Tang Quang is an international student returning to Vietnam from the UK, currently experiencing the final days of quarantine at the Military Region 7 training school (Ward 12, Ho Chi Minh City). In addition to regularly updating social media about the situation at the quarantine area, he recently completed a series of sketches about his life during his days there.
Immediately, the drawings attracted a lot of attention from the online community, not only because of the cute drawings but also because of the optimistic, positive and close messages they convey.
"The place where I'm quarantined has about 1,000 people returning from European countries with epidemics: England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland..."
"I find that the government's support for centralized quarantine is very good, and beyond my expectations" - Tang Quang shared on his personal Facebook.
"When checking in, each guest is also given a bag of necessities, including toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, shampoo... Everything is free. Each floor has a manager, every morning he comes to each room to ask if everyone needs to prepare anything else, if so, they will help buy it for you. Even if the wifi is weak, the manager takes note to respond to superiors and then upgrade the service."
"Every morning, the soldiers have to transport drinking water, food, necessities... up 5 floors and into each room... Just looking at it, you can see the hard work, but everyone is always happy, enthusiastic, very thoughtful and always smiling."
"At lunchtime, we had to carry another batch of food, then bring it to each room, and wait patiently for everyone to choose. Anyone who wanted to eat vegetarian food or had allergies, they all recorded it and took good care of it. On days when there wasn't enough food, they even sacrificed their own food to give to everyone in the quarantine area, fearing that they wouldn't have enough food and wouldn't have the resistance to prevent disease."
"After distributing food to each room, you guys busily cleaned up. The work was hard, the weather in Saigon was hot and humid, but no one ever heard you guys complain. You even gave each room a personal phone number to call if you needed help."
"I feel grateful and appreciate what I am enjoying. Especially in the context that the whole country has more than 50,000 people in quarantine, the amount of money needed to provide is not small.
Each of you in the quarantine area has different ways to thank the soldiers. Half of this album is a series of drawings I made for you."
"A drawing of one of the silent soldiers... Near the farewell day, you guys go to each room to give gifts and say thank you"
"This area is full of trees, the wind blows strongly, fresh, peaceful, there are basketball, badminton, volleyball courts for everyone to play, of course with masks. There is also a swimming pool, soccer field, gym area, but they cannot be used because they are outside the quarantine zone.
We are free to do whatever we want, as long as we follow the safety regulations as taught by the doctors and nurses - from jogging, playing sports, to singing, dancing, playing cards, playing uno, werewolf, playing games, or sitting down to write reports and meet deadlines.
"Cleaning up trash early in the morning. Two 5-story buildings after a day of dumping a mountain of trash, it was terrifying to look at, but the soldiers cleaned it up in a little bit"
"Food is delivered to each room on time and a doctor comes to check your health. Everyone is very friendly, gentle and caring."
And some drawings of daily life:
"Close-up of a male student's life in quarantine camp"
"Perhaps the quarantine experience is different in each place, so my opinion is only local. I feel lucky to be at Military Region 7 School, being taken care of by doctors and fellow soldiers from health, meals to personal needs.
Thank you for learning so much after two weeks of quarantine, not only from how everyone overcame difficulties together but also from the people around, and the simple things in everyday life."
"A baby in quarantine camp. Every morning he pulls his suitcase out to sit by the windowsill, sunbathing and watching cartoons."
