“Iron Men” with Hearts of Gold

By Yuan Xiaona

Taking orders, placing orders, receiving and delivering goods, distributing rice and vegetables … these are part of the daily routine of volunteers at the China University of Geosciences (CUG)in Wuhan since the university was put on lockdown.

Stepping forward boldly

To better control the coronavirus, the dormitory building of CUG Wuhan’s international students went on lockdown. However, this led to a pressing issue of how to maintain daily life for international students, as some of them couldn’t use China’s online shopping platforms for purchasing essentials.

An African student, Tiando Damine, approached Zhao Yangping, a teacher in charge of international students, and said, “Ms. Zhao, please don’t worry. Our volunteers are on call.” It was at this very difficult time that the Iron Man Volunteer Group stepped forward boldly to serve international students.

Members of these “Iron Men” come from about thirteen countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Madagascar, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Tajikistan, Jordan, and Yemen.

Working day and night

These volunteers are responsible for delivering goods to the doorsteps of international students staying in Wuhan. Besides taking orders, placing orders, receiving goods, and delivering goods, sometimes volunteers have to sort and subpackage vegetables and even weigh wheat flour.

The “Iron Man” volunteer team is divided into several groups to offer better services for students, like a food ordering group, daily necessities purchasing group, supplies distributing group, and girls’ group.

There are two students in the food ordering group in charge of ordering Halal food and Non-Halal food from CUG Wuhan’s canteens. “I am responsible for ordering Halal food,” said Ismail Shah, a Pakistani volunteer.

To facilitate food ordering, Shah created a group on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform. Every night, students put their food orders in for the next day in that group. They make payment by WeChat Pay or Alipay, China’s top two digital payment platforms.

After that, Shah has to make a list of all the orders and send them to his teacher Luo Jingang. Mr. Luo takes charge of forwarding the list to the logistics department of CUG Wuhan. The department sends the order to the canteens.

The ordered food is brought to the gate of the students’ dormitory at 11:30 am the next day. Then, it is time for the supply distribution group to take over the delivering work.

Shah told the reporter,“We are working in a proper way. Everyone has their own responsibility.” He added, “Besides routine tasks, sometimes we also distribute wheat flour, rice, vegetables, cooking oil, eggs, fruits, etc.”

The Iron Man Volunteer Group of the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)中國地質(zhì)大學（武漢）留學生組成的“鋼鐵俠”志愿隊

接單、下單、收貨、送貨、分發(fā)大米和蔬菜……這些都是中國地質(zhì)大學（武漢）停課以來志愿者日常工作的一部分。

挺身而出

為更好地防控傳染，地大留學生宿舍樓實行封閉式管理。然而，這樣一來，如何維持留學生的日常生活便成為了該校師生必須面對的一個緊迫問題，因為有些留學生不知道如何通過中國的網(wǎng)上購物平臺購買生活必需品。

隨后，非洲留學生大明找到負責留學生事務(wù)的老師趙陽平，說：“趙老師，請不要擔心。有我們志愿者呢。”非常時期，“鋼鐵俠”志愿隊勇敢地挺身而出，為留學生服務(wù)。

這些“鋼鐵俠”來自大約13個國家，包括巴基斯坦、孟加拉國、阿富汗、尼日利亞、坦桑尼亞、馬達加斯加、貝寧、赤道幾內(nèi)亞、塔吉克斯坦、約旦和也門。

日夜工作

這些志愿者為留在武漢的留學生完成最后一英里的投遞工作，將包裹從快遞員傳遞到他們手中。除了接單、下單、收貨、送貨外，他們有時還要對蔬菜進行分類、分裝，甚至稱量面粉。

為提供更好的服務(wù)，“鋼鐵俠”志愿者們分為了幾個小組，如點菜組、日用品采購組、物資配送組和女生組。

食品采購組有兩名學生負責從該校食堂采購非穆斯林食品和穆斯林食品。巴基斯坦志愿者易思邁負責采購穆斯林食品。

為了方便點餐，易思邁在微信上建了一個群。每天晚上，學生們都會在群里訂購第二天的食物，通過微信支付或支付寶支付訂單。

隨后，易思邁將把所有訂單整理齊，發(fā)送給老師羅金剛。羅老師負責將訂單轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)給學校物流部，由該部門將訂單送至食堂。

所有訂購的事務(wù)將于次日11:30 送到學生宿舍門口。接著便輪到物資配送組上場了。

易思邁對記者說：“我們工作方式得當。每個人都有自己的分工。”他補充道：“除了日常工作，我們還有一些臨時性的工作，比如分發(fā)面粉、大米、蔬菜、食用油、雞蛋、水果等。”

Volunteers cheering for Wuhan 志愿者們?yōu)槲錆h加油

For example, CUG Wuhan got an exclusive donation consisting of 53.6 tonnes of fresh vegetables and a batch of sanitizers on the evening of February 23. Some of the vegetables went to the first floor of the international students’ dormitory. Volunteers assembled there at 9:50 on the following day. There they divided every kind of the donated vegetables into 283 portions and then put one type of vegetable in each package, so that each student can get a variety of vegetables. They started work at 10:15 am, and only finished sorting the 283 packages by 12:30 pm.

After having lunch and a short break, the volunteers started distributing vegetables to students at 14:00. It takes them three hours to finish the distribution of all vegetable packages.

Best way to contribute

However, volunteers couldn’t call it a day yet.

Pakistani volunteer Habib Ur Rehman had to make a report for the “Iron Men Volunteering Log” and send it to the working group before 21:00.

Volunteers and teachers often hold an online meeting at 21:00. They discuss the students’ issues regarding their demands, as well as make a schedule for next day’s work.

Rehman, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said, “I feel tired physically, but I get satisfied by helping others as a volunteer. If someone wants to work as a volunteer, it means that he or she wants to help others,” he said.

“What CUG Wuhan volunteers have done is beyond words because they put themselves in danger for the sake of other students,” he told the reporter.

Another Pakistani volunteer Muhammad Akhtar Alam wrote on his social media account that “It is time to cook dinner for myself after serving students all the day, without getting any rest. I salute all the volunteers and teachers who serve students, while putting their own lives in danger, listening to students’ complaints and tolerating students’ misbehaviors every day without any complaints. I salute and respect all of you.”

When asked why he joined the volunteer team, Shah said, “It’s my prime responsibility to help my neighbors, friends, and iron brothers. I want to contribute to the battle during the lockdown. It’s my belief that volunteering is the best way to contribute.”

He wants to tell his Chinese brothers and sisters, “We are all with you. We will fight together. We will defeat COVID-19. It’s just like a night, and after few hours, the sun will shine again. ‘Verily, along with every hardship is relief.’ (Quran 94:5)”

(Source: ce.cn)

Volunteers packaging supplies to be delivered to international students志愿者們在分裝各種物資，以便發(fā)放給各位留學生

2020年2月23日晚，地大獲贈一批重達53.6 噸的新鮮蔬菜和一些醫(yī)用酒精，部分蔬菜被送往留學生宿舍一樓。志愿者第二天9:50在那里集合。他們要把獲贈的每一種蔬菜分成283 份，然后分別打包，保證每個學生都能分到不同種類的蔬菜。他們10:15 開始工作，12:30打包完成283 個包裹。

午餐和短暫的休息之后，志愿者們從14:00 開始為學生們分發(fā)蔬菜。他們花了三個小時才將所有蔬菜包分發(fā)完畢。

最佳方式

然而，志愿者們的一天還沒有結(jié)束。

巴基斯坦志愿者韓博要在21:00 前完成一份《鋼鐵俠志愿日記》，并將其發(fā)送給工作組。

全體志愿者和老師們通常會在21:00 開在線會議，討論學生們面臨的問題以及如何滿足他們的需求，并為第二天的工作制定時間表。

“雖然身體疲憊，但作為志愿者，幫助他人能讓我內(nèi)心感到滿足。”來自普赫圖赫瓦省的韓博說，“做志愿者，便意味著想要提供幫助。”

他告訴記者：“鋼鐵俠們的貢獻是語言難以表達的，因為他們?yōu)榱似渌麑W生而把自己置于危險之中。”

另一名巴基斯坦志愿者安凌宇在其社交媒體賬號上寫道：“在為學生們不眠不休地服務(wù)一整天之后，終于輪到為自己做飯的時候……我向所有為學生服務(wù)的志愿者和老師致敬，他們在把自己的生命置于危險之中的同時，每天傾聽學生的抱怨，容忍學生的不當行為，沒有任何抱怨。我向你們所有人致敬。”

當被問及加入志愿隊的原因時，易思邁說：“中巴一家親。幫助好鄰居、好朋友和好兄弟是我的首要責任，我想在封城期間為武漢抗疫做出貢獻。我相信，志愿服務(wù)是做出貢獻的最佳方式。”

他想告訴中國的兄弟姐妹們：“我們和你們在一起。我們將一起戰(zhàn)斗，共同擊敗新冠病毒。我們現(xiàn)在如同身處黑夜，幾個小時以后，太陽會再次升起，照耀大地。如《古蘭經(jīng)》所說：‘確實,困難伴隨著容易。’”