No help for SA expats
EMANZIMTOTI mother Belinda Brodie has described her daughter Demi’s experience, of being held in a Chinese quarantine facility at an unknown location, as being “extremely stressful” for her family in Durban.
SA teacher Demi Brodie, 27, spoke out this week about the lack of support for South Africans working in Shanghai, although the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) has said the SA embassy had to also accede to the lockdown regulations, which impacted on its services.
With an outbreak in Covid cases at the end of March, Shanghai went into an extreme lockdown on April 1, with all residents being confined to their homes and tested daily. Supplies could be accessed only online and/or delivered via government rations.
With her daughter being released from the quarantine facility on Tuesday, Belinda Brodie said: “It has been incredibly stressful for us. My husband and I were away in Kruger (national park) when this started, and typical Demi kept it from us at first, because she didn’t want to spoil our holiday.
“We got back to the storm starting in Durban, and then obviously a storm starting in our daughter’s life. To actually see the fear in her face when she heard noises outside of her apartment, thinking they might have come to take her, that was soul destroying because there was absolutely nothing we could do.
“And then realising that she did have Covid, and the call to say they were going to come and take her away. We weren’t sleeping and were worrying about her all the time.
“Having her in that camp was soul destroying. We were worried about the prolonged stress on her and the inconsistency about the decisions were very concerning. My biggest disappointment was in the lack of support from our consulate,” said Belinda, who had emailed the SA consulate’s emergency email address only for the return message to say it had been blocked.
Another South African teacher in Shanghai, 29-year-old Eastern Capeborn Nomacoqwa “Noma” Blackie, was found dead in her Shanghai apartment on April 18.
Blackie’s sister, Pumza Tuse, said Blackie’s friend and colleague Abongile Mboto became worried when she failed to submit her material to the school where they both teach English in Shanghai.
“Since Abongile had an access code to Noma’s apartment, she gave it to the police and Covid-19 volunteers who went to her flat, and this is where the shocking discovery was made. It is not yet clear how she died, as the police are still investigating,” Tuse said.
It is alleged Blackie died of hunger, having been unable to access food during the heavy lockdown. It has also been alleged that food parcels were denied to migrants living in the country during the lockdown.
The Chinese Embassy in SA did not comment last night.
Belinda said she also tried to contact Demi on other email addresses and WhatsApp numbers.
“We were getting no support from anybody. The biggest thing is that we know our daughter is strong, but for how long could she keep going? We
are very, very relieved she’s out, and I pray that no other parents have to deal with this kind of concern for their children. It was very difficult for us,” said Belinda.
She added that receiving messages of support from across the world was “a silver lining to these terrible clouds”.
Regarded as the country’s financial capital and the base for many of China’s biggest companies, as well as foreign companies, Shanghai is home to about 26 million people.
Living with other foreign teachers in Shanghai, Demi Brodie said this week that other foreign embassies had held online “town hall” meetings to help their own citizens when the stringent lockdown in the city began, but SA authorities had been of little to no help.
While the lockdown was supposed to last only four days, it has stretched into 28 days. After testing positive for Covid in the middle of March, Brodie was removed from her apartment in the early hours of the morning with another foreign teacher, and taken to a quarantine facility at an unknown location.
“I have been in Shanghai for four years and I have loved everything about it. It’s a super, cosmopolitan city and you feel as though you are living in a free world. So it was really scary and kind of out of this world that someone can pitch up and take you away. You don’t even know where you are going,” she said.
Demi received a Covid positive antigen test on April 13, after which she tried to contact the South African embassy in Shanghai to get guidelines about what would happen to her next.
She was also on two WeChat groups with hundreds of other South Africans. The major concerns expressed on the groups about testing positive for Covid were people’s legal rights, what regulations they had to comply with, and whether they could leave the country.
Demi said she understood that she had to comply with China’s laws and the lockdown regulations.
“I don’t expect any type of special treatment, but I live with other foreign teachers and all their embassies were holding online ‘town hall’ meetings on things like how to access food and water, along with other guidelines and reassurance for their citizens.
“I couldn’t get through to any of the emergency contact numbers for our consulate, although I did get through to one number, but the person who answered put the phone down on me.
“I also got a call from someone, but it wasn’t a Shanghai number and she told me to ‘keep the faith’, and that she would stay in constant communication with me. That was the last time I heard from her.
“Online was no help at all, as the consulate advice only deals with matters such as visa or passport renewal, and has not been updated for a long time. I was picked up at about 3am on Sunday, April 17, and although I wasn’t scared for my physical safety, but, as you have no option, it was intimidating. We were housed in a warehouse of three floors with hundreds of people and received three meals a day. The only thing was there were no mattresses and the lights were kept on 24/7, so I only got two or three hours of sleep a night. It felt like living in a movie.”
Now she’s out of quarantine, Demi is looking forward to the lockdown being lifted. “I love this city, but I feel I need to come home for a while,” she said, speaking from her apartment in Shanghai on Thursday.
Dirco’s head of public diplomacy Clayson Monyela said on Thursday SA embassy staff also had to adhere to the strict Covid regulations in Shanghai.
“There is no one at the embassy offices. Whether you are Chinese or a foreign national, and that includes our diplomats, staff and their families, they are also being kept in their houses.”
Monyela said it was important for all South Africans to register with their consulate when working out of the country.
Aljazeera news site said 49 Covid cases were reported in Beijing yesterday.