“Iron Men” with Hearts of Gold

By Yuan Xiaona

Taking orders, placing orders, receiving and delivering goods, distributing rice and vegetables … these are part of the daily routine of volunteers at the China University of Geosciences (CUG)in Wuhan since the university was put on lockdown.

Stepping forward boldly

To better control the coronavirus, the dormitory building of CUG Wuhan’s international students went on lockdown. However, this led to a pressing issue of how to maintain daily life for international students, as some of them couldn’t use China’s online shopping platforms for purchasing essentials.

An African student, Tiando Damine, approached Zhao Yangping, a teacher in charge of international students, and said, “Ms. Zhao, please don’t worry. Our volunteers are on call.” It was at this very difficult time that the Iron Man Volunteer Group stepped forward boldly to serve international students.

Members of these “Iron Men” come from about thirteen countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Madagascar, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Tajikistan, Jordan, and Yemen.

Working day and night

These volunteers are responsible for delivering goods to the doorsteps of international students staying in Wuhan. Besides taking orders, placing orders, receiving goods, and delivering goods, sometimes volunteers have to sort and subpackage vegetables and even weigh wheat flour.

The “Iron Man” volunteer team is divided into several groups to offer better services for students, like a food ordering group, daily necessities purchasing group, supplies distributing group, and girls’ group.

There are two students in the food ordering group in charge of ordering Halal food and Non-Halal food from CUG Wuhan’s canteens. “I am responsible for ordering Halal food,” said Ismail Shah, a Pakistani volunteer.

To facilitate food ordering, Shah created a group on WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform. Every night, students put their food orders in for the next day in that group. They make payment by WeChat Pay or Alipay, China’s top two digital payment platforms.

After that, Shah has to make a list of all the orders and send them to his teacher Luo Jingang. Mr. Luo takes charge of forwarding the list to the logistics department of CUG Wuhan. The department sends the order to the canteens.

The ordered food is brought to the gate of the students’ dormitory at 11:30 am the next day. Then, it is time for the supply distribution group to take over the delivering work.

Shah told the reporter,“We are working in a proper way. Everyone has their own responsibility.” He added, “Besides routine tasks, sometimes we also distribute wheat flour, rice, vegetables, cooking oil, eggs, fruits, etc.”

The Iron Man Volunteer Group of the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)中国地质大学（武汉）留学生组成的“钢铁侠”志愿队

接单、下单、收货、送货、分发大米和蔬菜……这些都是中国地质大学（武汉）停课以来志愿者日常工作的一部分。

挺身而出

为更好地防控传染，地大留学生宿舍楼实行封闭式管理。然而，这样一来，如何维持留学生的日常生活便成为了该校师生必须面对的一个紧迫问题，因为有些留学生不知道如何通过中国的网上购物平台购买生活必需品。

随后，非洲留学生大明找到负责留学生事务的老师赵阳平，说：“赵老师，请不要担心。有我们志愿者呢。”非常时期，“钢铁侠”志愿队勇敢地挺身而出，为留学生服务。

这些“钢铁侠”来自大约13个国家，包括巴基斯坦、孟加拉国、阿富汗、尼日利亚、坦桑尼亚、马达加斯加、贝宁、赤道几内亚、塔吉克斯坦、约旦和也门。

日夜工作

这些志愿者为留在武汉的留学生完成最后一英里的投递工作，将包裹从快递员传递到他们手中。除了接单、下单、收货、送货外，他们有时还要对蔬菜进行分类、分装，甚至称量面粉。

为提供更好的服务，“钢铁侠”志愿者们分为了几个小组，如点菜组、日用品采购组、物资配送组和女生组。

食品采购组有两名学生负责从该校食堂采购非穆斯林食品和穆斯林食品。巴基斯坦志愿者易思迈负责采购穆斯林食品。

为了方便点餐，易思迈在微信上建了一个群。每天晚上，学生们都会在群里订购第二天的食物，通过微信支付或支付宝支付订单。

随后，易思迈将把所有订单整理齐，发送给老师罗金刚。罗老师负责将订单转发给学校物流部，由该部门将订单送至食堂。

所有订购的事务将于次日11:30 送到学生宿舍门口。接着便轮到物资配送组上场了。

易思迈对记者说：“我们工作方式得当。每个人都有自己的分工。”他补充道：“除了日常工作，我们还有一些临时性的工作，比如分发面粉、大米、蔬菜、食用油、鸡蛋、水果等。”

Volunteers cheering for Wuhan 志愿者们为武汉加油

For example, CUG Wuhan got an exclusive donation consisting of 53.6 tonnes of fresh vegetables and a batch of sanitizers on the evening of February 23. Some of the vegetables went to the first floor of the international students’ dormitory. Volunteers assembled there at 9:50 on the following day. There they divided every kind of the donated vegetables into 283 portions and then put one type of vegetable in each package, so that each student can get a variety of vegetables. They started work at 10:15 am, and only finished sorting the 283 packages by 12:30 pm.

After having lunch and a short break, the volunteers started distributing vegetables to students at 14:00. It takes them three hours to finish the distribution of all vegetable packages.

Best way to contribute

However, volunteers couldn’t call it a day yet.

Pakistani volunteer Habib Ur Rehman had to make a report for the “Iron Men Volunteering Log” and send it to the working group before 21:00.

Volunteers and teachers often hold an online meeting at 21:00. They discuss the students’ issues regarding their demands, as well as make a schedule for next day’s work.

Rehman, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said, “I feel tired physically, but I get satisfied by helping others as a volunteer. If someone wants to work as a volunteer, it means that he or she wants to help others,” he said.

“What CUG Wuhan volunteers have done is beyond words because they put themselves in danger for the sake of other students,” he told the reporter.

Another Pakistani volunteer Muhammad Akhtar Alam wrote on his social media account that “It is time to cook dinner for myself after serving students all the day, without getting any rest. I salute all the volunteers and teachers who serve students, while putting their own lives in danger, listening to students’ complaints and tolerating students’ misbehaviors every day without any complaints. I salute and respect all of you.”

When asked why he joined the volunteer team, Shah said, “It’s my prime responsibility to help my neighbors, friends, and iron brothers. I want to contribute to the battle during the lockdown. It’s my belief that volunteering is the best way to contribute.”

He wants to tell his Chinese brothers and sisters, “We are all with you. We will fight together. We will defeat COVID-19. It’s just like a night, and after few hours, the sun will shine again. ‘Verily, along with every hardship is relief.’ (Quran 94:5)”

(Source: ce.cn)

Volunteers packaging supplies to be delivered to international students志愿者们在分装各种物资，以便发放给各位留学生

2020年2月23日晚，地大获赠一批重达53.6 吨的新鲜蔬菜和一些医用酒精，部分蔬菜被送往留学生宿舍一楼。志愿者第二天9:50在那里集合。他们要把获赠的每一种蔬菜分成283 份，然后分别打包，保证每个学生都能分到不同种类的蔬菜。他们10:15 开始工作，12:30打包完成283 个包裹。

午餐和短暂的休息之后，志愿者们从14:00 开始为学生们分发蔬菜。他们花了三个小时才将所有蔬菜包分发完毕。

最佳方式

然而，志愿者们的一天还没有结束。

巴基斯坦志愿者韩博要在21:00 前完成一份《钢铁侠志愿日记》，并将其发送给工作组。

全体志愿者和老师们通常会在21:00 开在线会议，讨论学生们面临的问题以及如何满足他们的需求，并为第二天的工作制定时间表。

“虽然身体疲惫，但作为志愿者，帮助他人能让我内心感到满足。”来自普赫图赫瓦省的韩博说，“做志愿者，便意味着想要提供帮助。”

他告诉记者：“钢铁侠们的贡献是语言难以表达的，因为他们为了其他学生而把自己置于危险之中。”

另一名巴基斯坦志愿者安凌宇在其社交媒体账号上写道：“在为学生们不眠不休地服务一整天之后，终于轮到为自己做饭的时候……我向所有为学生服务的志愿者和老师致敬，他们在把自己的生命置于危险之中的同时，每天倾听学生的抱怨，容忍学生的不当行为，没有任何抱怨。我向你们所有人致敬。”

当被问及加入志愿队的原因时，易思迈说：“中巴一家亲。帮助好邻居、好朋友和好兄弟是我的首要责任，我想在封城期间为武汉抗疫做出贡献。我相信，志愿服务是做出贡献的最佳方式。”

他想告诉中国的兄弟姐妹们：“我们和你们在一起。我们将一起战斗，共同击败新冠病毒。我们现在如同身处黑夜，几个小时以后，太阳会再次升起，照耀大地。如《古兰经》所说：‘确实,困难伴随着容易。’”