International Students Donate Blood and Help Wuhan Fight COVID-192020.06.22

On April 8, the first day after Wuhan lifted its lockdown, the blood donation center at Zhongnan Commercial Building was busy but organized. Five international students from Huazhong Agricultural University (HAU) came here to donate their blood in hope of helping Wuhan fight against COVID-19.

On April 7, Elsayed Nishawy, a post-doctoral student from Egypt, who stayed at HAU, received a message from Wuhan Municipal Headquarters for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. After he translated this message with software, he learned that Wuhan was in dire need of blood. He immediately contacted Ren Chao who is responsible for post-doctoral student affairs at this university. Elsayed said to Ren that he would like to donate blood to those in need and asked Mr. Ren to help contact a blood collection center.

Thanks to the assistance from several organizations, at 9:00 am on April 8, six blood donors from HAU, including five international students from Egypt, Elsayed, Anas Ibrahim, Ali Mahmoud, Ahmed Sherif, and Hasan Ahmad Hasan, went to the nearest blood collection center at Zhongnan Commercial Building. The workers there warmly received them, and told them to follow the procedures: fill in forms, scan QR codes, undergo physical examinations and inquiries and finally draw their blood. They were quite cooperative with the workers considering it was a special time. They said, “We want to donate 100 ml more to help more people.” After the examination, Ahmed and Ali were allowed to donate only 300 ml each this time. The two students were disappointed at this result, because they had expected to donate 400 ml each. Elsayed also felt frustrated as his toothache disqualified him for blood donation. The workers there and other blood donors consoled him. In the end, four international students and their teacher Ren Chao donated their blood.

After donating their blood, they were excited and had big smiles though with masks on. People all around gave them a thumbs-up. Many other blood donors requested a group photo with these foreign donors.

When he first came to Wuhan 10 years ago, Elsayed developed a deep affection for this city. As this city fell ill, he became very sad and desperate to do something for her. He was very excited to learn that he could do his part through blood donation. Although it is a pity that he could not donate his blood this time, he felt relieved that his friends have done something meaningful. Elsayed wishes Wuhan a better tomorrow!

Source: people.cn.

Photos provided by Huazhong Agricultural University.

Translation: Cao Qing, Special Focus

By Ren Chao & Jiang Chaochang