“作为一名在中国学习的非洲人，我感到自己肩负着重要的责任。我要用自己在中国6年的学习和工作经验帮助非洲人民抗击新冠疫情。”
今年23岁的秦朋和来自安哥拉，是华大基因援建非洲“火眼”实验室技术员。
近日，秦朋和在中国日报新时代大讲堂上分享了他在新冠疫情期间回非洲抗击病毒的故事。他说：“言语无法表达我对中国的感激。”
秦朋和
(Valdemar Rodrigues Augusto Tchipenhe)
华大基因援建非洲“火眼”实验室技术员
“新时代大讲堂”
英文演讲
《 用中国之所学 在非洲抗疫》
（略有删节，中文为译文）
大家好，我是秦朋和。我来自安哥拉。我今年23岁，是华大基因援建非洲火眼实验室的技术人员。
Hello, my name is Valdemar Rodrigues Augusto Tchipenhe. I'm originally from Angola. I'm 23 years old and work as a field-applied scientist at the BGI Genomics Huo-Yan Laboratory in Africa.
We have helped three African countries, namely Gabon, Togo, and Benin to do the installation of biological nucleic acid laboratories and provided workflow training to local lab technicians as well. After being put into operation, the Huo-Yan lab in Gabon will be the largest in the country.
In total, these labs will test up to 20,000 COVID-19 samples a day, which will also significantly improve the local capabilities in detection and diagnosis.
So today, my story is about coming from Africa, learning biotechnology in China, and helping African people in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic with the knowledge I have gained throughout my six-year study and work in China.
Honestly, our job here is not easy. My everyday life is divided solely between the labs and the hotel. As we come from overseas, we need to be quarantined first and follow strict rules to reduce our contact with the local people and lower the risk of contaminations. Installing devices, building up labs, training local technicians, and dealing with all the problems that may occur in the process. Even though the things I do here may look laborious, I still believe that I'm doing good for the benefit of African people, fighting against the coronavirus.
Therefore, my Chinese colleagues and I extended our stay in Africa, again and again, to make sure the local technicians can operate the machines and deal with the process in a precise way.
As an African, studying in China and bringing Chinese biotechnology back to serve my people in my home community, I feel as if I have extra responsibilities on my shoulders, as my childhood experience taught me how crucial medical institutions mean to African people.
我第一见到父亲流泪
My father was a well-known doctor in my city where I was born. He actually had a clinic right below our house. I've seen him save countless lives, but on one occasion when he failed to do so, it was the first time I've had ever seen him crying.
The case was about a little boy in my town that accidentally drank petrol. He then started having symptoms such as vomiting blood, breathing problems, and so on. By the time the boy was sent to our clinic, it was already too late for him to be saved, partially due to limited resources and equipment. There was damage to his lungs and esophagus, which led to his death shortly after.
I learned a valuable lesson from my father, which is being kind is part of being a doctor. Besides, I know clearly that aside from kindness, African people are in bad need of more development on the technology side, which can provide substantial support in the improvement of medical service as well.
17岁来到中国
The end of 2013 actually marked a turning point in my life. Right after my high school graduation, I received an offer from Zhejiang Normal University and a scholarship from the Chinese Scholarship Council for my study in China. That made me the first Angolan ever to win an award in biotechnology overseas, marking the start of my career as well.
Honestly, I did not know much about the world outside my country until I went to China at the age of 17. China was the first country I ever traveled to. It was also the first time I stepped out of my comfort zone.
In my final year of studies, I joined BGI Genomics as an intern. While in lab training, most of the trainees only spoke Chinese. I received a lot of help along the way, from my team and especially from my supervisor. Words would actually never be enough to express how grateful I am for them. Their warm welcomes and endless support are the reason why I have made it this far in my career.
After I was finished with the strict training for interns, BGI Genomics decided to hire me as an official employee with the title of a field-applied scientist for overseas labs. At the end of last year, the novel coronavirus disease was discovered and later became a global pandemic.
奋战在抗击病毒最前线
In the face of the new disease, BGI Group has designed a Real-Time Fluorescent RT-PCR kit for detecting COVID-19, and is also manufacturing a high-throughput automated sample preparation system, called MGISP-960, as well as running a sample extraction kit for results generation and further analysis.
Back then the lab technicians in Shenzhen were asked whether we would like to work in the lab to help the experiments as the sample size for virus detection always tended to increase. My answer was obviously yes because I'm not just as a person that aspires to be a scientist in the future, but as a person with values and respect for all of those risking their own lives in the front line against the virus.
I ended up joining the night shift team. It has been a great experience, mostly because I have a sense of accomplishment for doing good at the end of every shift I took.
Around a month ago, my boss told me that I was selected to be part of a team going to West Africa (Gabon, Benin, and Togo) for the Huo-Yan Project. "Huo-Yan" in Chinese stands for "Fire Eye" and derives from the classic Chinese novel about the Monkey King, who could spot devils in disguise in the "pupil of the eye".
BGI Genomics launched the Huo-Yan Laboratory for the screening and testing of COVID-19 for both present and future needs. I had the honor of being part of this project as one of the field-applied scientists entrusted with installing the lab and providing experiment workflow training to the local lab technicians.
6年后回来，有些不适应非洲的生活
刚开始在加蓬培训当地技术人员时，我通常会和我的同事们说汉语。一些当地技术人员以为我出生在中国，问我是不是中国人。当听说我来自加蓬的邻国安哥拉时，他们都惊呆了。
When we first started training the local in Gabon, I would generally speak in Mandarin with my colleagues. Some of the local technicians assumed I was also born in China and asked me if I am Chinese. They were all stunned when I said that I was actually from Angola, a neighboring country to Gabon.
At that moment, it is when I realized that the six-year study and work in China had changed me a lot. Even though I'm originally from Africa, I have already become accustomed to the lifestyle and how convenient things are in China. So I actually had quite a hard time to get used to things in Africa like internet speed, not being able to call for food delivery or Didi, etc. And that makes me realize how much I miss the life in China.
2020 has indeed been an unfortunate year for everybody. Life as we know it has come to a grinding halt since the novel coronavirus pandemic has left countries struggling to respond to the rapidly spreading virus, causing schools to shut down, employees to work remotely, and people to remain inside their homes in an attempt to contain the spread of the disease.
But honestly, I don't think I am in the position to complain because I have achieved way more this year than I ever did before, both in my career and life. And all of this has made me realize that no matter what life brings to you, as long as you are focused, you can achieve the unthinkable. Pause and reflect when you must, but don't ever settle for less than your grand vision.
“言语无法表达我对中国的感激”
Coming from a newly developed country in Africa, my goal is to return home and be a part of that same development. To achieve this goal, I chose to stay abroad until I am ready to make a difference there. The exposure I've had so far by being abroad made me realize two important things.
First, in a society like ours, I still don't have a voice loud enough for most people to hear. The best way to broaden my horizon is by being abroad, learning as much as possible, and expanding my connections as extensively as I can.
Second, once I am ready, I will return home and make contributions there. That is certainly not something that can be accomplished in the short term though. That is a life goal that I am committing myself to achieve eventually.
China has been my home for the past six years. And frankly, words would never be enough to describe how grateful I am for what this nation and Chinese people have offered me during this period-opportunities, friendships, life lessons, personal growth, and so on. I am enjoying the opportunity to be in West Africa and help my fellow Africans fight this pandemic. After the labs can (be run) functionally and efficiently by local technicians, I will feel a sense of accomplishment.
疫情之后，我想赶快回我的第二个家—中国，在深圳我最喜欢的地方，和最喜欢的人一起享受工作和生活时光。我已经很久没见到我的朋友们了，我想和他们一起逛商场、吃火锅。这是我回中国后最想做的事。
After that, I cannot wait to go back to China, my second home, and enjoy my time with my favorite people at my favorite places in Shenzhen. I'm so looking forward to hanging out in Coco Park with my friends that I actually haven't seen in quite some time now and eating really good hot pot. That's actually at the top of my to-do list when I get back.
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