Fighting to Heal from the Front Line
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CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, March 10, 2020 | 17 LIFE Illustrating compassion An Olympic champion in Wuhan organizes for children around the country to share encouraging drawings, words and short videos with students in the locked-down city, Xu Lin reports. tudents in Hubei province’s She’s moved that two kids with capital, Wuhan — the city at weak vision pressed their eyes the epicenter of the novel against the papers to paint pic- coronavirus outbreak — are tures. Shappy to receive drawings with “It’s also important to teach stu- encouraging words from children dents about epidemic prevention, around their age whom they’ve nev- citizenship and life at this time,” she er met. says. The drawings depict such The two schools plan to have scenes as delicious Wuhan dishes, more scholastic exchanges between super heroes defeating the virus, teachers after the outbreak. doctors saving patients and family The Olympic champion, Yang, reunions. They’ve comforted says: “Children’s artworks render Wuhan students and warmed wonderlands for adults, helping us their hearts. to forget about worries in the real Some of the students have world. It also allows us to put our- become long-distance friends and selves in children’s shoes, to under- contact each other over messaging stand how they think.” apps, like digital pen pals. In 2014, Yang Wei and his son, Over 127,600 students from about Yang Wenchang, joined the second 30 schools in Wuhan and the Yang- season of the popular reality show, tze River Delta have participated in Where Are We Going, Dad?, which the activity. presents celebrity fathers’ adven- The exchange was co-initiated on tures with their kids. Jan 29 by Olympic champion and “My 10-year-old son said he was retired gymnast Yang Wei, who’s scared when we first realized the with his family in Wuhan, the city outbreak’s severity,” he recalls. they’ve made their home. “It’s normal. We adults also fear A dozen volunteers across the it.” country are working on the ongoing He believes children can sense public-service project, which that the current situation is critical. involves communicating with Children from Wuhan The challenge for parents is to help schools and editing short videos receive drawings with kids cope with their emotions. about students. encouraging words from Encouraging pictures and words Teachers in Wuhan collect their children from around from peers may console them. students’ names and email address- the country. The ongoing “Normal life goes on, even if we es, and teachers in other cities pair project, co-initiated on can’t go out. We’re all in a good state, them with students who wish to Jan 29, by Olympic mentally and physically. Our whole participate. champion and retired family watches news together to These kids express their good gymnast Yang Wei, know the latest updates on the epi- wishes in short videos that they who’s with his family demic,” Yang Wei says. send with their drawings via email, in Wuhan, calls for Yang Wenchang also received a since Wuhan’s postal services cur- students in other parts picture and video of a child, and rently prioritize medical supplies. of the country to offer he recorded a short video to All 2,972 students of Wuhan those in Wuhan their express his gratitude. He says he’s Guanggu No 6 Primary School spiritual support with confident that the government have received emails from their artworks. will help the whole country end peers from two primary schools in PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY the crisis. Suzhou. As with other parents, a major Teachers record the temperatures part of life in lockdown for Yang Wei of students and their families twice and his wife, Yang Yun, is taking care a day and pay attention to children of their boy and 3-year-old twin who are separated from their par- daughters. ents. Some of their parents are sus- In the morning, Yang Wei learns pected, or have been confirmed, to English on his own and helps his have the virus. Some are medical son to take online courses created by workers undertaking epidemic-pre- schoolteachers. The family exercises vention and -control work on the together in the afternoon. front lines. “We felt at a loss at first. Now, “These students’ lives are very dif- we’re pondering our lives and ferent from before,” Wuhan Guang- future. How can we put our lives gu No 6 Primary School headmaster back on the right track after the epi- Li Mingju says. demic?” “Such activities can help them The couple founded a sports club take heart.” in Wuhan that offers youth gymnas- Students across China are learn- tics training, and he’s thinking ing through remote-education plat- about the company’s future. It’s a forms since schools remain closed. common problem for China’s entre- Li calls on parents and students to Children’s artworks preneurs. read books or watch videos about “My wife and I are athletes,” he the disease in their spare time. She render wonderlands says. encourages children to read news for adults, helping us “We’ve honed our adaptability about the epidemic, help with over years of hard training. We’ve housework, learn to cook and exer- the Blind in Jiangsu province has national affairs. We’re looking for- to forget about learned that, no matter how hard cise. paired up with Wuhan No 2 School ward to the spring day when we worries in the real the situation is, you have to face it. It Li suggests that schools put more for the Deaf. A total of 94 of the don’t have to wear masks. makes us adjust to the current situa- effort into advancing public health Suzhou school’s 130 students ages “Parents are supportive of the world. It also allows tion quickly.” after the outbreak. She plans to 4 to 20 joined the event within two activity. They’re in charge of us to put ourselves in Yang Wei says they plan to collect establish a lecture room in the days. shooting short videos of their chil- all works and display them regularly school especially for teaching such “It offers spiritual support for dren. In the videos, the students children’s shoes, to in the future to remind people of the topics as infectious-disease preven- children in Wuhan,” says Jin Xiaolei, with visual impairments talk understand how they epidemic and raise public-health tion. a Chinese-language teacher from about their thoughts, and the stu- awareness. Two schools for special education the school in Suzhou. dents with speech impairments think.” also joined the activity. “Our students also learn to care send their blessings in sign lan- Yang Wei, former Olympic Contact the writer at Suzhou School for the Deaf and about others and to pay attention to guage.” champion [email protected] Fighting to heal from the front line By CHENG YUEZHU “I felt pretty guilty that I couldn’t from worrying. with the nurses and gradually form [email protected] properly celebrate a new year with The hospital makes sure the med- camaraderie. my aging parents,” Hou says. ical workers enjoy decent facilities “Thank you for your meticulous Nurse Hou Kun was excited to “But I have responsibilities as a and get enough rest. care for us these days. My gratitude enjoy her first Lunar New Year Eve nurse.” But the nurses and doctors insist to you is beyond words,” one of the off in four years to attend the annual Upon arriving at the hospital, Hou on contributing as much as they patients said to Hou in a message. family-reunion dinner. and other nurses, doctors and experts can. Another patient, after being dis- Then, the phone rang. At 8:30 pm, immediately put on protective gear “We always try to stay overtime in charged, said he plans to return to the hospital told her it’d received and entered the isolation ward. the ward to make the best use of the thank the staff and donate plasma. two patients with the novel corona- That night, she and another medical supplies,” Hou says. Days after the first unit completed virus, and she was needed. nurse, Zhao Wenjing, worked for Some patients felt despondent their duty and was in quarantine The 30-year-old has been a nurse nine hours, without drinking any and lonely due to their illness and before leaving the hospital, the sec- for 10 years and now works in the water or going to the bathroom. separation from loved ones. ond unit received a critically ill intensive care unit of the Second The work was hard. And the epi- So, nurses also offer psychological patient and was in need of nurses Hospital of Chaoyang city in Liaon- demic is intimidating. But Hou says support. with ICU experience. ing province. the medical team members always “I told the patients that we medi- Upon hearing this, Hou immedi- Hou had volunteered when the encouraged one another: “The pro- cal workers are combating the virus ately applied to go back to the ward hospital established an emergency tective suit can be stifling, so we and treating the patients, but and worked until the second unit medical team to prepare for the nov- joked that it’s like constantly being they’re also warriors fighting was discharged. el coronavirus pneumonia, so she’d in a sauna. We might lose weight.” against the virus in their bodies,” “When it comes to epidemic out- Hou Kun wears a facemask, goggles and protective suit before be one of the first on the front line if Most team members are born in Hou says.