Iranians in China collect donations for home
With mounting infection cases and a higher mortality rate, as well as a lack of medical supplies in the Middle East country, Iranians in China exhibiting strong solidarity have mobilized to offer help to their home country by collecting donations and passing China’s experiences in fighting the epidemic.
Farnaz Shirani, a PhD candidate at the Xiamen University in East China’s Fujian Province, told the Global Times that her group Hamyari, an association which mostly consists of Iranian students in China, has raised 124,351 yuan ($17,764) so far and have bought medical supplies.
Shirani’s group pays for the shipping fees of all the medical equipment to Iran that they acquired from China and will try to send them to some of the hospitals in need.
“Doctors and nurses have been facing a shortage in medical equipment and we have already lost many of our nurses and doctors, and if this situation continues, we will, unfortunately, face a shortage of specialist medical personnel in Iran. So, we have decided to help even if it’s very small,” she told the Global Times
Shirani also tried to pass on information and experiences she had gained about the virus in China to her friends and acquaintances in Iran. She said that the Iranian government “should have acted more seriously and quarantined the city of Qom like Wuhan in China… If the government quarantines cities and controls traffic, it can dominate the situation faster.”
Faezeh Jamshidi, who is responsible for scientific affairs at the Iranian students’ association in Shanghai, told the Global Times that most Iranians in China live in Beijing, Shanghai and capital cities in southern China.
Most people in these regions are devoted to the fight against the virus and many have volunteered to collect donations for Iran.
“The situation is very serious in Iran as many people got infected. Also, we have our New Year celebration in less than 10 days. Although the government wants people to stay home, some people don’t care,” she said.
As far as I know, most people who work in China want to come back from Iran,” Jamshidi said. She added that during the past two weeks, she did not hear any Iranian in China say they wanted to return.