The Sunday Mail
Debra Matabvu
FOR a parent whose child is currently holed up in coronavirus-hit China, Paul Musonza seems unfazed.
While governments around the world and people with loved ones stuck in China are pulling all stops to repatriate them, Musonza is calm and collected. He prefers his 21-year-old daughter studying civil engineering at Shandong University not to return home.
It is out of love, he says.
“It is not an easy decision to make for a parent, but I believe it is the best one,” Musonza told The Sunday Mail Society in an exclusive interview after parents whose children are studying in China met officials from the Chinese Embassy last week.
He added: “What if she tests positive upon return? Will she get adequate medical attention here in Zimbabwe (than in China)? Are repatriations not helping spread the virus? These are some of the questions I have asked myself and I reached the conclusion that she should stay there.
“I know it is not easy for her being alone in a foreign land and surrounded by uncertainty, sickness and death. She must be worried and afraid. To be honest, I am worried, too, but I am not going to let my emotions take over my reasoning.”
Currently, Zimbabwe has over 2 000 students studying in China, with 800 students in Hubei Province, where the virus originated.
China has over the years become an education hub as the colleges and universities offer low tuition fees as well as quality learning.
With more students leaving Zimbabwe for China, Musonza, who is the chairperson of a group of parents with children studying in the Asian country, created a WhatsApp group two years ago for ease of communication.
“During that time, we would communicate only once a day in the morning. However, I now talk to them anytime of the day and this has helped students share experiences and receive help during times like these,” he said.
Rigorous regime
According to Musonza, the students’ day begins with getting tested for fever — a procedure that is repeated two or three times a day.
For universities or colleges that provide food, it is left on doorsteps.
Students pick up the food and are expected to head back inside their apartments or rooms.
No physical contact is allowed with the outside world, a measure meant to combat the spread of the virus. Some tertiary institutions sell their food to students, with reports that some unscrupulous businesses are hiking food, water and mask prices, taking advantage of the desperate situation.
With free WIFI, students are assured of entertainment and are able to talk or video chat with family and friends.
However, the students desperately yearn and crave for human contact.
Universities and colleges are beginning to have online classes, and for many students, the physical world has just melted into a new virtual world, which takes time to get used to.
Banks and Automated Teller Machines (ATM) have also closed, leaving some students unable to withdraw money.
However, being a technologically advanced country, online services have taken up the space, with most goods now sold online.
Again the goods are left at university entrances, where disinfections are done before being allowed into the premises. Female students have, however, been on the rough end of the stick, as they complained that sanitary pads have become scarce.
Some of the students, who spoke to this publication online on condition of anonymity, shed light into their day-to-day lives.
“At Hunan University of Technology things are relatively good. We are under lockdown like everyone else. We get two meals a day. The meals are sold at relatively affordable prices, with water being sold at the usual price.
“We have online classes. We get masks every now and then. We measure and report our temperatures every day, twice,” one student said.
Another student studying in China added: “If the situation worsens the little assistance we are getting from the Chinese authorities may disappear; in fact, I am convinced we are a burden on them now. I believe Zimbabwean authorities are planning to do something to take care of us here.”
However, responding to e-mailed questions from The Sunday Mail Society a fortnight ago, Zimbabwe’s chief envoy to China, Ambassador Martin Chedondo, said the embassy is continuously in touch with Zimbabweans in China and assured both parents and students not to panic.
Despite the array of problems, parents have been advised to leave their children in the Asian country.
During a meeting with the children’s parents in Harare last week, Chinese Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Zhao Baogang assured parents that Beijing was committed to assisting any country that intends to evacuate its citizens, but warned against such a move.
“If foreign countries are worried about the security of their children and want to evacuate them, we will support them, but for us, the best approach would be to stay where you are,” said Mr Zhao. “If you leave the place that you are at the moment, it will complicate things.”
Most countries have evacuated their citizens from China but this has increased the chances of the virus spreading.
Citing an example of Japan, Mr Zhao said evacuation would mean all the people being evacuated in one plane and if anyone of them is already infected, he or she may increase chances of transmitting the virus.
He said at the beginning of the outbreak, Japan evacuated its nationals and that is how the number of cases began to rise in that country.
Mr Zhao also said cases of the virus spreading in China have dropped significantly.
Efforts are also underway to have all the Zimbabwean students rounded and grouped in the respective provinces they are currently in.
Most African countries have taken the approach to have their citizens in one place for easy communication and coordination.
Mr Musonza said increased coordination was being done between parents and the embassies of the two countries.
For now, Musonza continues to pray for the day that he is finally reunited with his daughter.
