Sylvia Mutua enjoying her phone app (COURTESY PHOTO)

On the afternoon of September 6, 2018, after a 23-hour flight, I finally arrived at Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport. A Kenyan flag indicated the direction I was to go to. Khadija, the sweet lady of Somali origin who came to pick me up at the airport, quickly took my bags, and pointed to a Maan Coffee shop as our next stop. Her sign, Karibu Beijing, Swahili for "Welcome to Beijing," was the faint reminder of the Kenyan hospitality albeit this time away from home. "WeChat is what you will need to be able to effectively survive in China," she said, as I quietly sipped my orange juice, admiring the vastness of the airport, and my mind distracted by the beauty of the Asian cabin crew who swiftly passed by our table. Being tired and fatigued, this did not register in my mind at the time until three days later.

For the next three days, I enjoyed my new found freedom, with no phone calls except for those from my immediate family back home checking up on me. Coming from a demanding work environment with strict deadlines to meet, reports to write, staff to manage and a boss to please, I felt that being in China was like having a holiday of sorts. With no care and no deadlines to meet (well, at least at the moment), it was pure bliss. It was at this moment that I indulged in savoring the beauty of China, visiting various places and introducing my pallet to the new tastes of Chinese cuisine.

It was on an early Monday morning, during the registration process at the university that the reality of the airport WeChat conversation finally dawned on me. To ease communication and to facilitate smooth running of the process, all graduate students were told to join the WeChat group through scanning a QR code. "A what? Ok, what is a QR code, where is the QR code, and what is this Wechat group?" I asked aloud. Everyone looked at me puzzled. "What, did I say something wrong?" I asked again, to the loud laughter of all my fellow students.

An Irish guy offered to help me download the app, but then told me I could not access the play-store. "Let's finish the registration first, I will handle this later," I told him.

At this moment I was blank, but all these tech terms were not registering in my mind… for once, I felt lost and handicapped!

I couldn't wait to meet Khadija at our preferred lunch joint. She was to be the solution to my present woes. Khadija became not only my friend, but my default rescuer, showing me how to operate my phone and also got me the WeChat account. She even linked it to my bank card. You should have seen the broad smile on my face; I was back online on all my accounts!

With WeChat fully installed on my phone, and with Khadija's ongoing help, life became easier in Beijing. It's like I had gotten wings to fly in navigating on my own. My graduate supervisor soon came calling, through WeChat of course. She updated my

knowledge by showing me how to link WeChat to my laptop. This has made it so much easier for me to converse with her and even in exchanging information and research articles.

For my new found friends and even my course mates in class, this is our easiest way of communication. Sending pictures and videos of our experiences and even the places we have visited has become the norm. It is even easy to organize and coordinate activities since all of us are in the same group.

And then there is the day I got lost in Zaoying subway station, when my cravings for French bread had led me to Paris Baguette near Solana Mall. For some reason I could not retrace my steps to the station. At this moment Khadija again came to my rescue, and I was able to pin my location on my phone. She came and literally rescued me, of course, at the cost of sharing my French bread and some croissants! And did I mention that I paid using WeChat money - Yes, I have finally learnt to walk with a charged phone and not liquid cash. WeChat, as I have later discovered, is not just an app; it is indeed the app that facilitates my life in China.

(The writer is a Kenyan Ph.D. candidate studying in Beijing)