Beijing City International School (BCIS) students have found their own ways of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, with many students volunteering their time and resources to help those in need. Anna, a grade 9 BCIS student, shared her story with us.

By Anna, BCIS grade 9 student

When the outbreak first began, I felt scared and helpless, unsure what I could do to help. I saw the Chinese Student Association in North America's (CSANA) activities on WeChat and signed up. At the beginning, I was an ordinary volunteer, helping to forward tweets and contacting official accounts for cooperation. The initial mission of our association was to mobilize resources to assist in the early stages of the outbreak when medical supplies were most needed. We raised 965,253.41 RMB, and sent 148,700 pairs of medical gloves, 10,240 medical protective masks, 8,000 disposable medical masks, 34,000 industrial-grade N95 masks and 3,060 pieces of protective clothing to major hospitals in Wuhan.

At the same time, I found that the victims of the outbreak were not just patients, but patients' families, the families of health care workers, and others. As the need for donations of medical equipment eased, I suggested we provide social and emotional support for these families. I now direct our program which provides online tutoring, companionship, and professional counseling for children in need. I recruit volunteers to deliver this program, as well as plan classes and research best practice. I also give classes myself to children of healthcare workers, which is difficult but extremely gratifying when I see my students make progress with my guidance. I have since created a BCIS group to introduce my work to the BCIS community and invite them to join this association. Our group now has about twenty people who work across the association.

This experience has changed the way I view the Covid-19 outbreak. I have heard many sad stories, but through this project, I feel that people everywhere can make unremitting efforts to help those in need at this special time. Now I look at things a lot more optimistically, trying to see the good side of the problem and immediately thinking, how do we solve this or how can we help.