On 27th April, 2018, Yang Lei Feng Volunteers Association held a Blood Donation Exercise entitled “Give Blood Save Life” in front of International Student Dormitory Building 5. Many international students participated in this voluntary activity.
The origin of the exercise has a touching story. Back in 2012, an international student was seriously ill and badly in need of blood, but the blood supply was in shortage. To help him, some other international students volunteered to donate their blood. Then Yang Lei Feng Volunteers Association set the Blood Donation as an annual exercise to help those in need as the blood supply in hospital is constantly inadequate.
“I have taken part in this activity since the first year. I am glad that my blood could help those in need,” said Xiaorong, who was in charge of the exercise this year. She then introduced the procedure of blood donation to the correspondents of English Press Corps, “The exercise could be roughly divided into four parts. In the first part, the donor needs to fill in a form of their basic information. Considering the fact that some foreign students have trouble reading Chinese, English forms are provided and some volunteers from the School of Foreign Language help translate the words. Then the donor would go to the doctor and take a simple test that could check if there is anything wrong with the blood and identify the blood type. Then is blood donation process. And after that, the donor would receive a small gift and a blood donation certificate.” Doctors from Wuhan Blood Bank are quite responsible and the exercise has a regular process. No matter how much blood they donate they will receive the same gifts; It’s not the amount but their awareness that counts.
Students from different countries took an active part in this project, such as Bangladesh, Thailand and Malawi. Here are some interviews of the donors:
Q1: Why are you willing to donate your blood?
Akib Irfan from Bangladesh: I think this is a good exercise. I can help others and it benefits me at the same time. I’ve donated for several time in my own country
A girl from Malawi: I want to save a life. I know there are some people who die because they lack blood. This is my sixth or seventh time to donate blood and I’m going back to class, encouraging my classmates to come.
Q2:I notice that you have been paced up and down for over 2 hours there, are you very afraid of this exercise?
Zhang Mianmian from Thailand: Yes, I’m very nervous because this is my first time to donate blood. But I’m very glad to donate. Out of tension, I called my mother to consult whether I should take part in this program and my mother encourage me to do so, because there are many benefits of blood donation. I’m so nervous that the doctor suggest me to sit aside to have a rest and calm down before I donate. You see, I’ve perspired a lot.
Q3:What’s your feeling after your donation?
Akib Irfan from Bangladesh: Nothing much. I’ve been familiar with this. The first time I donated blood, I felt cold but now I’ve been accustomed to this, and I feel good.
