Hannah Gail Angus is 12 years old and lives in the Southside of Glasgow and is about to begin her second year at high school. Here she shares her story of being a carer at home through a written submission and artwork titled ‘Octopus Me’.
During lockdown me my brother and mum have had a few things happen to us including my mum getting coronavirus, When my mum had corona she had to quarantine in her room meaning I had to make meals for her and cash which was hard because I am vegetarian and they both eat meat luckily my mum wasn’t very hungry so she didn’t have big meals and cash usually eats hotdogs that are easy to make. My brother has autism so he can’t look after himself, I had to tell him when to brush his teeth, when to shower, when to eat and help him do his schoolwork, that was the hardest part because he was getting really stressed out and its hard to see your brother upset and not know what to do to make it better. Also I had to keep the house clean like dishes – which I hate DOING, sweeping, washing clothes, hanging them up to dry then putting them away, cleaning the bathroom and delivering food to my mum.
I’ve always helped around the house but maybe only one job a day but I didn’t have to do everything every day. I learned that it’s actually really hard to run a household and that loads of people have to do it every day with no pay or thanks. It was pretty rubbish but the worst part wasn’t worrying about my mum being sick or having to do all the dishes multiple times a day it was not being able to give her a hug and hanging out with her. She’s better now but I still help around the house because I didn’t realise how many jobs she had to do. Now I can’t wait to get back to school to hang out with my friends again and get back to some kind of normal 🙂
