In response to the considerate services provided by Xiamen city – in East China's Fujian province – during the COVID-19 pandemic, expats living there joined community voluntary teams to fight the outbreak side by side with local residents.
After Xiamen activated a level-3 emergency response for the COVID-19 pandemic on July 30, the Xiamen Service Center for Foreign Professionals Guanren Community Branch immediately launched an international volunteer service program.
Czech national Zuzana Pavlonova, who works as a consultant at the service center and is the foreign director assistant of Guanren Community – as the woman at the helm of the program – quickly assembled an international volunteer team of 40 members.
Raj, a designer from Singapore, is a resident at Guanren Community. He signed up for voluntary service work for nucleic acid testing on July 30. He worked from 2:00 pm to 3:00 am the next day, to maintain order at the scene and guide the queues – as well as assisting with the filling in of forms and translating and helping foreigners on site.
When the community notified me about volunteering, I signed up without hesitation, said Raj.
He added that the patience, calmness, tenacity and perseverance of every doctor, staff member and volunteer helped them overcome the difficulties. It was a great day!
Heidrun, a German teacher at the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures at Xiamen University, who also lives in the Guanren Community, signed up for voluntary service work for nucleic acid testing on Aug 2 – and patiently took the temperatures of residents from 12:00 am to 2:00 pm.
As the contact person for the volunteer program, Pavlonova has stayed on at the community's nucleic acid testing site since the afternoon of July 30.
She said that the beverage shops and bakeries in the community delivered their drinks and snacks, while the locals and non-local Chinese and foreign volunteers actively participated in the on-site service.
She added that the residents were all very cooperative, which was heartwarming.
China announced and implemented on May 15 a policy allowing visa-free entry of foreign tourist groups aboard cruise ships via all cruise ship ports along the country's coastline.
China and Georgia are set to waive visa requirements for travelers starting May 28.
