A year later in the pandemic, AP revisits with kids across the world
Tresor Ndizihiwe plays soccer with his friends after school at the Kimihurura Primary School in Kigali, Rwanda, June 10, 2021. A top student in his class before the pandemic, he said he wanted to be a soldier when the AP first spoke to him in April 2020. Now he has plans to be a doctor, “so if another pandemic arises, I can help.” (AP Photo / Muhizi Olivier)
By Martha Irvine
U.S. enterprise journalist Martha Irvine reinterviewed young people around the world about how the pandemic had changed them, one year after first asking them to describe their experience as the pandemic gripped the world. Coordinating with her international colleagues and the far-flung subjects, Irvine delivered affecting video and touching interviews, giving AP’s customers and readers a window into how the pandemic had molded these young lives.
Among the vignettes: An 18-year-old in California,newly vaccinated,flashes a smile and a peace sign as she poses for a prom photo with her pals. She feels strange but elated without her mask. In Australia, a girl still clings to the fluffy border collie that her family got to comfort them in the depths of last year’s lockdown last year; she recently had to shelter at home again because of a nearby COVID-19 outbreak. And a baby-faced teen in Rwanda who wanted to be a soldier has changed his mind — he now wants to be a doctor.