Nairobi, 13 Oct (Xinhua) -- In recent years, Chinese enterprises have implemented the "main tasks" of jointly building "Belt and Road" cooperation projects in Africa, such as building roads, bridges, buildings and factories, and have also actively practiced their social responsibilities, completing the "side tasks" of "small but beautiful and benefiting people's livelihood" in the fields of education, health and environmental protection, giving back to local society and helping to improve the well-being of African people, which has been widely praised.
Disaster relief Renovate the campus
In May, Ghana's capital, Accra, experienced heavy rains. St. Thomas Primary School in Jamestown, a local fishing port community, was hit by flooding and all teaching activities were disrupted. Most of the parents of school students are engaged in traditional fishing in the local area and live in poverty. Education is an important hope to change the fate of these children.
After learning of this, the project department of China's aid to build a fishing port complex in Ghana invested a lot of manpower to "rescue" the disaster-stricken primary school. Within a month or so, a construction team from China Railway Construction Port and Shipping Bureau cleaned up the school's sewage flowers, built drainage pipes, courtyard walls and renovated the playground, giving the entire campus a new look.
"After the flood, the school was in shambles. Now, with the help of Chinese builders, children can learn in a more comfortable and safe environment. As local employees, we are very touched and grateful! Ghanaian engineer Mavis Alotai said.
"Let the locals drink water with peace of mind"
The fifth tender section of the Tanzania Central Line Standard Rail Railway is being built by China Civil Engineering East Africa Co., Ltd., connecting Mwanza in northern Tanzania and Ithaca in the central and western regions. There are villages along the project, and "draught" has long plagued villagers.
The Bukumba camp in the third engineering area of the project department is located in an arid area, and there are no wells in the nearby village of Bukumba. During the rainy season, villagers collect rainwater and drink it after precipitation; During the dry season, villagers have to dig pits in dry riverbeds dozens of kilometers away to find water, sometimes taking a day to scoop up two buckets of water. The lack of clean water increases the risk of cholera infection for villagers.
"Let the locals drink safe water" has become a concern of this Chinese company. Due to the proximity of the project site to Lake Victoria, rock formations often collapsed during well drilling, and Chinese employees overcame difficulties by drilling about 20 wells and setting up water connection points on the roadsides of villages along the route.
"Now, we can drink clean drinking water anytime, anywhere, free of charge." Benjamin Msoluvwa, a villager from Bukumba village, said excitedly.
Build a maternity building to protect life
The Katulambi Health Centre in Makueni County, southern Kenya, has a striking maternity house with goose-yellow eaves and sky-blue doors and windows.
Built by the Kenyan Swak Dam Project Department of China Energy Construction Gezhouba Group, the maternity building opened in 2021 and provides maternity services to more than a dozen surrounding villages and towns. The Swak Dam project is part of the first phase of the Swak Multi-Use Water Development Project.
The Swak Multi-purpose Water Development Project is the largest integrated water conservancy project integrating dams, water supply, irrigation and power generation under construction in Kenya.
Next to the waiting room of the maternity building, Marie Mwikali is softly singing a lullaby, coaxing her newborn son Mikal. "Mikal is my second child, and the eldest is ten years old. When I became pregnant for the first time, I had to go to the Watertown Hospital 40 km away. But now there is a maternity building here, with good environment, complete facilities and thoughtful services, and everyone comes here! ”
The health centre has provided maternity services to hundreds of women. Mercy Musau, head nurse of the obstetrics and gynaecology department at the health center, is very pleased: "Since the completion of this maternity building, it has become our goal to reduce the number of pregnant women giving birth at home and ensure the health and safety of mothers and babies. A fully functioning delivery room, combined with prenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, can save the lives of many local women and newborns. ”
Conservation of biodiversity
In the Namib Desert in west-central Namibia, a complex of buildings with an investment of about $5 billion looks particularly magnificent. One of China's largest single industrial investment projects in Africa, the Hushan uranium mine, operated by China General Nuclear Power Uranium Co., Ltd. (CGNPC), is located.
In 2013, Skok was preparing to start its efforts in Namibia when it accidentally discovered more than 50,000 trees of Namibia's national flower, the Millennium Orchid, in the prospecting area. Millennium orchids grow in the Namibian desert and are known as living fossils of the plant kingdom. Seven other plant species and nine animal species were discovered during the same period. How to protect the integrity of animal and plant systems became the first challenge Scott faced.
Tourists walk through salt marshes in Namibia's Namib-Noklufu National Park on January 16, 2022. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Cheng
To this end, Sko, in conjunction with the Namibian National Parks Authority, the Flower Society and professional research institutions, has developed a comprehensive monitoring and management plan. Skoe studied the optimization of the project's design of the route, and also organized employees to set up guardrails with stones, wooden rods and barbed wire to form a protective barrier. In addition, the company conducts environmental protection education every year, and carries out related activities in conjunction with special days such as World Wildlife Day and World Oceans Day.
Namibia's Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Pohamba Shifita, said that Chinese companies not only contribute to Namibia's economic and social development, but also contribute to the protection of local biodiversity.
There are many such "side missions" in other countries of Africa -
——Talent training. "Teach people to fish" is also "teach people to fish". Since 2010, Zhengtai Group has responded to the call of the Botswana government to actively provide skills training for local employees. At present, the company trains more than 500 employees every year, each employee training time is more than 10 hours, involving brick laying, electric welding, water pipe, machine operation and maintenance and other projects.
- Educational action. Longyuan South Africa attaches great importance to local education, formulates scholarship programs, sponsors poor freshmen with excellent academic results to go to university, and provides internship opportunities; It also funded the establishment of a number of early childhood education centers in Dea Township, Northern Cape, to provide an educational platform for children from poor families in the territory.
-- Public welfare. Shanghai Foreign Economic Group Holdings Limited regularly organizes charity bazaars at Asmara Flea Market, the capital of Eritrea. The company's employees specially made posters and donation boxes for the event, packed the idle clothes, shoes, bags, books, etc. and sold them in the market, and donated all the proceeds from the charity sale to local children's welfare homes and nursing homes.
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Jiang Liping (right), a train driver from the locomotive division of the African Star Railway Operating Company, walks past a Mom-Nairobi locomotive with trainee Horace in Nairobi, Kenya, May 23, 2023. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Guansen
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. In recent years, Chinese enterprises in Africa have gradually realized the transformation from "going to Africa" to "settling in Africa" and then "taking root in Africa". As an important participant in China-Africa cooperation, many Chinese enterprises strive to make more and better benefits to the local people and promote people-to-people ties while producing and operating.
"The joint construction of the 'Belt and Road' is based on the principle of consultation, co-construction and sharing, and actively advocates the concept of win-win cooperation and the correct concept of righteousness and benefit. China's active CSR in non-governmental enterprises is an important embodiment of the above concept. Kostantinos Belhutesfa, a professor at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said. (Reporters: Jin Zheng, Xu Zheng, Hua Hongli, Li Hualing, Li Zhuoqun, Chen Cheng, Teng Junwei, Wang Lei, Wang Ping, Ji Li, Wang Zizheng, Zheng Yangzi, Shi Yu, Zhou Chuyun; Editing by Chen Dan, Wang Fengfeng, Du Yuge, Chen Yufen)
Source: Xinhua News Agency