Boy proud of family’s role in fight
Wang Ziyi
Wang Ziyi, 10, a fifth grader from Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School, won China Daily’s English speaking competition for students in Grades 4-6 last year. He believes that studying science, history and world geography have helped him understand and appreciate world issues from which he can gain inspiration for writing stories.
Wang Ziyi, 10, a fifth grader from Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School, is proud that seven of his family members became volunteers during the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei province. “My family is only one of many families in Wuhan, who’re doing their bit to pull the city together. Every ordinary person can be a hero,” Wang said at the latest Vision China online event.
Some of his relatives live in Wuhan and the large family usually communicates through the WeChat messaging app. The sudden coronavirus outbreak forced them to cancel plans to visit each other during Spring Festival in January.
While family members were anxious about the epidemic, Auntie Peng shared her daily routine as a community worker in Wuhan with the WeChat group. She said that every day she puts on her protective suit and face mask and patrols communities to track residents’ health and encourage them to stay at home.
Auntie Peng posted in the WeChat group that she didn’t have enough time to look after her 2-year-old child. “I wish I could become Doraemon so that I can have a pharmacy to take care of the sick and a supermarket to gather supplies,” she said referring to a popular Japanese cartoon hero.
Her husband was the first volunteer from the family, transporting the sick to hospital and taking food and water to those in need.
Wang is proud that his relatives in Wuhan were eager to relieve the burden on others, and risked being outside instead of staying at home.
When his Uncle Dong, a head chef, noticed that doctors and nurses on the front line needed food, he volunteered to cook homemade dishes, which were packaged and sent to hospitals. It was a show of appreciation for their efforts and a morale boost for medical workers.
Wuhan lifted its lockdown on April 8 as the fight against the pandemic entered the final stage. Wang believes the city will eventually leave this dark chapter behind. “Numerous people in China have been following the strict restrictions (of lockdown) to tame this virus. But it has been our fellow citizens in Wuhan who have sacrificed the most to save our country from the worst,” Wang said.
“When we look at the statistics of the pandemic, these are not just figures on deaths. They signify our feelings of ups and downs, they represent countless families torn apart and stories of heartbreak, but they also symbolize the strength of unity.”