Chinese youth volunteers call on VP Meriton |07 February 2018
A group of 12 Chinese volunteers met Vice-President Vincent Meriton yesterday at State House.
This volunteer team is the 8th batch of youth from the China Youth Volunteers programme launched in 2007.
The programme is funded by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and carried out by the Guangzhou Volunteers Centre in collaboration with the Seychelles’ department of foreign affairs.
The group, consisting of five men and seven women, arrived in Seychelles on January 8 and they will be here for a year.
These highly educated youths are working in the department of health, department of culture, the National Sports Council and the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC).
The Chinese volunteers were accompanied to meet VP Meriton by the Chinese ambassador to Seychelles Yu Jinsong.
Ambassador Yu said it was a great honour for the group to be received by the vice-president and it will also encourage them.
“Since 2007, it has already exceeded ten years with a total of 8 groups who have come to Seychelles to volunteer from the Guangzhou Province. A total of 106 Chinese youths have contributed to Seychelles especially in various public service areas,” she said.
She said they engage in medical treatment and health, information technology, electrical engineering, architecture and construction, music instruction and gymnastic instruction.
She said Seychellois have benefitted from the contributions of the volunteers and they reinforce the existing friendship between China and Seychelles.
Dr Peng Yi, who is a community doctor based at the English River health centre, said she has already started making friends.
“I think the health sector in Seychelles is more useful than in China, because people receive medical care for free and in China we need to contribute more than 20% of the fee,” she said.
Li Guidong, who is a physician, is now based at the Seychelles Hospital in the medicine department.
“I am enjoying my stay in Seychelles as the people here are very nice... I think the weather is very good because back in Guangzhou the weather is also hot,” she said.
A system support technician based at PUC, Xu Yujin said Seychelles is a very beautiful country and PUC is a very good company.