"i am a witness and beneficiary of the friendship between congo and china" - a congolese veteran's story in china spanning half a century
2024-09-23
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"i am a witness and beneficiary of the friendship between congo and china"
——a congolese veteran's story in china spanning half a century
■liberation army daily reporters lou sijia and yang xiaolin
mfutu bids farewell to the officers and soldiers of the peace ark hospital ship. photo by liu zhilei
when 74-year-old congolese man mfutu passes by the sentry on the chinese navy's peace ark hospital ship, he always straightens his back and nods in greeting.
sitting in the ophthalmology clinic, he wiped the corners of his eyes with a towel from time to time, and tightly grasped an envelope in the other hand. the doctor asked him to take off his sunglasses, revealing his white eyes. "cataracts in both eyes, accompanied by sebaceous gland hyperplasia in the left eye. please go for a check-up first, and then go to the hospital for surgery." after listening to the ophthalmologist's words, mfutu replied in fluent chinese: "understood."
when everyone was surprised that he could speak chinese, mfutu took out a black-and-white group photo from the envelope in his hand. the photo was mottled and faded, but everyone could tell at a glance that many of china's older generation of party and state leaders were in the group. "this is me," mfutu said, pointing to a young man in the photo.
a story spanning half a century begins.
in 1970, mfutu, who had just turned 20, passed the selection process and became one of the first batch of congolese military students to study in china because of his excellent training results. "at that time, china attached great importance to our group of students. many older chinese party and state leaders cordially received us. the photo was taken at that time," mfutu said, and took out the "foreign student graduation certificate" and "study transcript" from the envelope when he came to china to study for the second time in 1973. the certificate shows "frigate signal soldier major" and "people's liberation army navy first school". the transcript has 5 courses with an average score of 90 points.
"i am a witness and beneficiary of the friendship between congo and china." touching the old photo, mfutu said that he has personally experienced many ups and downs over the years, but he has always treasured this photo and will pass it on to his descendants in the future so that they will remember the profound friendship between the two countries from generation to generation.
in the republic of congo, there are many marks that highlight the friendship between china and congo: the brazzaville cable-stayed bridge, national highway no. 1, the parliament building, the china-congo friendship hospital... "it was when i was seeing a doctor at the china-congo friendship hospital that i heard the news that the 'peace ark' was about to visit." mfutu was full of longing for china and rushed from brazzaville to pointe-noire to wait more than ten days in advance. "this is the first time i have stepped onto the deck of a chinese naval ship again in 50 years since i graduated and returned to china in 1974. it feels very different. the chinese people's diligence, bravery, hospitality and hospitality have not changed. we are grateful that you are treating patients in need."
on the evening of the 19th, ophthalmologist gao yu performed a left eye sebaceous gland hyperplasia removal surgery and a right eye cataract surgery on mfutu; on the evening of the 20th, he performed a left eye cataract surgery. "when he was young, the old man was a signalman. staring at the glare of the light for a long time was very damaging to his eyes. we also provided some suggestions for his postoperative recovery and long-term eye care." gao yu said.
when the world in front of him became clear again, it was also the time for mfutu to bid farewell to the peace ark. he said excitedly: "i am 74 years old this year, and i still remember that when china returned to the united nations, we were as happy as our chinese friends. china has become stronger, but it has never forgotten its old friends, which touched me very much. now, the cooperation between congo and china is getting closer and closer, which benefits from the concept of "china-africa community of shared future" proposed by china and its related practices. i hope that my country can learn from china's valuable experience, find a development path that suits itself, and achieve prosperity and strength."
(source: china military network-liberation army daily)
