CHINA DAILY

Xu Yujun performed voluntary work in the Seychelles. CHINA DAILY

Young workers act as goodwill ambassadors to promote friendly exchanges

When Xu Yujun arrived in the Seychelles after an 18-hour flight from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in January 2018, the first sight that greeted her was the poorly equipped airport, which was smaller than a typical railway station in China.

For the next year, she worked as an engineer and Chinese youth volunteer for a government-owned company in Victoria, the tiny capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago, where she was responsible for operating and maintaining a computer server.

Although she had trained for the work and was fully prepared to fulfill her duties, Xu faced challenges.

The first problem was daily commuting. "Buses in the Seychelles are similar to those that became obsolete in China in the 1980s, so you often have to wait a long time for one to arrive. This prompted me to walk 30 minutes to work every day as the best form of commuting," she said.

But the biggest challenge she encountered in the first three months was difficulty in communicating.

On her first working day, Xu was invited to attend a regular department meeting.

"However, I found it hard to understand what people were saying during the two-hour meeting, due to their accents. I had a general idea about the working process, but I knew nothing about the details of my department's work.

"The meeting almost destroyed my confidence, and I was worried whether I could do my job and complete my volunteer service."

Xu then met a group of sympathetic colleagues. "My supervisor explained the work to me patiently and encouraged me to express my thoughts," she said.

The encouragement and support she received from her colleagues meant a lot, Xu said, and after three months of adapting to her new surroundings, she overcame the communication difficulties and became more efficient at work.

She said voluntary service gave her the courage to adapt to a new environment, embrace challenges, strengthen her determination to improve her skills, and offer a helping hand to more people.

China began providing assistance to the Seychelles in 1977. In addition to helping with construction of hospitals and schools, by the end of 2018, the nation had sent 106 of its young people to the Seychelles to work voluntarily, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The Seychelles is among 23 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to which China has sent hundreds of young volunteers to offer assistance in various fields. These include Mandarin tuition, physical education, medical treatment, information technology and agricultural techniques.

China's international voluntary service began in 2002 with the government-sponsored China Youth Volunteers Overseas Service Program launched by the Chinese Young Volunteers Association.

In 2005, the program was formally incorporated in the government's foreign aid policy. From 2006 to 2009, the program sent 300 young volunteers to help in African countries, fulfilling a goal set at the third Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006.

Yang Yegong, head of the overseas service program, said China sends volunteers based on the needs of recipient countries.

The program was launched in line with the country's "going out "strategy, Yang said, adding that young Chinese volunteers act as goodwill ambassadors to promote friendly exchanges with other countries and interaction between China and the world.

He said the nation's young volunteers have the passion to help those in need, act with good intentions and have a strong desire to engage in meaningful humanitarian affairs.

Conscientious Chinese volunteers have made positive contributions to promoting economic and social development in recipient countries, he added.

Sun Wei, a volunteer from Shanghai, worked as a basketball coach in Laos for seven months in 2017. CHINA DAILY

Technical help

In the Seychelles, China's assistance is aimed at helping that country resolve the problem of a lack of talent, Xu said, adding that volunteers have gone there to share advanced technology and experience.

Xu stressed that volunteers should focus more on doing their best to complete their work and should not exaggerate their roles.

"I believe that over time, a little help from us will bring some changes," she said.

Her views strike a chord with Sun Wei, a volunteer from Shanghai who worked as a basketball coach in Laos for seven months in 2017, sharing his expertise in training and tactics with teams in the Southeast Asian nation.

Sun's outstanding work teaching the Vientiane provincial team and the Laotian national youth team secured him a leading role in coaching the country's national men's squad.

After becoming chief coach of the men's team, he overcame a series of difficulties, including limited training facilities and also medical problems, helping the team defeat Myanmar at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.

It was the first time in 20 years that the Laotian men's basketball team had returned to regional competition－achieving its first victory and also improving its ranking with the International Basketball Federation, Sun said. "Such a result was beyond my expectations," he added.

People-to-people bonds

A shortage of drinking water was one of the problems faced during training, which Sun said was hard to imagine in any professional national team. He often bought water for the players, invited them out for meals to boost their nutritional intake, and also donated basketballs to the men's team.

At the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, he helped treat an injured player, massaging the athlete's knees for an hour.

"The players said no coach they worked with had done anything like this before. I was very moved, and they treated me like their big brother," Sun said, adding that the players helped him foster friendship, along with trust and happiness.

As a national team coach in Laos, Sun refused a salary from the country's basketball association, and before returning to China, he received a "No. 1" jersey from the national team as a gift.

"Volunteer service asks for nothing in return－something that cannot be measured by money," he said.

Sun's voluntary service was cited as an example of active people-to-people exchanges between China and Laos in a signed article written by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Laos in November 2017.

Sun said a sport such as basketball is a way of communication that crosses cultures and languages, adding that it helps bring people closer.

Yang, the overseas program head, said friendship between different people is key to sound state-to-state relations. The young Chinese volunteers are also individuals with free and open minds, and their daily contact with locals helps shape these people's positive views about China, he said.

Overseas service offers volunteers more opportunities to take part in international exchanges, Yang added.

International voluntary work also helps cultivate high-quality talent with a sense of social responsibility and international competitiveness, he said.

Zhou Shiyue is a volunteer at the UN Development Programme office in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital. CHINA DAILY

Multilateral stage

To encourage more young Chinese to take part in international affairs, the Chinese Young Volunteers Association and United Nations Volunteers Programme, or UNV, jointly launched a program in 2019 to send such workers from the country to UN agencies worldwide.

UNV Programme and Partnership Specialist in China, Zhang Nan, said that in 2019 and this year, 30 volunteers were sent to 15 UN agencies to serve in areas such as poverty reduction, gender equality, quality education, environmental protection, climate action and youth development.

"We believe that voluntary service has great potential to promote inclusive development and contribute to a better world," Zhang said.

She added that she hopes the program will offer a platform for ambitious and responsible young Chinese to improve their global vision, take look at themselves, and contribute to society.

"We are committed to bringing more outstanding young Chinese volunteers to serve in UN agencies and professional fields to contribute their wisdom, experience and expertise in realizing sustainable development goals," Zhang said.

"We also aim to create opportunities for young Chinese to take part in volunteer activities in a multilateral environment, tap their potential to promote world peace and development and to become leaders in advancing international development cooperation."

Zhou Shiyue, a volunteer worker from Jinan, Shandong province, at the UN Development Programme office in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, said such work has no borders, adding that she hopes to serve in a multicultural capacity.

One of her tasks is to research comparisons between the cashmere industry in Mongolia and China, and explain China's experience and policies in developing this industry.

"I don't know if my work will make a vast difference to the country's development, but my strengths and the Chinese perspective I offer are all new to the UN agency in Mongolia," she said, adding that if her service benefits the department, she will be happy.

Guo Shuo, 28, from Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, has been a volunteer at the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth in New York since January 2020. Her job involves producing content and maintaining and updating the office's social media accounts, which include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Guo Shuo works for the Office of the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth in New York. CHINA DAILY

"Being a volunteer at the UN allows me to experience and explore a bigger world, which has broadened my perspective and increased my determination to work for the public good and social development," she said.

Guo said her role is to convey UN action on global youth development to young people around the world including in China while bringing their stories to the international arena.

Last year, when the pandemic was raging worldwide, she was responsible for updating the envoy's blog every week to highlight the work of young people fighting COVID-19 in their communities.

She gathered information and published the stories of nine young Chinese. They included a volunteer providing mental help and online tutoring for children of frontline medical workers, a deliveryman offering a vital lifeline to countless people forced to remain at home, and a girl who cooked for medical workers.

"I'm happy and proud that the stories of these exemplary young Chinese can be viewed around the world, as the details have been posted on Western-dominated social media platforms," Guo said.

She added that if more young Chinese joined the international body in contributing to global governance, this would give China a stronger voice.

Ma Zhenhua works as a volunteer at the International Organization for Migration in Uzbekistan. CHINA DAILY