Tshinghua volunteer Wang Zhanshuo and his students

For Wang Zhanshuo, a graduate in industrial engineering from Beijing's renowned Tsinghua University, after-graduation life went totally off the beaten track.

Instead of going out to find plum placements in the job market, the 21-year-old set off for Kenya with six classmates in July 2014 to work as volunteers. They took clothes, educational kits and other materials collected from donors in China to primary schools and a nature reserve in Kenya, offering to help out.

More channels available

During the 15 days they stayed in Kenya, the group taught third and seventh graders at the Plainsview Primary School in Nairobi mathematics, English and science. They also went to Masai Mara, a large game reserve in fertile Narok County, to help track down animals using the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). They presented the BDS devices they had brought with them to the administration and local non-governmental organizations (NGO) working in wildlife protection. 

In addition to voluntary service, Wang's team and teachers and students of the University of Nairobi jointly initiated the first China-Africa Youth Forum.

It was Wang's second visit to Africa as a volunteer. Earlier, he had gone with the help of an international NGO (INGO). This time, he went with a Chinese NGO. For the rest of the group, it was a new experience.

Chinese young volunteers started working in Africa from 2005. In August that year, the government sent 12 youths to Ethiopia on a six-month volunteering program and they became the first group of Chinese youth volunteers to Africa. By the end of 2011, the government had sent more than 360 young volunteers to more than 20 African countries. 

However, the figure indicates only the number of volunteers sent by government departments and voluntary associations. Today, in addition to the official channels, more and more Chinese students like Wang and his companions are going to Africa privately - through INGOs, Chinese NGOs, or even on their own.

"As far as I know, the number of Chinese youth volunteers going to work in Africa is increasing fast," said Cheng Zhigang, Secretary General of the China-Africa Industrial Forum (CAIF), the sponsor of Wang and his group's Kenya journey. "The exact number is not available at the moment because they are going through a variety of channels now."

Today, university and college students are becoming more enthusiastic about volunteering in Africa. When the Guangzhou Youth Volunteers' Association sought to recruit 18 volunteers in 2012 for a project in the Seychelles, they received 650 applications.

Though the young Chinese volunteers in Africa have different backgrounds and go through different channels, there is uniformity in the services they provide - mostly teaching and offering assistance in agriculture, computer science, sports and medical care.

Tshinghua volunteer group in Masai Mara game reserve, Kenya

Valuable life experience

Though the media has created a stereotype of Africa as a continent stalked by famine, poverty, diseases and conflicts, many Chinese youngsters want to see the real Africa with their own eyes and are ready to offer their help.

Wang's idea to be a volunteer in Africa - in Tanzania in the summer of 2012 - was first triggered by the posters on poverty alleviation, teaching and medical assistance in Africa he saw on the campus of Harvard University when he was there on a short exchange program.

"While people around me were eyeing the West, the young people [at Harvard] had turned toward disadvantaged Africa," Wang said. "I felt ashamed and decided to go to Africa, see the real picture and offer my help too."

Most young Chinese people regard their voluntary service in Africa as a significant life experience that would otherwise be hard to obtain for their generation, raised as an only child.

Pan Di, a student from Tianjin, one of the largest cities in China, was robbed as soon as she arrived at her volunteering destination in Nairobi, where she was going to teach English. Life there was worse than she had imagined but she said her experience taught her to stay calm in the face of adverse situations.

Wang taught math and helped look after 13 orphans during his half-month in Arusha, a city in north Tanzania. Since then, he decided to take more volunteers with him to work on ongoing projects.

In a community in Kenya, Wang and his companions found five teachers and two volunteers teaching seven subjects to 10 classes; 20 students had to cram into a dormitory with an area less than 30 square meters. Wang said there are more such schools needing help in Africa.

Chinese NGOs' involvement

In many countries, volunteers go directly to communities which need their service with the help of international NGOs. In China, where overseas volunteering service was launched less than 10 years ago, many volunteers still need the governmental organizations in both countries to arrange the logistical details, such as finding accommodation. This may sometimes put a burden on local communities. 

Cheng of the CAIF said his organization sponsored the Tsinghua students' Kenya trip, hoping to make it a regular project sending one or two groups to Africa annually during the summer or winter vacation. The CAIF is seeking to improve its volunteer-community match and in 2015, will recruit volunteers from three to five universities and colleges in China.