"Oh, to lift you up high!":
Alumni Helpfulness in the Time of Covid
Liyan Ma, Shanghai 2020
From the brutal burnings of the Amazon to the once burgeoning warfare between Iran and America, coronavirus has fully dampened out all competitors for the most depressing event this year and taken the reigns as the newest threat to humanity.
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As the uncontrollably unforgiving force of coronavirus swept further across the world and affected day-to-day living, it’s kept 2020 in an unending loop of purgatorial pause. For many, it couldn’t possibly get worse and nothing is ahead of this bleak existence we now all live in. Someone who could see better days was Liyan Ma, a 34-year-old freelance documentarian from Shanghai.
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Two days before Chinese New Year, news of Wuhan’s lockdown brought a firm weight of wariness to Liyan’s shoulders as she looked forward to the celebrations.
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“We always have this massive national gala live streaming on TV and maybe a huge percentage of our country's people will all watch for New Years'. That night, I remember we weren't really in the mood of celebrating because of the depressing news and everything we've been watching every day.”
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Liyan usually celebrates alongside her fellow Chinese alumni whom all graduated from Cardiff University, but the semi-celebrating was kept to a group chat spanning over all corners of China and focussed entirely on this new viral threat.
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“We were all talking about this and how surprised we all were to see how bad it’s attacking the country and how terribly people were suffering.
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“One of the alumni suggested “why don't we do something?” and she had a friend in Japan who could have access to some medical supplies companies. She said, “maybe my friend can help us order in some PPE and send it to China.”
Medical packages collected and transported by doctors under the cover of night
That one small suggestion set off an inspired run of positive productivity for Liyan and the alumni.
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“We started a side group of anyone who wanted to join this little mission of helping and we had over 100 members joining the group. In the beginning, we thought “Well, how big can this deal be?” I mean, it's just ordering something online and then wait for it to be shipped to the hospital and that's our job done. We thought it was as simple as shopping online.”
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That naivety was quickly dispelled once attention was drawn to the details needed for correct personal protective equipment (PPE) and correctly organising shipments of medical goods internationally.
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“We realised “Oh god, these are the documents you need to prepare for customs, these are the documents where none of us read Japanese.” We needed a smaller core group to do the actual work rather than just having a massive discussion with 100ish people trying to make one decision.”
Members were given roles and ranked into specialised interests or line of work, with volunteers taking specific responsibilities like managing logistics, customs clearance, hospital contact, administrative duties, and so on.”
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From collecting money to studying PPE materials to finding an agreeable airline for shipping, the group successfully managed to make their unknowingly first donation of over 200 sets of PPE to the Hubei Maternity and Child Care Hospital in central Wuhan.
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“That was the first batch done and it took us eight days, from the beginning of the organising till the doctors actually getting it in their hands. I remember so many of us bursting into tears, like, finally seeing the doctor getting hold of the PPE. After that, we thought “why don't we continue this now that we know how this works?”
Close up of packages featuring the personalised messages from the alumni and specialised medical suit for covid wards.
A second batch was sent to Huanggang Municipal Epidemic Control Headquarters, the next city from Wuhan, and a third batch sent to Wuhan Tongji Hospital, which was one of the most overwhelmed hospitals during the peak of the outbreak in the city.
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“We were proud of ourselves and we were happy that we made it, because when it turned out to be way more complicated than we expected, we were like “Oh God, can we ever really make it?” Then, it happened and it was all so rewarding.”
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The groups' selection process for donations was based on where the news didn’t go as it was common knowledge which hospitals were the most affected.
However, Liyan felt that the underrepresentation of other places could mean a lack of distribution in support and finances to everyone who is struggling, not just the main establishments.
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“As long as we helped, even just for one doctor and one nurse that protect themselves when they go into a red zone, and then they can change if they need to, that makes it worth it.”
Doctor posing with new shipment of supplies at Wuhan hospital.
As more and more donations were flown in from other groups and organisation to Wuhan’s frontlines, an unexpected trend blossomed among donors where ancient poems or proverbs decorated the fronts of boxes as a sign of support for the health workers.
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“There were boxes from Japan, and they put an ancient Chinese poem on it saying “mountains and seas apart, but under the same sky” so it's like they are expressing an idea that we are not in the same country with you but we are under the same sky and we share this destiny.
“When we wrote our note, I thought they've had enough stress laid upon them, they are carrying enough pressure saving people's lives and witnessing death every day. Instead of the usually spammed proverb, we wrote “Oh, to lift you up high!”
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She added: “It’s a very loving saying mostly said to a child as a way to cheer someone up or show how you adore them. I remember that one of the doctors who noticed the message as we talked over facetime and his eyes welled up.
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“That's all I want. It's actually quite silly because it's something you say to your loved ones but we wanted it to be personal. As long as it brings someone a smile, it's worth it.”
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After the three batches were complete, the group turned their focus towards the source of their companionship and decided to donate their remaining funds to Cardiff University in support of its student mental health services.
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Recent reports showed a growing hostility to the Asian community in Wales, which sparked major concern for Liyan, thinking back on her trials during her academic years.
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“When I was there in 2013 and 14, I received racist yelling from random passers-by. What can you do but just ignore it, but I know that the situation can be quite heated now with people calling the Chinese out for supposedly, purposely spreading the virus.”
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The experience didn’t linger long in her mind as she had to encounter the realities felt by friends still in Cardiff who have sustained verbal abuse and xenophobic rhetoric as concerns for coronavirus increased.
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“My friends who are studying there now started wearing masks quite early in February and they told me that they've been yelled at on the street or they've been laughed at, received nasty gestures, people rolling their eyes, people even yelling at them to “go back to your country! Don't bring the virus here!” I can't imagine how those students feel when they are kind of stuck there.”
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When the university asked the alumni how they would want the school to use the money, the sole focus was on mental support. Despite the isolation and tension surely felt by Asian students at the time, the general realisation of international flights being either canceled or much too costly for students means they're stuck in their halls of residence came to mind and so everyone had to be accounted and cared for.
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“If we can help with supporting that, maybe they can use this money to hire more therapists or counselors to organise sessions or something to help the students and the staff.
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“It's actually quite a shame for them because it's not cheap. They paid to go to the UK and with all the accommodation and everything, you end up only have half of your year really enjoying your life in the UK and the rest, you are stuck in your dormitory and doing online courses.”
Ms. Rawlinson helped the funding process for the alumni to give back to their old university.
TJ Rawlinson is the director of development & alumni relations at Cardiff University and has worked closely with the alumni to ensure their donations are spent according to their requests: “As you can imagine during the pandemic, student wellbeing takes on new emphasis and focus and some of that has involved shifts in our mental health provision.
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“Just awareness that some students who were already at risk might need some additional support than other students, who had not been at risk but have found that the pandemic has made them anxious. So being able to provide targeted support for individuals who come to our attention has been really valuable for the university.”
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One of the things that Liyan and the rest of the Chinese alumni were particularly interested in was the Covid Protection Fund, which is to provide support for the physical and mental wellbeing of students and staff.
Donations to the fund will:
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Provide PPE for staff and students to keep to the latest Covid guidelines in Wales
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Financially support students facing unexpected hardship
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Prepare the campus thoroughly for a safe return for students and staff
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Students and staff struggling with anxiety, isolation, and loss will receive funded personal mental health support
“The Chinese alumni donation was just under £5000 all together, which was amazing for nearly 200 people to come together and give that at a time when China itself was in the throes of the pandemic,” said Ms. Rawlinson.
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“Anytime a donor leads by example, it inspires other people to think “I could be generous.” When our Chinese alumni came in to support us in that way, it allowed us to highlight their generosity, and it did bring other donors together.
“In total, our Covid Protection Fund has had close to £70,000 in donations altogether. Being able to launch the fund and to bring our ideas together, the alumni's £5000 was the seed that has built a really important fund for us looking after our students in such an unpredictable year,” she added.