Yearender: Chinese volunteers, peacekeepers strive for better world

With a constant reshaping of the world's political and economic landscape in 2016, China is playing a more important role in the global arena and Chinese people have left their footprints in nearly every corner of the planet.

From Africa to South America, Chinese volunteers, peacekeepers and other professionals have sweated and shed blood in an effort to create a better future of the world.

Through an unremitting endeavor, China has also showed the whole world its wisdom and undertaking as a responsible major country for world peace and the common development of mankind.

GUARDIAN OF AFRICAN WILDLIFE

Mana Pools, one of Zimbabwe's most popular national parks, is a World Heritage Site designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization with more than 350 species of animals including elephants, lions, antelopes and hyenas.

Due to rampant poaching activities over the decades, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZIMPARKS) had to move the rhinos to other national parks for their protection.

"ZIMPARKS wants to strengthen the protection of wild animals in Mana Pools, but it lacks equipment and manpower," Liu Chang, a Chinese volunteer, told Xinhua.

In October 2015 and July 2016, Chinese volunteers came to Mana Pools to aid in efforts to prevent poaching. Each time they stayed for three months.

The volunteers were sent by the Sino-Zimbabwe Wildlife Foundation and the Chinese Blue Sky Rescue team, two non-governmental organizations.

"Chinese volunteers are working closely with ZIMPARKS to fight poachers in Mana Pools," said Francesco Marconati, chief executive of the Sino-Zimbabwe Wildlife Foundation.

He said that since the establishment of the foundation a year ago, it has managed to acquire anti-poaching equipment that included a small boat to patrol in the Zambezi River and a two-seat microlight aircraft to carry out surveillance in the 2,196-square km game reserve.

"The microlight aircraft does good anti-poaching work. It can fly very low and cruise the whole reserve area in three hours," said Hu Yingjian, another Chinese volunteer.

Hu, a coach in a Chinese flight club with more than 1,000 hours of flying experience, has been to Mana Pools twice to teach ZIMPARKS staff how to fly microlight aircraft.

Hu and Liu did not receive a salary and had to pay for their expenses including personal equipment and food. With such a costly endeavor, why do they do it?

"When you drive a microlight aircraft and see hundreds of elephants, when you step out of the tent in a morning and find a kudu looking at you, you understand the meaning of voluntary work. Becoming a volunteer, you earn far more than any cost," Hu said.

OASIS FOR KENYAN SLUM CHILDREN

Chang Rong Light Center, located at the heart of Nairobi's Mathare slum, is a primary school rebuilt in August 2014 by a group of young Chinese volunteers.

It has become an oasis for disadvantaged Kenyan children seeking better education and emotional solace.

Fourteen-year-old eighth grader Mildred Mtola was ecstatic as she explained how the new building had transformed her academic and social life.

"We are now studying in a conducive environment for learning and have kissed goodbye the stress of a leaking roof and overflowing sewage. The new school has transformed our lives," she said.

Mtola was among the pioneer students at the former Mathare Light Center, which was established in 2008 to cater to the academic needs of poor and neglected children.

"Whenever it rained, all the classes were flooded, thus making it difficult for us to study. The Chinese have put this nightmare to a stop, and we enjoy the ambience of the new classrooms," she said, adding that she hopes to become an air hostess when she finishes school.

Yin Binbin, a Chinese volunteer who initiated the project, said he was shocked by the harsh conditions when he first visited the former Mathare Light Center.

He launched an online donation site, and together with several other Chinese volunteers they contracted local workers and built the new school in just over 30 days.

"The school now has eight classrooms. With a better education environment, we hope the students can realize their dreams in the future," he said.

David Matinde, the school's principal, said the Chinese volunteers have won the admiration of the children and the wider Mathare community for donating money and their time to set up the new school.

"The volunteers are famous here in Mathare and everyone associates them with noble work. They are safe whenever they visit this neighborhood where they have made an indelible mark in the lives of disadvantaged children," he said.

RESCUER IN QUAKE-STRICKEN ECUADOR

Yang Liang had just returned to the Ecuadorian capital of Quito from a disaster reconstruction site when he was interviewed by Xinhua.

Without any rest, he jumped into a car for his next destination in Portoviejo, capital city of the western Ecuadorian province of Manabi, where a deadly earthquake caused huge damage earlier this year.

On April 16, a 7.8-magnitude quake struck the South American country's coastal region, leaving over 600 people dead and more than 4,000 others injured.

The construction firm China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. immediately established a temporary rescue team.

"I should pass on my confidence to every one in the team," said Yang, director of CAMC's Ecuador branch and leader of the rescue team, who decisively canceled his planned trip to return to China after the quake.

In coordination with Ecuadorian rescuers, Yang and his team dispatched two batches of rescue equipment into the hardest-hit city of Portoviejo and also helped assess the risk of the damaged buildings causing secondary damage.

After realizing the blood supply was inadequate in the disaster area, Yang connected with the Ecuadorian Red Cross. Under his lead, 197 employees of the company, including Yang himself, voluntarily donated their blood.

Another young Chinese volunteer, Zhou Wei, a worker in the southern Ecuadorian province of Cuenca, provided disaster information for Chinese rescue teams after the quake.

Zhou and other volunteers translated information from Spanish into Chinese. From the outbreak of the quake to April 28, their voluntary team published 14 disaster information briefings.

"The key information included details on damaged buildings, transportation and medical conditions," said Zhou.

Yang, Zhou and numerous other Chinese volunteers are now devoted to the post-disaster reconstruction of the country.

During a chat with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who paid a state visit to Ecuador in November, "thanks" was a word repeated several times by Pablo Cordova, a 52-year-old earthquake survivor.

"I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. President for your country's aid to Ecuador," Cordova told Xi at the headquarters of ECU-911, a China-developed national emergency response system that helped him and many other Ecuadorians survive the quake.

DEFENDER OF WORLD PEACE

In July, a rocket shell suddenly fell onto a Chinese peacekeeping armored vehicle during a mission to guard a refugee camp in Juba, capital of South Sudan.

Several bullets soon followed. The refugee camp became the most vulnerable place during the heavy fighting between government and anti-government forces.

Lu Chengjun, a military instructor at the Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion under the UN Mission in South Sudan, lost two soldiers during the attack; five others were injured.

The situation was so tense that he decided to write a letter to his family after returning to the UN camp safely to warn of his own possible death.

During the most intense four days of the fighting, none of the Chinese peacekeepers held back, even when faced with a shortage of food and water.

"The whole battalion embraced a strong belief in sacrifice for our country and the sacred peace mission we take," said Lu. "The belief surpasses one's life, encouraging us to stick to our duty even at the cost of our lives."

Like Lu, there are currently over 2,600 Chinese peacekeeping personnel involved in 10 UN peacekeeping operations worldwide.

At a reception held by China's permanent mission to the United Nations in July, Herve Ladsous, UN under-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, praised the professionalism of the Chinese blue helmets and their dedication to UN peacekeeping operations.

China, already the top contributor of peacekeeping forces among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is preparing to make even bigger contributions to UN peacekeeping missions around the world.

"China joins other countries in safeguarding international peace, opposes all forms of terrorism, and supports international and regional cooperation in fighting terrorism, in order to create an environment of peace and harmony that promotes development and thereby consolidates peace," the Chinese government said in a White Paper issued on Dec. 1. Enditem

(Xinhua reporters Zhang Yuliang from Harare and Ejidiah Wangui from Nairobi also contributed to the story