My family lives in Wuhan, China. My dad, his wife and their 2 little kids, Liam (6) and Emily (mae-mae) (3), they have been in their home for over 3 weeks now, without the option to leave, go outside, nor even get a little bit of fresh air.

My dad, a wonderful writer, writes what’s it like being there, in this crazy situation from his own perspective… He writes a new story every single day, here’s his story from day 20 (translated by my uncle, Gil):

Day 20 of siege.

“Daddy, I want to go out and play,” says the little one as she cries by the front door. “We cannot go out now,” I tell the three-year-old. “Let’s go watch TV with GaGa (Big Brother in Chinese).”

The crying intensifies. “Mommy,” she calls Nana. “Daddy won’t let me out.” And the tears run down her pretty cheeks. This little one knows how to cry and crush your heart.

“No one is going out now,” Nana tells her. “I’ll open a phone with a camera so you can talk to your friends from nursery; who would you like to speak to?”

This does not convince little sister. She stands at the door and continues to cry. “I want out, out.”

And the streams of tears…

Nana goes to the laundry room, which became our food store. “Take care of this,” she asks.

The little one continues to cry. I manoeuvre between the words, not knowing how to explain the truth. I say and do not say, not wanting to cast fear on the three-year-old.

Liam watches my failure to calm her down, and he comes closer to his little sister. “Mae Mae, don’t cry,” he tells her. “There is a monster outside,” he explains the situation is the clearest manner. “Soon Addie will send us a video with magic and the monster will run away.”

Little sister is listening carefully, but is not fully convinced. “Where is the magic that Addie will bring?”

Addie, my elder daughter, lives in another country. Each evening, she makes ‘Filters’ for the little ones. “What exactly are these ‘Filers’?” I try to understand her world. Addie laughs. Filter are small designs that you can add to your videos on Instagram and Facebook. “Dad, I am creating Filters myself, and celebrities on Instagram, who you surely do not know of, ask me to prepare some for them.”

“I am also a bit famous now” I laugh with her about my new situation where the President of my country phoned me up to check how we are doing. “Will you also do a Filter for me?”

“I’ll design a new Filter for the children every day, and will send you,” she promises; and in the same breath tells me that “I am now making a Filter for someone famous in Australia, but,” she continues “I will first make one for Liam; I love you.”

“Mae Mae, look!” Liam says to his little sister. “Big sister, Addie, sent us magic. The monster cannot beat that!”

.

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