A journey through time: my China story

It was on a chilly evening on the 12th of September 2018, when I arrived at Xinzheng International Airport in Zhengzhou, Henan province. I was this naïve 19 year old Ugandan boy, who was for the first time was in a foreign land. Joy, anxiety and the fear of the unknown gripped my soul but I was confident enough that where I was going, it would be memorable. I had come to China to undertake my studies in software engineering on a scholarship provided by Zhengzhou university. I'm forever grateful to this very day to the Chinese government for granting me this opportunity and that of many students all over the world to pursue their education in Chinese universities. The initial months were one of study, adventure and coping with the huge differences in Chinese culture and climate with that back home. My body's initial reaction to winter was cruel, I couldn't use chopsticks to eat more less eat Chinese food and most importantly I wasn't fluent in Chinese. However, credit must be given to Zhengzhou university for providing us with the necessary teachers and course units such as Chinese language and Chinese culture which provided us a foundation to understand China and make our stay in China quite comfortable. The beauty of studying internationally is that your able to meet all these different students from around the world from different walks of life, all with amazing stories and ideas. My most memorable period during my first year in China, were my solo trips to both the Henan museum and Henan geological museum. I was completely amazed by the rich Chinese history and geological knowledge at display, and as I sat staring at my phone watching the 70th anniversary celebrations on the founding of the People's Republic of China on 1st October 2019, a sense of appreciation towards the Chinese nation gripped my soul.

Initially little was known about COVID-19 and most of my classmates and I were scared. As most of my peers decided to head back home, I and a few other students decided to stay and fight in solidarity with the Chinese people during the pandemic. At the height of the outbreak in Zhengzhou, the university was closed and the apartment complex from where I stayed, limited entry and exit to only four hours a day. At school, the school of international education (SIE) organized food giveaways to students especially vegetables. In a bid to continue our education, the school organized online classes for both students at home and in China through platforms such as the superstar app, ding talk and Tencent meeting app. Since basically we live in a world where misinformation and fake news, getting the right news about the pandemic was crucial in fighting it. I often got the right news from WeChat platforms such as jobtube.cn, CGTN and China Daily that provided the official government statistics about the pandemic as well as official communication from the school. By March, the pandemic in China had improved and as I stood in solidarity with the rest of the country in mourning the dead on April 4th, 2020 my thoughts where with my countrymates back home, where the pandemic had started.

During this period, I was also a student leader at the Uganda Students Association in China, where together with other student leaders we organized and helped students during the pandemic. The association was instrumental in getting funding from the Ugandan government to help students stranded in Wuhan and as well as offer repatriation flights for the graduating students. It was also during this time, that I took part and won the 2020 my China story essay competition where I wrote about China fight against the pandemic.

As the storm cleared and the situation improved, the school of international education organized student activities such as the online keynote speech under which I took part and spoke about the role under which technology has to play in society. Later in October 2020, we went to the Yellow River scenic view and the Tianchang Mountain ranges to get a glimpse of China's great natural beauty. it was truly awesome experience.

When China started the roll out of its vaccination policy in late 2020 with the aim of vaccinating 60 percent of its population by the end of 2021, I was very eager to take part. Vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic and I was eager to be part of the initiative to attain herd immunity. The vaccination drive for international students of Zhengzhou University started in May 2021, with me and other 50 students becoming the pioneers of the program.

I'm grateful for the opportunities China has given unto me over the past three years, and I believe soon many more international students will come to China to share the wonderful memories, that I have also experienced.

Rugaba John Paul is a 23 year old Ugandan student studying software engineering at Zhengzhou University. He has been in China since September 2018. While in China, he has also served as a leader in the Uganda student community in China.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.