Conn. couple still trying to come home from China
NEW FAIRFIELD — A local man who had been trying to return home from China amid the novel coronavirus outbreak is now aiming for a July homecoming.
“Things have been OK — not too bad, but not too great,” said 29-year-old Alan Sheaffer, who has been living and working as an English teacher in the Chinese city of Xiamen since 2015.
Earlier this year, the 2009 New Fairfield High School graduate was working on returning to town with his wife, Ceren, and their two dogs after their employer stopped paying them when schools in China shut down due to COVID-19.
Sheaffer said they considered staying in China — even with the outbreak — but neither of them had been paid since the Chinese New Year and were struggling to make ends meet.
After using all their savings and borrowing money from family, Sheaffer started a GoFundMe to help get his family to the United States.
But when COVID-19 started wreaking havoc in the U.S., Sheaffer started to reconsider his homecoming.
“I have been watching the news coming out of New York and Connecticut, it has been absolutely insane. I’ve been watching the news and seeing things getting worse and worse,” he said in March.
As of Tuesday, there were more than 34,333 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Connecticut and more than 3,000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Sheaffer’s hometown of New Fairfield, there have been at least 105 confirmed cases.
Despite their financial struggles overseas, Sheaffer and his wife decided to stay in China until things started improving back home.
After weeks trying to reach his employer about pay, Sheaffer said he was finally able to get in touch with them in March — but it was still “a real hassle,” so he and his wife contacted the Labor Bureau.
“Right now, we are still waiting for the case to go to court. It should be started at the beginning of July,” he said.
In the meantime, Sheaffer said he was fortunate to find a job a few weeks ago, but his wife and many of his friends have not been so lucky.
Although “things have started to get back to normal” in China, including the gradual reopening of schools, Sheaffer said he still plans to return to New Fairfield with his wife and dogs in the next few months.