Do Not be Anxious about Tomorrow

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this message finds you and your family safe and healthy. I just wanted to check in with you and give you a few updates.

As per the government requirements, we must check on our staff and students’ health and report it to the authorities every day. We appreciate your cooperation with this matter and ask you to be proactive and responsible and inform Faith by 9:30 am every day if you have any cold-like symptoms. Our Mandarin Teachers (TAs) and our Office Staff have been taking care of this task, and they have done an amazing job with it. Please accept my deepest gratitude for your flexibility and hard work when dealing with some unrealistic deadlines.

Ms. Allison, our Government Liaison, has been regularly communicating with the government to make sure that we stay updated and follow all the requirements. She has been a real blessing to our school during this time. As of today, the school starting date remains to be February 17th. The Education Bureau has also issued a statement that they will send out an update on the school opening date a week prior, which would be February 10th. This means the best we can do right now is to wait for the update from the government.

This week, we have started online classes for our students. The Admin Team and I have been so impressed with the work that our teachers have put into making this happen. Usually, it takes a significant amount of time to set up an online platform, train staff, parents, and students, but we only had a week or so! And we got it rolling! Way to go, team! I am so thankful for all of you and your hard work.

As per my knowledge, most companies and businesses in Guangdong are not allowed to open before February 9th. I am predicting that this week a lot of people will be traveling from their home towns back to their workplaces trying to resume work on February 10th. This might cause an increase in spreading the infection. Therefore, I urge you to be very cautious, especially this week. Please stay away from crowded places; when interacting with people, keep a distance of 2m; wear an appropriate mask, and exercise proper hand and respiratory hygiene.

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of fake news and rumors flooding the Internet. Please check your sources and do not trust any information without ensuring that it comes from an official account of either The Center for Disease Control or the Education Bureau. Please do not share any unreliable information on your social media, especially WeChat.

For those of you who are currently in China, you might be wondering if it is safe to stay here, or is it better to leave. To be honest with you, there is no straight-forward answer to this, and it all depends on your own situation. On the one hand, the idea of leaving might sound more sensible; on the other hand, going to the airport and being surrounded by crowds for an extended amount of time presents its own risks. I believe, at this point, it is a decision that you should pray about and make with your family.

I know that waiting and not knowing what will happen can cause anxiety. I recommend you take this time to work on your spiritual, physical, and mental health. You could do yoga, meditate, work out, read your Bible plans, and watch sermons online, take some online courses, or work on your CPoE paper. We also need more people to help with the ACSI reaccreditation.

I pray that the Lord removes any anxieties and worries that you might have and keeps you safe and healthy.

Love you all,

Ana P