Love knows no borders
Qin Wen
The bells of 2020 ring, everyone is still immersed in the joy of the New Year, the French who love to drink feel that 2020 is simply a year specially designed for the French, because the French pronunciation of "2020" is "2000 bottles of wine", is there a year more suitable for the French than this? Yes, 75 years have passed since the last world war, people have lived happily in a rich and peaceful environment for 75 years, and just when everyone is still speculating about when it will be the third world war, they do not know that an unprecedented virus is quietly spreading.
On January 18, 2020, a friend contacted me and asked me what was so interesting about Wuhan, because one of her friends, who was the captain of Air France, applied for the Lantern Festival to fly to Wuhan, and would stay in Wuhan for two days, hoping to have the opportunity to go to Wuhan. I only learned from my classmates after posting a message in the alumni group that a new coronavirus similar to SARS has appeared in Wuhan. On January 22, seeing the serious epidemic situation in Wuhan and the lack of masks on the news, I immediately went to the pharmacy to buy a few boxes of masks, and sent them back to China through the French post on the same day. However, I did not expect the situation in China to change so quickly, and on January 24, Air France announced the suspension of aircraft from Paris to Wuhan, and began to seal the river tunnel from January 25. By the time I wanted to buy more masks, most pharmacies in France were running out of masks, and the few pharmacies that sold masks sold for a new high price of 10 euros per mask.
On January 24, a Belgian colleague of mine approached me and told me that his son Jan (Chinese zhan reddy) was trapped in Wuhan. Zhan Ruidi is an exchange student of Huashi and studied Chinese at Huashi. He hoped to use his winter vacation to practice Chinese, and when he realized the danger and wanted to return home, he found that there was no plane to go back. My colleague told me that he was willing to do whatever it took for me to help his son leave Wuhan and return to Belgium. I understand a father's concern, but after consulting my friends in Wuhan, I felt that it was less risky to stay, and at this time, Wuhan could not go out at all except for military vehicles. Later, I learned that Zhan Ruidi had broken his leg and needed to go to the hospital every day to change his medicine, and he could no longer go to the hospital because of the epidemic, which was the reason why his father was worried. Zhan Ruidi told me that he had not gone to the hospital to change the medicine, but he had changed it at home. He bought basic materials such as iodine, gauze, and tape on Taobao, but the merchant refunded it because the logistics could not reach Wuhan. My friend in Wuhan suggested that I try it with JD.com, because Wuhan was locked down, and my friend had no way to send medicine. I placed an order on JD.com on January 24, and ZhanRuidi received the medicine on January 31, which was really a blessing in disguise.
On January 25, the French government began planning to use Airbus to pick up the French in Wuhan to return home, and I suggested that Ginzaridi follow aircraft back with Air France. On 28 January, after a series of efforts, he was finally on Air France's list of returnees. On February 1, he boarded a plane back to Paris, then transferred to Belgium in Paris, arrived in Belgium on February 3, and began a 14-day quarantine. Several infections were detected on the same plane, but fortunately, Zhan Ruidi passed the quarantine period healthily and returned to the arms of his family. He also gave interviews to Belgian newspapers during his time in Wuhan and became a celebrity because he was one of the few Belgians in Wuhan.
(Annex I: Belgian newspaper report)
Afterwards, he thanked me and my friends in Wuhan for helping him. He told me that he had received a lot of help from well-wishers in China. He was particularly touched and hoped that the epidemic would end as soon as possible and that he would soon return to campus to continue Chinese study.
On January 31, the French media began to report on the outbreak in China, because there were also infected people in France. A classmate at my daughter's school said that the epidemic came from China, and my daughter is Chinese. Fortunately, the teacher punished the students who spread the news and did not let the news have much impact on the daughter. The mother of my daughter's best friend also called me and comforted me that it was a small number of people who spread the news, and the vast majority of The French did not think so. My colleagues in the company began to pay 200% attention to me, in the past they only knew that I was Chinese, every time I had to spend a lot of effort to explain to them where Hubei is, now it is good, the media has popularized the knowledge to everyone, they ask me with concern how the situation in China is and whether my family in China is okay, every concern makes me feel extremely warm. Subsequently, I organized a Video of "Wuhan Refueling, China Refueling" for my French colleagues, hoping to give spiritual support to colleagues in China. The Chinese people in France are also twisted together at this moment, spontaneously organizing donations and mask donations. We went through all the community pharmacies to buy all the masks and epidemic prevention supplies in stock, and then sent them to the domestic hospitals. We know that the motherland needs us, and the people of the motherland need us. Some of my friends participated in a talk show on French television to appeal to the French people to donate money and materials to China, and the French people at this time made me feel that love knows no borders.
From 24 to 28 January, an asymptomatic British man who was still in the incubation period traveled to the Alps for a ski holiday with friends. He shared a two-room cabin with a group of other companions, and five were subsequently confirmed to be infected. Despite this, the French school was on a cold date, and on February 13, we set off for skiing in the mountains as planned. In the past, I used to drive to the snowy mountains, but this time because the car broke before leaving, I could only book a temporary train ticket to take the train.
(Annex 2: Me and the kids skiing)
(Annex III: Neither the children nor their fathers wore masks while waiting at the station)
On February 19, he returned to Paris after finishing skiing. On February 24, my daughter attended the birthday party of her classmates, and we still went to work as usual. I thought the danger was far away from us, who knew that the reversal came so quickly. On 12 March, the number of confirmed cases in France rose to 2,876. French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a televised speech that all schools in France would be closed from March 16. Just four days later, on March 16, Macron again televised to announce the start of the lockdown on Tuesday, March 17 at 12 noon.
After friends and relatives in China learned about the epidemic in France, they sent messages to ask about my home and local situation, asking whether they wanted masks. At this time, every greeting makes us Chinese who are far away feel extremely warm. Maybe everyone is busy at work and neglects to contact, but I know that if there is any problem, my family and friends in China are there. The Chinese Embassy in France has also begun to distribute masks, hand sanitizer and other epidemic prevention materials to international students. With the lockdown, the epidemic in France has also been well controlled. On May 11, the ban was gradually lifted in France, the children returned to school, and we began to return to work. Although our battle against the epidemic is far from over, love makes each of us feel warm.
Tomorrow is the French National Day, let us work together, love without borders, let love continue!
About author:: Hubei Zhijiang people, after graduating from university in 2002, went to France to study, obtained a master's degree, interned in the French PVCP Group during the doctoral study, and stayed behind after the internship.