My name is Nardos Asfaha and I am 20 years old. I have been going to SRJC for 2 years now. I am really glad to get this chance to share my story with you. I hope this coronavirus will end soon. It has affected everything in my life, especially with my family and school. I live with my dad and my three siblings. I have two younger brothers and one older sister. My dad is the one who has been taking care of us but he has been laid off from work so my sister and I have to take care of my whole family. It is really hard trying to work so many hours and trying to figure out how to manage yourself and school too. It has been so hard for me because I have been working double shifts and I have 17.50 units of classes. When I think I am done with my homework, my teachers give me something else to do. I haven’t been attending my classes lately because I have been working the day shift and night shift which is 16 hrs. Some nights I have to stay up all night to check my homework but I fall asleep because I am so tired. At my job, it’s so exhausting because I work in a facility with Alzheimer’s patients, and it’s always scary in there because the people are really old and could get affected by the coronavirus. When it comes to school, I haven’t attended any of my classes because I have to work and take care of my family. I know school is my priority but these times are hard. The coronavirus has impacted my educational plan because I am supposed to finish with my nursing prerequisite in Fall 2021. I should be able to apply to the nursing program, but now it looks like I can’t apply until Fall 2022 because I had to drop two classes at the end of this semester. The hardest thing has been feeling so alone while trying to balance my school and work during this very difficult time.
