KOTA KINABALU – The surge in the Covid-19 cases saw the lives of millions of Sabahans drastically changed, having to adapt to the new norms brought on by the deadly pandemic.
From weekend mall visits, catching movies in cinemas, church and children weekend classes, many now spend more time around the house doing things they have kept on the backburner because of their busy city life.
Richard Simon, 42, has started his own pastry-making business which not only helps pay the bills, but also gives him more time to focus on his four children.
He sells his cinnamon rolls, pastries and cookies via social media, taking orders from WhatsApp. This is keeping him occupied even on weekends.
His life now is a stark contrast from when he was a nine-to-five site engineer before the lockdown forced him out of work permanently. His manager wife, Susan, too was affected by the pandemic and was forced to take a 50% pay cut due to slowing business.
Lucky for Simon, he had invested some of his earnings beforehand and his side income is what keeps him afloat.
“Sabahans just treasure their weekends. Usually, on Sundays the kids would have music, ballet classes and for the boys, the weekly Boys Brigade meeting.
“Sometimes, we would catch movies at the cinema. We’ll do this at least one or twice a month and have dinner outside.
“But now all of these have been put on hold,” says Simon.
His son, Isaac, is 17 and will sit for SPM examinations this year, while Ian is 15, daughter Iona is 12, and Isaias is 8.
“We also used to have a maid to help us with the cleaning, cooking and laundry, but we had to let her go,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gwendoline Thien from Kinarut says the stay-at-home rule has been spent on more time with the family and starting old projects that were kept on hold.
“Usually my husband Petrus Chia would go out fishing with his friends or probably spend the afternoon barbequing, while I would take our daughters out to the mall.
“But with lockdown ongoing, we were finally able to do things that we had put off and with nowhere to go, we might as well improve things around the house,” she said.
This weekend alone, Thien and her family repaired the rotting wood on the orchid house, revamped the house’s gazebo with polished pebbles, converted an unused room into a wardrobe and trimmed the plants around the house. – The Vibes, October 18, 2020
