In early March, I saw a call for volunteers to help at the customs of Shanghai Pudong International Airport, and I applied for it without any delay. Before my departure for the volunteering work, I did two things: I called my parents; and I submitted my application for joining the communist party.

At the induction training session at the airport, we were told that our main responsibilities were assisting the customs staff with joint prevention and control of the virus, reminding passengers with a travel history in high-risk pandemic countries of filling in the relevant information in the “health cloud” app for customs entry, verifying the information synchronously and logging it onto the computer. We were asked to wear a full set of protective equipment including protective clothing, a N95 facial mask and a medical isolation cover. We had to refrain from drinking water or going to the toilet for at least 4-5 hours.

Our 20-member volunteer team worked in Terminal T2 of the airport. The passengers were overseas Chinese, overseas students, and foreigners who came to work in China. From March 28, the entry of foreigners was temporarily suspended.

We spoke English when helping foreign passengers. But some passengers spoke little English, which presented a big challenge for communication. I am a Master student of Chinese International Education at Tongji University, and had gained some experience from communicating with foreigners when I worked for the window service in the talent service center. So, my team members would come to me for help when they ran into communication difficulties.

At the peak of passenger flow, there were always passengers who were unable to fill in health information successfully for various reasons. We would communicate with them one by one to help them complete the customs clearance. Due to long-time talk, a thick layer of water mist often appeared on my facial mask. I had to adjust the mask repeatedly to ensure a clear vision.

We came across various special situations during the course. For example, some passengers did not know their contact numbers in China, and others could not use the app because their mobile phones were broken. No matter what the situation was, we would patiently help them solve their problems. One day, I saw a passenger pushing a luggage cart towards our service counter. He was wet with sweat because of anxiety. I approached him and helped him calm down by asking him to sit down beside us. He told me that a problem occurred when filling in his personal information; but he could not find out what was causing the problem. It turned out that his problem was because he failed to fill in a Chinese mobile phone number. He followed my suggestion by contacting his Chinese boss via WeChat. A minute later, he made it successfully. When he waved goodbye to me, he said "Danke! (thank you)" in German, to which I responded with "Bitte (you are welcome)". He looked back in pleasant surprise, nodding to me with a smile. German is my second foreign language. I was pleased that I could use it at this special time.

I was impressed by a passenger, an old Japanese who could not understand English, but could speak some Chinese. I was surprised to see he was able to complete his information in Chinese independently. It turned out that the old man learnt Chinese all by himself. He was not good at listening and speaking, but he could write some Chinese because he liked Chinese calligraphy, and often practiced writing Chinese characters. At that moment, I could not help feeling proud for speaking a language whose charm had attracted a foreign old man to learn it through self-study.

As a gateway connecting home and abroad, Pudong International Airport is now undertaking the arduous task of preventing and controlling the pandemic, which calls for close monitoring and reasonable control. "Guardians of Shanghai" composed of customs officers, medical workers, policemen and security staff, and volunteers are making all efforts to safeguard the "East Gate" in Shanghai and in China. I feel honored to have worked there.

Source：http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2020-04/11/content_1981148.htm