Volunteers give aid from China with love

A group of volunteers from China is winning hearts in Pakistan through their continuous humanitarian assistance to the people in Pakistan in their hour of need.

The volunteers are working under the name of the China-Pakistan Youth Exchange Community. They collect donations from overseas Chinese in Pakistan to provide necessary help to poor communities in the country.

Ma Bin, the head of China-Pakistan Youth Exchange Community, says that they run several initiatives to donate to the locals, including those hit by floods and children living in orphanages, as well as providing food and other necessities to poor people living in underprivileged areas of the country.

"During Ramadan this year, our Chinese volunteers donated food relief packages to more than 6,000 local families, with each package containing food worth nearly 4,000 Pakistani rupees ($18). They delivered enough to meet the food needs of over 24,000 locals for a month," he says.

This year so far, the volunteers have sent relief packages to more than 50 families, Ma says.

To reach flood victims, the volunteers teamed up with an Islamabad-based NGO, Al-Khidmat Committee, to send humanitarian relief packages to flood-hit people.

Muhammad Suleman Butt, the chairperson of the NGO, says that the Chinese volunteers have always been a great support to Pakistan in difficult times.

"They not only give donations for people whose lives are devastated by disasters, but also take a special interest in helping pack food or other items for them, as well as sometimes visiting locals themselves to deliver the packages prepared for them," Butt says.

The Chinese volunteers also often visit local orphanages and Afghan refugee schools to donate stationery, cotton-padded clothes, shoes and food supplies. These are all humanitarian activities regularly organized since the CPYEC was founded in 2013.

"As well as donating supplies, we also encourage our volunteers to spend time with the orphans or refugee children and to hug them so they can feel our affection," Ma says.

Sheikh Ahsan Farid, national manager of Aghosh Homes, where Ma Bin and his fellow volunteers donated goods, says that the children were very impressed by the gesture of the Chinese and cherished meeting and receiving gifts from them.

"The children told their teachers, after meeting the Chinese, that they were very happy and it made their day to receive good quality gifts," he adds. "They felt loved, and such attention boosts their self-esteem."

Farid says that by meeting the Chinese, the children, who already knew about the China-Pakistan friendship, have witnessed and experienced it themselves.

"We at the orphanage always love such kind gestures. The initiative taken by the Chinese volunteers also encouraged local donors when we shared their stories, so we are highly thankful to them for helping out and giving the kids a reason to smile," he says.