ reference: Entrant 21_Nduduzo Dlamini

LIFE AFTER COVID-19 – THE FUTURE WE WANT

 

 

After the Covid-19 pandemic, will everything return to how it was before – or will we change how we live in the future? Will we realise the need to make this world a better place, both for people and for nature?

These are the key questions in Roving Reporters’ journalism-themed writing competition, Life After Covid-19 – The Future We Want, catering the school learners from Grade 7 upwards across the country.

The competition forms part of a broader reporting project supported by Super Save and Media Development and Diversity Agency.

“We are encouraging high school children to document their experiences of the pandemic and reflect on how they would like to see the world change for the better,” said Roving Reporters director Fred Kockott. “Reflection is a first step to change, and this project gives learners a voice and an opportunity to have some agency in how their future unfolds.”

We plan to run the competition through to the end of the school year, with a top entry published every fortnight.

Schools that wish to submit entries should click here to access the entry forms and writing guide to share with learners who wish to take part.

For further information contact Fred Kockott on 083 277 8907 or email fredk@rovingreporters.co.za

Now read: Poet’s take on life after Covid-19: “We fell asleep in one world and woke in another”