Feature: Chinese peacekeepers in DR Congo open Chinese language class for ophans

It is an as-usual sunny day and kids at the SOS Children Village at Bukavu, a city in east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), throng the classroom to take their first ever Chinese language class.

"Wo Ai Zhong Guo (I love China)," "Wo Ai Gang Guo (I love Congo) ." The kids were apparently entertained and amused by the strange pronunciation of the strange language for them. They babbled the Chinese words after their special teachers and burst into laughter.

The teachers are members from the 18th Chinese peacekeeping medical detachment to DRC. They, like their predecessors, are frequent callers to the village offering various aids and donations. Now they offer to teach kids of the village Chinese language in their recent visit.

The kids' attention are drawn whenever Zhu Hairong, leader of the medical detachment, writes a Chinese word on the blackboard and explains its meaning both in English and Kiswahili (a lingua franca of the African Great Lakes region and other parts of Southeast Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Mozambique and DRC).

"We will make it (Chinese class) a long-term program, and let the kids know something about Chinese culture and the friendship between China and Africa," Zhu said, adding they will gradually enrich their teachings by introducing science knowledge as the kids progress in their language study.

The Chinese peacekeeping medical detachment established link with Bukavu's SOS Children Village as early as 2005. In the past decade, multiple rotations of personnel have not interrupted the Chinese medical detachment's relations with the village. Chinese peacekeepers offer a broad range of assistance from donations to medical services.

Bukavu, the city hosting the SOS Children Village which was established in 1989, is close to the border with Rwanda and is one of the most violent and conflict filled areas in DRC.

Persistent conflict in the area for over a decade has left deep scars on local communities. Poverty is widespread and large numbers of children are unable to meet even their basic food needs.

The Chinese peacekeeping medical detachment, while providing medical service for the mission troops of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), has also undertaken other humanitarian aid missions, such as medical services for the ex-combatants of the anti-government force FDLR in the "temporary interim settlement" in Bukavu Warren Valley Town .

Chinese peacekeepers' presence in the city and the long term relation with the village have made kids of the village feel attached to China.

"Children here have a kind of 'Chinese complex.' Quite a few kids who graduate from the village, either to be teachers, volunteers or community workers, habor a common dream of visiting China one day," said a teacher of the village. Endit