Youth power-Zhang Shenyue with the International Care Package Project: aspiration for better life is universal

By Wang Ruoxin

According to the white paper “Youth of China in the New Era” , young people have always been the mainstay of volunteers providing services in large-scale events. The China Youth Volunteer Overseas Service Program has sent more than 700 young volunteers to over 20 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to provide services in areas like medical care, agricultural technology, civil engineering, industrial technology, economic management, and social development.

Zhang Shenyue, a 30-year-old Chinese youth, head of the International Care Package Project of China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), has been to Nepal, Cambodia, Uganda, Sudan and Mongolia since he got involved in international poverty alleviation. And he believes that in the future, more young people from China will go abroad and get engaged in all sorts of international work.

“As of May 2022, the International Care Package Project has been carried out in twelve countries including Myanmar, Nepal, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, Namibia, Uganda, Mongolia, the Philippines, Zimbabwe and South Sudan, benefiting more than one million people,” Zhang told Guangming Online.

In the interview, he also shared with us his most impressive experience in Northern Uganda where he had the privilege to be part of the Happy Home Project, a refugee resilience project, of which the main beneficiaries were refugees from South Sudan. He recalled, “It was a one hour drive from where we lived to the resettlement center, and I had to visit the center by car every two to three days so I could get better understanding about the project. I’d rather not eat before each trip because I could literally throw up on the bumpy road.” Through the project that he worked on for five months, he was deeply touched by the optimism of the South Sudanese refugees. He thought that every refugee who escaped the horror of civil war would have a sad story to tell, but every time he talked to them, he was impressed by how hopeful they remained about the life after the civil war. They were looking forward to family reunion and shared with him all the “business opportunities” on the ground. He said, “So, where ever one might be, the aspiration for a better life is something universal for all of us.” This made him realize that he wanted to continue working on global poverty reduction. He also thinks that young people must take a global perspective, establish the sense of “a community of shared future for mankind”, actively engage in global issues, listen patiently, speak boldly, and commit enthusiastically, so that the world can see a different image of Chinese youth.