The Southeast University in Nanjing City of eastern China's Jiangsu Province hosts over 1,000 international students. Many of them have been providing support in different ways in the fight against COVID-19.

Khalil Ahmad Hijrat is a PhD candidate of School of Medicine in Southeast University. He heard about the shortage of medical supplies in Wuhan while he was spending his holiday in Afghanistan, his home country. He managed to buy 20,000 facial masks in different cities and towns in Afghanistan and sent them to China's Embassy in Afghanistan to donate them to Wuhan.

"I would like to make my little contribution to Wuhan. Wuhan is not alone during the fight. Salute to the medical teams in Wuhan. Stay strong, China!" He said on the social media platform.

Over 300 international students stayed on campus of the university during the lockdown, and the school needed to find a dependable supplier to provide meals every day for them. Khalil decided to provide Halal lunches and suppers by his own restaurant for the international students despite the difficulty in arranging staff and finding food materials. 

Meanwhile, many international students have come forward and participated as volunteers. Dr. Mohammad Hassan is one of them. He gave up the opportunity to spend time with his family and stayed as a volunteer who helped the international students. The following is from his diary of this special period.

"On January 21, 2020, something unusual happened which is still going on without any break more than a speed of light. The news of the most threatening and life–taking virus broke into China. And in no time, awareness about virus was given to the citizens on daily basis. In this unexpected situation, the university started to give us precautions on how not to be a victim of this virus, such as wearing mask and gloves and checking the temperature with the thermometer.”

"The universities were ordered to shut down their gates and time was limited from 8:30 a.m. to 21:30 p.m. And we were kept as volunteers to keep a check that no stranger would enter the university without a student card. As to our expectation, we didn't get favorable response from the students at first. But we didn't lose our hope and tried our level best to continue our work and protect everyone's health," Hassan wrote.

Cover image: Khalil Ahmad Hijrat, a PhD candidate of Southeast University, donates 20,000 facial masks to Wuhan through Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan. /CGTN