Why did you work as a volunteer in Africa?

I went to Africa by a stroke of luck. AIESEC, a global student-run organization, has a branch at Peking University. Young people who are enthusiastic about volunteering can find opportunities to participate in short-term international internships under the organization. Echo Chan is a popular writer among us young students. Like many others, I was interested in Africa due to her description of the Sahara in her novels. I had been dreaming of traveling to the continent to see firsthand how life is there. So when AIESEC recruited volunteers, I applied for a position in Africa with no hesitation. After Cameroon accepted my application when I was still a sophomore, I started my close relationship with this remote continent.

What were your main responsibilities as a volunteer in Cameroon?

I mainly had two jobs. One was to handle the daily routine at AIESEC's local branch. The other one was to work on a research project on the feasibility of establishing a computer center. The operation of AIESEC was supported by some local NGOs. When I was in Cameroon, I visited several NGOs and learned more detailed information about them.

At that time, DESA Cameroon, a local NGO, was about to set up a computer center in a remote village. When investigating the feasibility of the project, we found that locals lacked hygiene awareness. As a result, villages became bad places for diseases such as cholera and malaria. After learning this, we added a project investing in local sanitary conditions to improve people's living environment.

What touched you most when you were in Cameroon?

The living conditions where the research project was located were very tough. It took over four hours to drive to Buea, the base of DESA Cameroon. There was neither running water nor hot water in the village. However, locals felt content with their lives. I found that people's expectations of life can be very low as long as they accept them.

I also learned to share from local people. It is said that Africans have no concept of market and they will readily share whatever they have. I was deeply moved by this. I have a friend named Eben. After she heard that we liked their local pancakes, she invited us to her home as early as 7 a.m. and made pancakes especially for us.

African people usually live in small houses with seven to eight people crowded in one room. But this never stopped them from being hospitable. They often invited friends home and entertained them with food much better than what they themselves usually had.

At birthday parties, neighbors would all come to eat and have fun together whether they were invited or not. No one felt uncomfortable about this. At my farewell party before I left Cameroon, even some acquaintances I only met once, including the landlady of a nearby grocery store, came and gave me gifts. I was so moved.

The days I spent with local peers cooking and shopping together are the most memorable ones of my life. Some of us still keep in touch, and one later came to southwest China's Sichuan Province to learn Chinese. He had difficulty with local life and turned to me for help. From his experience, I think Sino-African cooperation in the field of education should be improved, like offering conveniences for African students to help them adapt to their new environment as soon as possible.

What did you gain from this volunteer experience?

First of all, I am much more courageous. The trip to Cameroon was my first experience going abroad on my own. At the beginning, it was only myself and a volunteer from the Netherlands working in the branch in Cameroon. But I adapted quickly to the totally different environment.

After the trip, I paid more attention to studying developing countries and worked as an intern at a Confucius Institute in Brazil. My surrounding classmates generally showed more interest in studying the United States or European countries, while I personally prefer to study developing countries, as I believe they deserve more attention.

Currently, I am helping my tutor with a project researching affordable housing in Angola and I hope I will go to Africa once more to do something meaningful.

I'm also involved in activities held by Center for African Studies at Peking University, an institute built exclusively to facilitate Sino-African cooperation. We have held several forums and lectures, bringing African youths and Chinese peers together to promote academic exchanges and help African students fit in life at Chinese universities. CA