Re-entering the World

The very word “vaccine” seemed to gleam like a beacon of hope to the post-Covid world. After enduring months of lockdowns, social distancing and jumping a foot in the air as soon as someone sneezed, the concept of an escape route seemed impossible. As vaccinations began being administered in the thousands, we realized that rather than being escape routes, the vaccines were our life jackets – we were still floating in the sea of Covid-19, but at least we had something to cling onto.

Vaccines paved the way for the world to recover and to shake off the unflinchingly strong hold that the Covid-19 pandemic had forced onto us. Returning to normalcy has been hard, and will continue to be a path of hurdles and challenges, but at least we are still venturing upon it.

In Sri Lanka, our journey in the pandemic has been rocky, to say the least. Our sense of complacency and calmness when exploring the initial stage of the pandemic was shattered when Covid19 clusters began popping up in the dozens as we entered early October 2020. Being forced back into lockdown was daunting and the light at the end of the tunnel was nothing but a mere pinprick. Cases continued to rise, businesses continue to flounder and we could do nothing but watch from the safety of our homes as the pandemic raged our island home.

However, for the first time in a long time, the situation seemed to improve. The government’s efficiency in handling vaccinations is one to be admired and a staggering 13.7 million people are fully vaccinated today, with more than 29.6 million doses already given out to the population. The vaccine administration has allowed our country to open up and one of the steps we were all looking forward to was to finally leave the blinding screen of our laptops and go back to school.

When the Ministry of Education announced that students between grades nine and twelve were allowed to return to school, we were all plagued with a plethora of different emotions. For those were too young to go back, they would have felt a mixture of envy at the thought of remaining home and relief, for returning to school can be a daunting task. And for those of us who were allowed to go back, we were stunned due to a combination of trepidation, nervousness but above all, excitement. As teenagers, we crave socializing and the company of our friends, which can never be truly replicated with impromptu Hangouts calls and endless texting.

What a foreign feeling it was to re-enter school and see faces we have not seen in what seems like forever when the reality was a span of five or six months. All schools have been required to impose strict health regulations to prevent the rapid spread of cases if one of the students or the school staff were to fall ill and no one enjoys having to wear a flimsy surgical masks for hours and hours. But they all seemed like trivial problems as we reunited with our friends, got to attend classes physically and see teachers we have not seen for equally long. Our teenage years have been jolted and interrupted and disrupted by the sudden pandemic but to return to school and to take steps towards normalcy have been indescribably wonderful.

However, we must keep in mind that the virus is still lurking around and so is the pandemic. Getting back to normalcy does not mean we can live our lives as we did in the days prior to the pandemic. The pandemic has certainly changed the definition of normalcy and we must adapt and adjust accordingly in order to move forward. Therefore, stick to the health regulations put forward by the government and be more mindful of your actions in social gatherings in order to protect yourself, your loved ones and everyone around you when stepping to that outside world.

Session XIV of SLMUN will be held on the 22nd and 23rd of January 2022 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), Colombo, Sri Lanka. Registrations for delegates, admins and IPC delegates are now open until the 20th December 2021.

- Kavya Chandrasiri (News and Media 2021)