Quarantine in Wuhan with Rebecca Franks

April 07, 2020

Jennie Allen

Bible teacher, founder of IF:Gathering

Today we are going to have a great conversation with Rebecca Franks who lives in Wuhan and has lived there for years. They've been on lockdown for more than six weeks, and she's lived what we're all just beginning to live. She offers us a perspective that all of us need as we can go into this season.

Give us a little picture of what it looked like for you a day in the life before all this started.

A day in the life is just real similar to many in America. My son goes to school, we live 10 minutes away from where we work, we go to the market, we go to Starbucks probably a little too much and we just do normal stuff. It's just a little more compact here and  we can walk everywhere. That makes it a pretty easy and simple life. 

Let's talk about when you realized this was going to be a big deal and this was going to affect all of life.

In January, we had just gotten back from our Christmas break. People suddenly started pulling out of social events, and of course we knew about coronavirus, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. We went on break for Chinese New Year and at that point we had no idea that we would not be going back. So January 17th was the last day anybody went to school or to work. And it was the next day that we learned quarantine is coming, transportation's being shut down, and you've got to stay in your house because this is very, very serious. 

So what did that feel like to you when you heard the news? Because you had no precedent for this prior. 

What Wuhan was doing and what we were doing as a family were a little different, because we speak the language but we don't read it. So we couldn't keep up with all the news. We were told to stay home, but we didn't have to. And so we didn't. So we would get out and walk to Walmart and most of the shops were closed anyway because of Chinese New Year. So it wasn't really that unusual. But one day we went to the store and the shelves were bare and every line was open and 20 people deep. We thought, something's going on here. This is very weird. And what do people know that we don't know? We grabbed a few extra things and then a day or so later got a little more connected and translated some messages and learned that everyone else knew in three days the city would shut down. So we did stock up but not terribly much. My husband had to keep reminding me, God's cared for you all along. He's not going to make your life depend on what you can hold in your basket right now. So don't go there. Don't let fear and scarcity take on your life right now. So we did stock up, but in a reasonable way. 

And you've got community there. What does that look like just with friends and relationships? How has that changed for you? 

It has changed a lot. We have a great community here because at the school that I work, there's about a hundred foreigners or so and most of us are from the States. We don't usually leave the city on Chinese New Year, but pretty much everyone else goes on vacation. So a lot of people were gone and we're used to that. But eventually people started evacuating and we knew from the get go that we didn't want to evacuate and that we wanted to stay because this is our home. So that community dwindled down to five kids, five adults plus a few extra people that are in our extended community. There's about eight of us foreigners that live in this complex where I live and so we have created a new community. 

Okay, so now let's talk about the day to day now. How long have you been in lockdown? 

So we'd been in quarantine and that's when the city shut down. Everything started January 23rd we've been in lockdown and locked into our apartment complex since February 17th. 

How big is your complex? Just give us a picture of that life. Like what does that look like for you? 

It's probably 10,000 people that live in this complex and it spans a city block. So it's a big space. I mean, we're in a 33 story building. We live on the 25th floor. And so there's a lot of people here, people on top of people, three generations often living in one apartment. So there's space to roam in our complex between the buildings. That's been helpful because we are not physically locked in our building. 

So you have a son and you've been homeschooling, so let's talk about what that's been like. You've been doing that for a little while now. 

It's been a nightmare. I'm not kidding. My husband is a professional teacher. He helps other teachers teach. He's been doing this 17 years and I can tell you this has been the most challenging part of all of quarantine. You can keep me in my house. You can limit my food and I'm fine. But bring the students home and make us teachers, that's very difficult. It's just a different ballgame. I hope if you're a parent and you're doing this, give yourself some grace because the first two weeks were very, very difficult. I don't know what I'm doing, but my husband, he does. I think my son resigned to the fact that, you know what? His teacher's not coming here anytime soon and he's not going to be able to go back to school. So we better make this work. So we did and we learned to say when. Last week I was doing a lesson he didn't understand, and I was like, I'm done. I wrote the teacher a message and I said, we have met our limit. I can't do this. They understand because nobody asked for this. This is a whole different ballgame and I'm not a trained teacher. I don't know how to do classroom management with even one child. 

Are you all getting more freedom? Is it opening up a little?

Yeah, they've actually given us a date. They put it in the national papers, and the date is April 8th. So there's traffic on the streets now. We still cannot leave, but some people have been gradually getting released and getting special passes to go. 

Let's talk about your perspective. Because a lot of us came across a Facebook post that you wrote and it kinda gave us hope as we were heading into isolation. Let's talk about that perspective and just what it has been like to fight for that with this much time having gone by and to really see the good.

My husband challenged me to write that post about the good and I'm glad he did. We have been fine through this process because we've got our faith and I cannot imagine not having Jesus to hang onto in the middle of all this. But it's much easier to report the locks on the doors and the things like that, rather than the good things. And so when he challenged me to write down all the good that's going on, it was a little bit of a shock. But once I sat down, I'm telling you I had to edit that post because there was so much more I wanted to write. We were forced into this pause. We were told to stay in and largely forced to stay in and it just made time kind of standstill. That's been the most wonderful thing is knowing even if I wanted to keep up the hectic pace that I used to, I can't. It's made me cherish this man that's sitting across from me and my kid that's in the other room. We linger over breakfast, we read over breakfast. I look at him in the eyes and we learned a new game the other day with them because I have time. I didn't ask for this time and I would really prefer to be working because I'm just wired like that. I am not a homebody, but I'm a homebody now because I have to be. God has blessed this time. Not like it's perfect all the time, but it is good because we've just caught up in the busyness of life. I've missed so much around me. My goodness, I've missed nature. I could talk a long time about the good, but I'm really very thankful. 

Let's talk about what the scariest part was for you. Did you ever think to yourself, I want to get out. I want to get back to the states. Did that ever cross your mind? 

Yeah, the locks on the doors. They were slowly putting them on a few buildings and then a few more and then they locked the gates. I thought I would lose my mind at the thought of just being locked in my building. It's a small apartment. Asian quarters are not large. That's when I thought I would lose it and I had a real moment of crisis of I can't do this. It was a big moment of fear. It didn't last long though, because he swooped in and set me straight. 

When the virus really started, there was so little known. Were you afraid of getting it? Were you afraid your son would get it? Was there ever that stage of fear? 

No, not really. I mean, it's not out to get to you and it's not a death sentence. You know, we've got trusted friends. I'm not a medical professional and I'm not going to dispense that advice. But we have trusted friends who are and people who are way smarter than us. We've talked to them and understand how the virus spreads. We're healthy and we're smart with what we do and we do stay in the and we don't get in public. So the virus really never was a concern. And although I don't know anybody personally who has had it here, I know of others, and I've heard so many recovery cases. They get it and then they take care of themselves and they isolate and get better. But frankly no, the virus has never been a fear. 

In some ways it feels like a lot of the things we find significance in have gotten taken from us. It's hard to shut down these engines that have been going and going and going. So talk to everyone about that feeling right now. How have you wrestled with that? 

I've found a new purpose. It is very hard because most of us are very task oriented and we like to stay busy. That's how we get our energy. Quarantine has forced the quiet and it's forced us to stillness. That's really helped with getting back in touch with God. But we've been praying for the past couple of months for the Lord to help us with what his will is in this place. For me it's been very interesting. It's something I never would have seen coming, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt why he kept us here. We let four evacuation planes to the U S go by. We didn't get on them, kind of being a little prideful that we're going to be the last hold-outs. But really I see that it was his purpose, that we stay here to encourage others. He has really given us a purpose in the now. Reconnecting with my family has been the most invaluable part, but also reconnecting with him because I definitely needed that reset. I needed that quiet and that stillness with him. I think also I've been able to share through words in ways that can encourage others who are going through what we've already been through. We have to resign and surrender a little bit to this place he has us all, whether you like it or not. It's especially hard for Americans because we're so freedom focused and rights focused and entitled. That's our hallmark. But that's not really how he's doing things right now.  Yesterday I got in an elevator with people for the first time, and a sadness kind of came over me that we're getting busy again. I'll miss looking at people and making eye contact because with a mask on, that's all you got. I'll miss lingering at breakfast with my family. I'll miss walks that are intentional and I'm not trying to get my kids to their next thing. I'll just miss the time. But God will give grace in that because that's what he does. 

Now I want you to talk to the person who is scared, who just is frantic. They're watching the news because it is scary here. Right now we don't have a good pulse of what happened in Wuhan. We don't have a good pulse of what's happened in other countries. We've been busy and now we're all just slowing down and kind of trying to get our heads around this. So what would you say to the person watching this just having a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear?

The first thing I would say is don't watch so much news. I mean you can, you need to be informed, but find a few trusted sources and then just leave it at that and understand that you can't control the outcome of this no matter what. To the woman of faith, I beg of you to question how your faith fits in with your fear. Because I just really don't believe that they can coexist. Fear and worry don't help. It builds up so much stress in you. Nothing good comes out of it, and it transfers to your people, and creates a tension in your house that doesn't change anything. There's absolutely nothing productive or helpful that comes out of worrying. You live your life, be smart, take care of your people, and enjoy the moment. I think if we turned off the news a little bit and turned on more positive things, our spirits would be lifted. It'll keep your mind in a better place. 

What are you learning right now? 

I've been doing some reading in the book of Philippians, and I've been struck by how people in this world before us have had so many greater hardships than what we have right now. Paul did his greatest writing from prison and we're not in prison. We're just inconvenienced here a little bit, and there's some sad things happening. But for believers, our faith is absolutely on display. Everything we believe and how we act is just demonstrating our faith. How you act in your day to day in front of your children, what you write, everything you believe is on display. It can cause further fear and panic or you can bring peace and it can bring hope because we know where our hope comes from. I say I trust in God, believe in God, and that I have this future hope, but in the middle of a crisis, am I really demonstrating that? 

That's really good. On April 8th, what's your first stop when the doors open?

Probably Starbucks. Only because I just want to sit for awhile and I want to be served. I know how selfish that sounds. I want to be served and I want to sit in a public place and look out the big windows and see people walking by and I want people to come in and see some people I know. I just want to sit in a public place and observe people. I love my people, but I would like a change of scenery right about now. 

Thank you so much for joining us, Rebecca. I'm grateful for your life and how you have blessed all of ours with just a little bit of a picture of what life looks like. It has helped us a lot as we are transitioning into this.