COVID-19: Together We Fall, Divided We Stand
Hi. I’m an 11-year-old boy. I’m writing to share my awful experience as a child staying at home to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Qatar. While a horrendous virus has caused a worldwide crisis, there has been a familial issue behind closed doors that needs to be tackled during the early stages of the outbreak. As all families, we have to stay home together. My parents have started working online and my siblings and I have started online schooling. I thought to myself, This is such fun to be homeschooled for the first time! However, having my dad spend all of his time at home is not a fun thing. Before the “stay at home” orders, we hardly saw or interacted with him. My mom has been the only one who has been taking care of the family and the house; on the one hand, she has painted and maintained a lovely family portrait that reflects love, compassion and harmony. On the other hand, my dad has been distorting that portrait. I wish I was excited like most of the kids around my age at the idea of spending quality time with their families, communicating openly and having meals together. I don’t know what that’s like in my family, for one reason: my dad. A few days pass and I feel safe as I haven’t got any chance to see my dad. He has been either sleeping or working in his designated area. Hopefully he will stay busy at home like that during the whole social distancing time. But one day, I hear my parents arguing loudly in the living room. They must be fighting over a serious matter. I hope we kids aren’t the reason by being quite mischievous (I’ll admit that). I hope my mom doesn’t get psychologically or physically hurt, as she usually does. The arguing ends without my dad being a monster. This time. Unfortunately, the frightening and negative interactions between my parents are constant; sometimes it turns out truly ugly because my dad starts physically assaulting my mom. This reminds my siblings and me of previous dreadful days that we have witnessed, that certainly have been engraved in our memories forever.
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