WON DERING A B OUT
WEST LONDON?
ISSUE 1 | 19 OCT’20
CONTENTS
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EDITOR’S LETTER Cinzia D’Ambrosi introduces the first ever issue
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THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON BUSINESSES By Subeer Suri
INTERVIEW WITH PAOLA Professional Dance Teacher, Choreographer, Actor and Events Organiser
INTERVIEW WITH CARLOS Owner of Plumbing and Gas Boiler Services
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LOCKDOWNS IN LONDON Photo Story By Urmila Gurung
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JOURNEY TO SCHOOL DURING THE PANDEMIC Photo Story by AvaJayani Karanth
SCHOOL IN LOCKDOWN Interview by Tiana Rendimonti and Illustrations By Soraya Sol
CONTRIBUTORS EDITOR IN CHIEF Cinza D’Ambrosi DIGITAL EDITOR Laura James ARTICLES / PHOTO STORIES
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Tiana Rendimonti Subeer Suri Soraya Sol Ava-Jayani Karanth Urmila Gurung
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EDITOR’S LETTER
t is with great pleasure to present the first issue of Wondering about West London? a news-based zine run by the Photojournalism Hub and kindly supported by W12Together, a resident-led partnership. Wondering about West London? is produced by young people living in West London and covers news and stories from west London. The zine is a part of the West London Zine project that aims to provide a platform upon which participants can gain practical media experience and a body of published work as a portfolio, whilst gaining mentorship. This first issue of Wondering about West London? reflects on the impact in west London as we live our second national lockdown. The young team shared their impressions through interviews, photo stories and illustrations. You can find interviews on business owners and their experiences on keeping their business alive. Interviews with secondary school children sharing their experiences on learning, illustrations, and young people’s bus journeys to school during the global pandemic.
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I am immensely proud of the commitment, talent and drive demonstrated by the participants and I would like to renew my gratitude to W12together for their support.
Cinzia D’Ambrosi, Editor in Chief
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THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON BUSINESSES Words and Photography By Subeer Suri
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INTERVIEW WITH PAOLA PROFESSIONAL DANCE TEACHER, CHOREOGRAPHER, ACTOR AND EVENTS ORGANISER
P
rior to the lockdown, Paola was working in organising corporate and sport events / parties / dance videos / flash mobs / music videos and acting projects. But during the lockdown, her work as she knew it had to stop and she had to adjust to working digitally using Zoom technology. There was a change in energy which was quite new to her but she worked with her counterparts to support each other. Paola reflects that it was good to have a routine as she continued to teach virtually but it was a very different experience from working with people face to face. It has been a de-stabilising experience as it restricted her freedom and creativity pre-lockdown. She lost a lot of her dance company clients due to cancellation of parties and major summer events like this year’s London marathon, fundraising events and the cricket league in Dubai to name a few. When the first lockdown ended, she managed to get some jobs in corporate shooting and all the cast had to be tested for COVID-19 and a separate budget was set aside for this.
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Paola feels angry and frustrated as she has not been able to be creative in the current situation. It has affected her quite badly and she has lost trust in a protective system due to how things have been handled regarding the Coronavirus situation. She does feel fortunate that there is now some financial support for freelancers like her. The future feels unclear as furlough schemes or Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, simply called SEISS that Paola is receiving, seems to have been extended to April 2021. She deducts that it would mean social venues like theatres/ studios will be shut for longer and that due to job losses people may not have much money to spend and would probably have more negative reverberations. She is a positive person however the current situation is really testing and feels the government has not done a very good job with track and trace and providing support to the NHS. The lockdown could potentially go beyond December into next year and more support is needed. The Covid-19 pandemic has, and is changing her life completely.
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INTERVIEW WITH CARLOS OWNER OF PLUMBING AND GAS BOILER SERVICES
B
efore the Coronavirus pandemic Carlos’ business was doing OK, but
after the first lockdown calls for jobs diminished and he went from having a few jobs per week to practically nothing. During this second lockdown, which began in November, Carlos is experiencing a similar situation where he had some jobs in October and now many have been cancelled. Carlos feels that Covid-19 will pass and this time will be remembered as very strange days. He is hopeful that following the introduction of a vaccine things may improve by next spring/summer.
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He believes that the impact on his business will not be long lasting as he hopes there should still be demands for plumbers and engineers in the future. When he does carry out a job at the moment, he finds that working in PPE can be quite constrictive although it is important to protect customers when working at their homes. Many of his customers cancelled jobs as soon as a lockdown was announced due to fears of catching the virus. Overall, customers’ attitudes have changed since the pandemic began due to their fear of the virus. This may last for a while, although Carlos is optimistic that things will go back to normal as soon as possible.
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LOCKDOWNS IN LONDON Words and Photography by Urmila Gurung
I
live in west London and this is my personal observation on the two lockdowns that my city and my area has lived through. Last March, when the number of deaths increased uncontrollably around the globe due to a new flu strain named Covid-19, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown. This lockdown constrained millions of people to live indoors. Due to the Coronavirus, many were separated from their families and many more lost their lives. The pandemic caused existing inequalities to surface such as homelessness and poverty. The UK has entered into a second national lockdown to help contain the continuous spread of the disease. However, I noticed that even if the gravity of the situation has not changed, the general population in this second lockdown is behaving differently. My impression is that many are not following the rules. For example, not many are respecting social distancing or wearing masks. Whilst on my walks around the neighbourhood, I observed that many are even hugging and/or shaking hands. I am sharing some photos of my impressions.
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JOURNEY TO SCHOOL DURING THE PANDEMIC Photography by Ava-Jayani Karanth
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SCHOOL IN LOCKDOWN
I
interviewed4 people.
you get to be with your friends and
I have called them A ,B, C +D.
you get to do things in the lessons. School is just a better environment to
Joshua, Scarlet, Soraya and Ruben.
be honest. B: I prefer going to school because you
Tiana: Did you go to school during
get to socially interact with people.
the first lockdown?
C: Going to school I actually managed
A: No, I stayed at home the whole time.
to do something productive and on-
B: No
line school is still stressful but I don’t
C: Physically? No I didn’t, I did online
have someone watching over me con-
school.
stantly. I like online school but I don’t
D: Na
get anything done. D: It is either online and or in real life
How did you find online learning?
and I prefer real life because you actu-
What was offered to you?
ally learn something.
A: I struggled at it, but in general it was alright. We used Google classroom.
How do you think this v irus i s af-
B: I think it was ok but it was a bit stress-
fe cting stude nt’s f uture s?
ful learning, considering there wasn’t a
A: Right no w fo r GC SE , as you sa w
set timetable.
l as t year , people’s gr ades are a ffe c t -
C: I found it stressful. We were using
ed and s t udent s may no t get t h e re -
Google classroom and Zoom.
s ults they des ire. In gener al, I d o n ot
D: Yep, we used Google classroom and
t hink it mat ter s towards peop le w h o
it was pretty useless.
are yo unger . B: Well obvio us ly not being in sc h ool
What are the differences between
affect s gr ades as it has been p rove n
online learning and going to school?
t hat lear ning fro m home is not a s e f-
Which do you prefer?
fective as learning in the classroom
A: Definitely going to school because
so it could possibly affect their
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Words by Tiana Rendimonti and Illustrations by Soraya Sol
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f u t u re s , t h ei r j ob s a n d colle g e s s o it is n e g a t i ve . C: Poorly! D: A lot because GCSEs are not being cancelled. During this second lockdown schools have not closed, why do you think they remained open this time around? A: They don’t want to stop GCSEs. B: I believe they have remained open because students need to be in the cl assroom because of being more beneficial for learning and for achieving better grades. This is probably why in my opinion. C: To get more students working. D: The government response is not really making any sense to me to be honest.
A: I get to school by bus or walk. B: I take a bus and two trains. C: I walk, 25 minutes if I am walking normally. If I am powering walking I can brush off a few minutes. D: I take the bus. Are you or any of your friends affected by the reduced public transport to school? How? A: Sometimes the tube is closed and some of my friends need a lot more time to get to school. B: Well, I would usually have to take 1 train to school
If you were the Prime Minister, what action would you take in regards to keeping schools opened or closed? A: Well, I would shut school to keep the learning going. I think it is better to keep schools open. B: So maybe, I would do a weekly schedule where half of the students
but now I have to take 2 trains but I supposed it’s not a big difference but I don’t think any of my friends are affected. C: I am not affected and I have never asked, so I am not sure about them. D: No
would be in for half of the week and the other half would be in the other half of the
week to maintain social
distancing and to make it easier to comply with. C: I would close the schools down because students may be mixing bubbles maybe? How do you get to school?
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What type of rules do you have in place at school for social distancing? A: We wear masks around the corridors and inside public places like classrooms; we are supposed to stay 2 meters apart kind of. We have a lunchtime quarantine thing, where we have to face forwards.
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B: In the classroom we are not allowed to face each other. We have to be in line so that we are just facing the teacher. We maintain social distancing by sitting 2 meters apart and not having anyone face each other so they are not breathing on each other and it is like being obtained. We have to wear face masks in the hallways and we have to sanitize before we get in each classroom. C: You have to
wear
a
mask always, not in classrooms but always outside. Keep your distance
obvi-
ously. Do not mix bubbles. D: You have to wear a mask in the corridors but it is not enforced. You have to wear a mask in-between classrooms. Which rules are working and which ones aren’t? A: I think the 2 meters distance rule does not w ork as e very o n e i s n ext to e a ch other, but keeping the masks on is a rule followed by everyone, thus so far, so good. B: Well I believe that the sitting apart from each other is working because obviously you can not sit anywhere else if there’s a seating plan but the face masks in the hallways, there are a lot of people who do not wear them so
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it is not very reliable as hardly anyone is wearing them. C: I don’t know! Most people wear masks in the corridor and at lunchtime if you are not eating. D: None of them are working because the teachers do not enforce the rules that are in place. Has anybody that you know of has, or had Coronavirus in your school? A: Not personally, but there are 2 -3 people in our school who have had Coronavirus. They have just had to self-isolate and that was it. B: I don’t know the person in particul ar but I kno w s omeo ne in my s ch ool has jus t been to ld that t hey ha ve C oro navir us . C: Not that I know of, a whole year we had to be isolated because of it. It was Year 10. D: No. Do you think this virus has affected your friendship groups (e.g. did you (e.g. did you used to eat with certain people in the canteen that you can’t see now?)? A: Not really as my school does not work that way, you just have to wait for your friends. No, it hasn’t affected my friendship groups. B: There are not really any social distancing rules in our canteen so you can sit with whomever you really want so no, it hasn’t been affected. C: Not really, kind of but not really! D: Not really, no.
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What do you think about wearing masks? A: I actually want to and don’t mind it. I am not going to not wear it. It’s comfy. B: I believe it is necessary as the government has told us but obviously it is not very ideal as it is annoying to wear them but I do wear them because I believe if everybody wears them then hopefully it will make a difference. C: I don’t mind it, but I don’t wear a mask in class as I need to breathe. D: I guess it kind of works to protect yourself from others. However, when I am in a classroom with fellow students I don’t wear a mask and it doesn’t make sense why I have to wear it in the corridor meeting the same students. In conclusion, no one of the young people interviewed went to school during the first lockdown and all did online learning. They all found online learning challenging although they found it was quite relaxing to be at home. However, everyone interviewed agreed that going to school was necessary for learning and most expressed a concern for their future. They felt that the virus would most likely affect their grades or future jobs. In re g ard s to th e se con d lo ckdo w n , s t u d e n ts ex p re sse d th at they h a d w i s h e d th e g ove rn m e n t h ad s et u p a d i ff e ren t syste m f or re tu rn ing to s c h o o l , f o r ex a m p l e s t a g g e re d d a y s . Th e re d u c e d p u b l i c t r a n s p o r t h a d a f f e c te d s o m e i n te r v i e w e e s , h o w e ve r ,
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many felt that it made no difference to their journey. All participants confirmed that their schools were enforcing rules to keep students safe, although one interviewee did not understand why wearing masks is required in corridors and not in cl assrooms,too. In general, most students interviewed felt that the rules enforced to keep everyone safe were fairly effective and were helping to reduce the virus. A view supported that some year groups self-isol ated and kept the spread in control. No-one they knew had suffered from Coronavirus. Life under the second lockdown with its new rules, had not affected friendship groups and all participants were keen to do the right thing and follow the rules.
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