The adventures of giving back

By Yan Shuang Source:Global Times Published: 2012-12-4 19:50:06

Chan Wai Chung, a doctor and a volunteer with the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from Hong Kong auscultates a kid in a local clinic in Pibor, a remote town of South Sudan in 2011. Photo: Liang Zi/MSF
Chan Wai Chung, a doctor and a volunteer with the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) from Hong Kong auscultates a kid in a local clinic in Pibor, a remote town of South Sudan in 2011. Photo: Liang Zi/MSF

Wan Fang never expected to live out the romance of meeting the love of her life in a foreign country. And yet, the 32-year-old met her husband while working as a volunteer school consultant in Kenya, and is now expecting a baby to be born next week.

"I spent my 30th birthday, which fell on a Sunday, working overtime in the office. Suddenly I realized I needed some motivation in my life, other than money," Wan said.

That's when Wan decided to quit her well-paid job as a marketing manager at P&G in Guangzhou in July 2010 and began an exotic life volunteering in Africa.

Since 2010, more than 10 Chinese volunteers have signed up with Wan in a program held by the UK-based NGO Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). The volunteers, selected from a pool of applicants with several years of working experience in certain key professional fields, are dispatched to underdeveloped African countries.

They work across a number of industries, helping with local medical treatment, poverty reduction, education, city planning, and information technology. Although the term volunteer is accurate, they do receive a modest monthly stipend between 800 yuan ($128) and 1,600 yuan, while their housing and medical insurance are also covered.

These programs are now taking off in China but have been well-settled in Europe and the US where organizations like the Peace Corps or the European Voluntary Service have set up partnerships with most developing countries, allowing thousands of teenagers and young adults to pursue volunteering terms.

After some of the volunteers returned to China recently after spending one or two years abroad, they shared their African tales ahead of the International Volunteer Day for Social and Economic Development, which falls Wednesday.

Specialized skill sets needed

As a development consultant for the Nakuru technical school in Kenya's capital of Nairobi, Wan's major task was to help improve school management, publicity, and teachers' classroom skills. The school was established as a charitable venture to provide technical training courses for young people having dropped out of middle school or for those with disabilities. The ultimate goal was to allow them to find employment, despite their disadvantages.

"There was little school management or even a student database when I got there. It only had a few teachers, and received very unstable financial support from the government," said Wan.

It was difficult at first for Wan to adapt to local life in Kenya. There were no computers, frequent power cuts, and clean drinking water was considered a privilege for most of the residents in her community. She lamented the tardiness of the local people, which affected their working efficiency and frustrated her active nature.

With experiences garnered during her previous job, Wan spent most of her time communicating with school officials, government, teachers and students. She led a fundraiser in the community to collect money to go toward improving the school's infrastructure. She also helped start a business program outside the campus by allowing students to pick up trades, such as hairdressing, to supplement the school's revenue. With her efforts, the school's reputation improved among locals and its student body increased from 86 to 140 students.

"What Kenya offered me was a lot more than what I gave," said Wan. Local people are always optimistic and remain calm in the face of difficulties, she explained, also praising the chance to be so close to nature and wildlife.

"I miss the flamingoes, giraffes, baboons and my cat, as much as the people I worked with," said Wan, "but the best thing I got is my marriage." Wan met her husband, a Chinese man working for a healthcare company in Kenya, online. She returned to China in September after falling pregnant, but she plans to return to volunteering once her child grows a little bit older.

However, a peaceful life like Wan's was not shared by Liu Jie, who volunteered in Nigeria as an HIV/AIDS prevention and control volunteer. She fell ill with malaria several times during her one-year stint, and witnessed chaos as riots broke out in the country's northern region during the country's presidential election in April last year.

After the riots broke out, VSO evacuated all volunteers from the chaotic regions of Nigeria and transferred them to safer areas. Liu was asked whether she wanted to return home but she insisted on staying. She posted on Weibo seeking suggestions on how to prevent cholera in the refugee camps after the riots, and tried to cheer up local children by teaching them new games.

After the strife simmered down, she returned to Kaduna, a town two hours away from the capital of Abuja where she was formerly based, and resumed her work at a local NGO mainly serving women in the Muslim community.

Among a total population of 168 million in Nigeria, around 3.1 million people are HIV-positive or suffering from AIDS. Liu, who previously worked with the China HIV/AIDS Information Network and the Global Fund to promote organizations' involvement in AIDS prevention, took up a battery of programs training community volunteers or improving education to children with AIDS or with sick relatives.

Liu held a photo exhibition in Beijing last year, featuring the pictures she took in Nigeria, on how AIDS has affected the lives of local children and women. With the money collected from the exhibition, she had a well built in a primary school she once worked at in Nigeria, so that students could have easy access to drinking water without traveling long distances.

From far they have come

The VSO volunteers only make up a small number of the hundreds of young people in China who have devoted their time and energy to helping in underdeveloped regions.

Since 2006, a national program to send young people to 15 African countries, including the Seychelles, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, has attracted more than 300 volunteers to participate. The program, initiated by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League after the first Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, aims at helping African countries in language education, health care, agricultural services, and computer science training.

As Sino-African ties have intensified during the past decade, especially after FOCAC's Fifth Ministerial meeting in Beijing this year, more official and non-governmental exchanges have been conducted on different aspects including economy, agriculture, science and medicine.

Wei Baozhu, a communications officer for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, told the Global Times the organization has sent 154 volunteers from China, including 21 from the mainland, to over 60 countries such as South Sudan, Afghanistan and Kenya. They are to provide healthcare in conflict zones, areas affected by epidemic disease or suffering from natural disasters.

Africa is not the only destination of choice for young Chinese thrill-seekers looking for a way to give back. In Asia, plenty of opportunities can also be found for Chinese volunteers, although their experiences on the ground may turn out to be quite different. For Zhang Yi, an IT volunteer from Shanghai, based in Bangladesh, exposure to natural disasters, such as tornadoes, torrential floods and earthquakes was more common than seeing riots and protests.

Before leaving China, volunteers receive cultural training, teaching them how to adopt to life in a foreign land, communicate effectively with local people, overcome potential cultural shocks and protect themselves. Some volunteers dropped out from the program once they received the training, but those who persevered and were determined to go could choose terms ranging from six months to two years.

VSO keeps a beat on all of the volunteers' performances by making regular phone calls, asking them for work reports and getting feedback from the local government or communities after the young people have finished their term.

"Chinese volunteers are welcomed as they are usually patient, diligent, and tolerant without many complaints," said Yin Meng, VSO China's volunteer development officer.

The organization has had more than 230 applications since the program started two years ago, but positions remain sparse as the next batch of volunteers will see 10 people sent to developing countries in Africa and Asia in April.

"With China's national strength and its enhanced cooperation with other developing countries, more people are willing to give their passion and expertise to help our foreign friends," she said, adding that the experience of volunteering in those countries not only give a boost to local development, but will also transform volunteers and make them more mature, independent and understanding.

"I've often had misunderstandings with the local people I worked with since we share different cultures and traditions. You just have to embrace all the differences and be tolerant," Zhang said.

But he feels the volunteering work in Bangladesh has made him more patient and flexible in everyday life and at work. "Although I know it's not going to make a big difference, but still, I believe in the future things will change for the better," he said.

Xuyang Jingjing contributed to this story



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