by Kodzo Lalit Dzifa (Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China)
At the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, I had only been in China for three months to study, so I was in no hurry to go back home. Of course, I had no idea that it was going to become a pandemic. Through daily calls, my family knew I was safe; they had nothing to worry about because I gave them up-to-date information of the situation in China. Well, we soon found out it was not just an epidemic in one country, but an outbreak that spread across the world. With all the uncertainty, the outbreak of the virus was teaching humanity to cherish each other irrespective of race or colour.
China actively fought to control the outbreak: everyone, health workers and community members, got involved. They selflessly threw themselves in harm’s way to ensure everyone was safe. Fathers and husbands left their children and wives, wives and mothers left their husbands and children, siblings left siblings, children left parents to go and offer their help, contributing their quota to fight the outbreak in hospitals, isolation areas, in the communities and wherever their help was needed. They showed a spirit of selflessness and great love for others. Newspaper articles reported stories of workers, those who stayed away from their homes to protect their families and others who supported volunteers by providing food and water.
As an international student in China, who knows neither the language nor the country, I had to cope with this precarious time in my own way.
Communication
Communication was key in keeping us, who are international students at the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, sane during this period. The constant notices from government and school authorities (Chinese and English versions) on our international student WeChat group kept us up to date, at least, with the basic information we needed. News on the internet, in both English and Chinese languages also played its role. Along with a few other international students, I participated in, the 82nd outbreak prevention and control press conference in Guangzhou on April 18,2020 which discussed how Guangzhou was managing the epidemic. This was another effort to make people (foreigners and citizens) aware of measures being introduced and implemented to fight the situation.
Safety
The School of International Education at the university ensured that international students remained safe throughout the period by constantly disinfecting the hostels and university campus, asking us to check our temperatures every day, providing us with masks and disinfectants. At the peak of the pandemic, between February and March 2020, we were provided with toiletries, provisions and cooked meals just to be sure we were comfortable and had no need to go out of campus. All international students also had to take a number of nucleic acid tests as part of the preventive measures. We had to submit the addresses of places we wanted to visit to our supervisors at the school of international education for approval. This was to enable them to check if those places were not high-risk areas and if we would be safe there.
The communication and safety measures I was already exposed to became handy when the virus hit Ghana. Although I got a bit worried, being safe in the midst of it in China gave me the assurance that they could also be safe. I used my experience here to educate my family and friends at home on what to do to stay safe and to encourage them. Even before the first case was recorded in Ghana, I had already educated them on basic preventive measures. I also encouraged them to have adequate necessities at home, including foodstuffs, disinfectants and detergents. This helped them a lot when Ghana went into lockdown. They were already prepared for it, and our constant interactions, allowing them to see my safety here in China, gave them a positive attitude. They knew if they followed protocols, they would be safe and be able to keep others safe, too.
At national and continental levels, China was sharing its experience with the African leaders to help them manage the outbreak effectively just as it had done. China’s understanding and acts of solidarity remains unrivalled as despite the situation in China; the country selflessly sent aid in the form of medical supplies and human resources to Africa in the spirit of neighborliness.
Opportunities to serve
The new semester started with restrictions. With the university on lock down and social distancing measures in place, lectures were online. Our friends, who went home for the winter holidays couldn’t return to China. Some of them had difficulties with joining the online classes. I, along with other colleagues, quickly found ways to help by contacting them to ascertain their challenges and offering guidelines. With those who we couldn’t help, we served as a liaison between them and the teachers. Our efforts helped everyone to successfully complete our courses that semester.
Some of us, international students, also had opportunities to help out at the School of International Education with translation and dissemination of information, among other things. We seized the opportunity to participate in crisis management volunteer services on campus to help prevent and control any possible outbreaks in the international hostel and on campus generally, by checking temperatures and recording everyone who entered and left the hostel every day.
In their effort to make international patients comfortable, the Guangzhou 8th People’s Hospital recruited volunteers to assist with managing their emotional stress as well as to help them understand the need for treatment and isolation. For the volunteers’ safety, the hospital did not ask us to go to the hospital but arranged online meetings so that we could do video calls with the international patients. My sessions with international patients, trying to encourage them and give them hope to stay strong, also helped me stay strong and strengthened my determination to stay safe.
Just as Chinese volunteers in the thick of the epidemic were recognized with plaques and certificates to serve as motivation, foreigners like myself were also honored to be among those recognized. Beyond the recognition, volunteering gave me a sense of purpose. I knew I was helping in my own small way. It also helped me reach out to and connect with others at a time when we were expected to be in isolation. The interactions gave me reason to smile and laugh, as I would have a broad smile before checking temperatures. I knew just as those smiles brightened my days, it did same for the recipients.
How I handled the stress of the period
When I wasn’t volunteering, I coped with stress by creating recipes and baking for my friends. Some recipes I searched online, and others I just put together ingredients I had to create something. I found fun ideas to try out and kept changing my room decor. I read a lot because I wanted to be ahead of the class and be able to assist colleagues with study issues as I was appointed teacher assistant for my class. I also didn’t want my grades to suffer because I was busying myself with many other activities. I developed a daily routine of walking at least 10,000 steps each day for my health. Among the many things I did to stay busy so that I wouldn’t have time to feel stressed, I made myself available whenever my help was needed at the office and by my colleagues.
How I kept social bonds
Even though we were expected to be in isolation, this didn’t mean that we had to stop staying in touch with people. Staying in touch with people was the fun part of the pandemic. I knocked on all my colleagues’ doors at least once a month to check on them, chit chatted with them, then, returned to my room. For friends at home, I occasionally sent them messages. I made daily video calls to family at home to keep us together during this time.
My feeling about all of this
Blessed. I feel grateful for the joy of service, the joy of sacrifice. I have learned to appreciate little things; I have learned to appreciate freedom and the little pleasures of life. I feel grateful knowing that there is hope shining brightly before us, hope that together we can overcome difficult situations and achieve big things. I have learned to embrace hope and not despair as well as see the positive side to all things. It wasn’t all fun, sometimes it was difficult to stay positive, difficult to laugh, difficult to hold on to hope, but remembering how others were still fighting, remembering my family, remembering our teachers trying to keep us comfortable and safe despite their own fears and responsibilities to their families, made it easier for me to hold on and encourage others.
What I learned from the pandemic
Hard work, courage, unity and selflessness. All countries still stand strong because of these virtues in the “Angels in white” (health workers), security workers, scientific researchers, community workers, and volunteers, among others. I can still hear the chants of “jia you, Zhongguo” ring in my ears as the world, together as one joined China right from the beginning of the pandemic. It was heart-warming to know that even when not involved directly, words of encouragement could be sent across the world to show love and unity. The fight against the virus still rages on. As mutant variants of the virus emerge, let us still support each other, with heads held high and hearts full of love as we take care of ourselves and loved ones. Things will get better as long as we all join hands to fight; this is a fight for all humanity. With differences pushed aside, together, hand in hand, we will win. All nations will win this battle against the virus. In the end, it is a battle against humanity, and humanity will win.
