Chinese in Africa fight COVID-19 with local communities side by side
By Yang Ning, Liu Xiaoyi
Chinese living in Africa are actively joining local
efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic as the disease is spreading on
multiple continents of the world.
They made cash and material donations, advanced salaries
to local employees, and delivered food for local communities. They are seen
everywhere as Africa is making all-out efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
“Most of the people here are hospitable and friendly,
and they offered my help many times when I was in trouble,” said Wang Jun, a
Chinese who has been living in Angola for 10 years.
After the country declared a national state of emergency
on March 27 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many local employees lost their
source of income as enterprises are requested by the government to suspend
operation.
“I
have a lot of friends here, and we want to do something we can,” said Wang.
According to Wang, around 2.6 million kwanza ($4,645)
was raised in less than a day by 80 Chinese in Saurimo, Angola’s Lunda Sul
province who established a chat group on social application WeChat. The money
was later used to buy food and daily necessities, Wang introduced.
On April 14, Wang and other Chinese in the city arrived
at the health department of Lunda Sul province, with 10 pickups fully loaded
with materials.
“We just want to do this. Angola is my second hometown,
so I hope we can unite at the critical moment,” Wang said.
Apart from the donation, some Chinese paid salaries to
local employees in advance to help them get through the difficulty, and this
was the case for Xie Guangqi, director of Chuanyu Association Kenya who has
been living in the country for 15 years. His restaurant halted operation since
February because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We paid full salary to our employees in March and half
of that in April since the government issued home quarantine order, because 18
of our local employees might lose their source of income,” Xie introduced.
“Many members of our association did this, and a lamp
company has always maintained full salary for its employees to help them get
through,” he said.
Yu Yang, chairman of board of Cheetahway, a Chinese
logistics company in South Africa, noted that the first designated hospital to receive
COVID-19 patients was in dire need of medical supplies during the lockdown, but
many large carriers had suspended business. To relieve the situation,
Cheetahway offered free transportation for the hospital, Yu introduced.
Yu made detailed plans to guarantee the supply. “We
offered masks, gloves and disinfectants for our drivers each day, and we also
made emergency response plans to guarantee the missions and lower the risks of
the drivers getting infected,” he noted.
Only a small number of supermarkets were in service
during the lockdown. “Short-distance deliveries by motorcycles were all halted,
and there was barely professional company delivering food, which pose great
inconvenience for locals to purchase food. So we cooperated with supermarkets run
by locals and Chinese, and started delivery services for the citizens,” Yu said.
This year marks the 15th year for Yu and his family to
live in South Africa. An Xin, Yu’s wife said that the Chinese living there have
always followed the quarantine policies and regulations issued by local
government, and they are willing to offer money and efforts to get through the
difficulty with their African friends at the critical moment, for the stability
of the society.
When Botswana was firstly struck by COVID-19 at the end
of last month, Nan Gengxu, chairman of China Association for the Promotion of
Peaceful Reunification in Botswana, immediately called on the Chinese community
in the country to make donations to local society. Nan’s proposal received
active response from the local Chinese community, and nearly 6 million yuan was
raised by approximately 500 Chinese enterprises and individuals.
“The first batch of materials has been handed to the
country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness on April 15 to guarantee the use of
government officials and medical workers,” Nan said.
He called for more perseverance and support at the
hardest time for Africa, saying the Chinese community will work with Africans
to fight the pandemic and support their second hometown with concrete actions.
Nan, also the president of the Global Max Media Group
and chairman of board of Africa Oriental Post, said his media corporations have
been well prepared since the onset of the pandemic. To introduce the
development of the disease, Nan invited diplomats from the Chinese Embassy and
medical workers for interviews. “By doing so, we hope to introduce Chinese
experiences in curbing the disease and set a reference for local prevention and
control work,” Nan said.
Source:
People’s Daily Overseas Edition
The photo shows the
atomizers donated by Chen Zhihao, chairman of the Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce
in Angola. Photo by Xu Kunpeng
Chinese in Africa fight COVID-19 with local communities side by side
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