EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS...

 

 

"We saw in 2003 the beginnings of an outbreak of an illness called SARS.          

SARS ended up killing 800 people which is a significant

number of deaths, but nowhere near as high as it could have been."

                                                                      Michael Burgess

Ebola, the epidemic sweeping Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, is in the world news every day; it's tragic and pushing to the limits those countries and individuals stricken with it.  Epidemics of this magnitude bring fear into hearts...feelings of expediency, rushing to bring a halt to the sickness and death.  Many prayers are being lifted 24/7...prayers for the caregivers, the people who are stricken, the families affected...there’s a tremendous effort being put forth...and it goes on and on.

I wonder, have you ever been personally involved in an epidemic?  I had not...that is not until Michael and I were living in Changsha, China.  Not until 2003 when something called SARS barged in...bringing with it sickness, fear and death.

SARS is the acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome...viral and destructive.

It was introduced in a province in southeastern China...began its move and our home city was in its path...not a good thing, not at all.

There were other American teachers in the city but they opted to return to America until things blew over; Michael and I decided to stay for a variety of reasons.

For one thing...what if when we were leaving the country they slapped us with a quarantine order...then we'd be stuck somewhere strange for many weeks...that happened to some.  No way!  Actually I think both of us felt a need to help those students we taught...perhaps in some way we could help make it through the epidemic.  Believe me, we're in no way medical minded but we do know cleanliness/sanitation and that was extremely necessary during this time.

The challenge was where to begin...what to do to 'be/stay safe'?  Ah, that's a good question and we prayed a lot; we thought a lot...we would do what we could to educate and protect those students we were spending many hours with. 

Initially, SARS wasn't publicized in our neck of the woods...it was under cover, so to speak.  The government definitely did not want to start a panic...a stampede.  Imagine what that could do in those cities like Changsha with a population of more than seven million. 

Of course, we all know China is a communist country and Changsha is actually where Chairman Mao was converted to Communism...all this to say 'it is definitely a communistic biggie'...in the strictest sense of the word.  

There were absolutely no precautionary steps being taken...hmm...enter my hero (of course that's Michael)  who took charge of me and our 600 students...300 of his, 300 of mine and we mobilized...whoop!

He outlined a plan...one of self-protection and learning tools...ready, set, go!  Gear up!

We became a small, private army...wow...did we ever.  Michael got masks for all of us...bought gloves, sanitary cleansers, mops...you name it and he got it.  Next up, he organized the students....they worked in teams w/M and I directing!  We sanitized/cleaned floors, desks, any and everything in our two classrooms.  You should have seen those kids work and they loved it...they were so proud of what they were accomplishing.  We became the talk of the school.

Of course the Dean of the English department discovered what our small army was doing (the school had 'spies' who always knew our every move)......he became quite the little informer.  One day he met us on the stairway going up to our classrooms and said, 'Michael and Vasca, I need to let you know there is a SARS epidemic taking place in China!'         Why thank you, Dean...we had heard about it.  Oh boy...wasn't he the clever one...oops! 

After sanitizing our classrooms we needed some personal health education; we worked that into what was going on in the SARS world...every class period we had the 'SARS Report'...how many new cases, how many total cases and sadly, how many deaths...open forum discussions.  Our advantage was that we designed our own curriculum anyway; now we had the students attention...100%...and talk about interest...they were engrossed in helping, making a difference!

Note here; it was next to impossible for us to sanitize outside our classrooms.  We were in a seven story building with no a/c, no heating...the doors and windows were usually wide-open...when it rained or snowed the floors were sopping wet...and then?  There were the rest-rooms!  You don't even want to know, or go there...trust me!   

 The dorms didn't have showers...actually they didn't have much of anything...we're talking 'bare bones' dorms.  Probably nicer than some of their homes, but to us?  Well, you and I are extremely fortunate to have what we do...we're so blest.  On designated days/times the sexes had their 'shower days'...here they are...rain or shine...sunny or freezing...on their day!  This was just below our windows.

 
Finally the school began taking steps...like?  One day, when we had no classes,
a person (like the one in this picture) appeared at our apartment door .  He came in and quickly turned our apartment into a lake. Don't take another step; do not spray our kitchen. 

We mopped, mopped, mopped for a long time to get our place habitable again...the scary thing was we didn't know what it was they had flooded us with...a disinfectant of some sort...but what??  You think they even knew?
They returned a few days later to re-spray and we refused to let them in...SO…they turned around, left and never tried spraying us again.  Rather than dying from SARS, we could've died from accidental poisoning of who knows what!

The experience was much like an eerie 'three ring circus' and this was only the beginning...
but from the chaos...hearts changed in surprising ways. 
To be continued next week.

From my heart...to yours,

Vasca