REBECCA NGOK – STAYING HOME TO FIGHT COVID-19

It’s now 33 days since we’ve all stayed home in the joint efforts to fight Covid-19. The Movement Control Order which was first implemented on March 18 2020 has restricted our movement in a bid to bring down the curve of infection from the “invisible” virus.

USJ lass, Rebecca Ngok, has lived and worked in China for the past decade. She came home to celebrate Chinese New Year but due to the lockdown in China followed by the MCO in Malaysia, Rebecca has been unable to return back to China. She tells us how she is spending her extended stay at home:

How are you coping with the MCO? What are you doing to keep your time occupied?

MCO came into effect after I returned home from China to celebrate Chinese New Year. Luckily I arrived before the pandemic began in both countries. I’ve started working from home when businesses in China resumed operations and I am now handling my tasks remotely.

Besides working, there are many online courses that I’ve been interested in all this time, and are now available for free during this MCO, so I took advantage of the opportunity to attend them.

Are you happy to get more time to spend with the family? Tell us how you are doing this?

I was staying with my parents when I was working in China, and we’ve always enjoyed each other’s company. Furthermore, I get to spend quality time with my brothers and their family more which I really appreciate. We have our usual talk about family matters during mealtimes, and the rest of the time, we learn how to respect each other’s space and do our own activities.

However, I am missing my fur babies a lot in China. Both of my dogs have been staying in pet hotel for more than 3 months and I am so looking forward to be reunited with them when the travel restrictions are lifted.

Have you found new hobbies while staying at home? Have you discovered you can cook too?

With the limited movement controls, I am taking the time to reflect and examine where I am in my life, plan my career path and what I want for my future. I realized for the past 10 years working in China, I have prioritized too much on work. So I am laying down plans for the next phase in my life, whether it’s reconsidering relocating or expanding this business I started.

I’ve always helped with cooking at home, but nowhere near at the level of my mum’s skills! My mum is our Masterchef, so we are very well pampered with all sorts of variety of dishes. One of the best things about staying with parents is home-cooked food, and I’m quite lucky!

How are you keeping fit and alert at home? Have you gained weight?

Gained weight, definitely! The first 2 weeks of MCO we were trying out new and creative cooking styles and recipes, so we had a lot to eat and because we stocked up our groceries well in advance. We’re more alerted now to our growing waistlines and have started doing exercises at home to return to our regular healthy habits.

How are you keeping abreast with the news on Covid-19 and MCO?

We’ve been monitoring the daily numbers from the official updates locally and internationally. Although there are a lot of rumours going around, we chose to read and understand from creditable sources like WHO, news agencies and official government announcements.

What’s your advise to everyone?

I’m no expert but what helps me is to try and stay positive. I remind myself to be grateful that we have a roof on top of us, a source of income and food on our table. When I get restless, I burn off the energy by doing some physical activities indoors like following video workouts. Most of all stay safe – it’s so important to be extra vigilant with personal hygiene whether you’re at home or outside, and if you absolutely must go out, wear a mask, carry a sanitizer and of course, practice social distancing!