It has been five years since I left Franceville, and although I have not returned to that place in my dreams, I do recall working and living there many times, and it always brings me some good memories.

"France" means "France", "ville" means "city", "Franceville" means "city of France". I thought I might see a lot of French people in Franceste. But I didn't see a lot of French people there. I did see some Lebanese people, mainly running supermarkets there. These people, whose country is caught in the war, are like rootless duckweed wandering around the world. Sometimes they will be introduced to see a doctor by their African friends, hoping that we will take care of them. Thinking of their war-torn countries, I feel even more fortunate to have been born Chinese.

In Franceville, we are foreigners. I remember that the Africa Cup of Nations was held in Gabon at that time, and Franceville was one of the tournament cities. At that time, the male players all went together to watch the match. In the audience, many local friends came to take photos with us. We became a popular foreigner. They were proud to take photos with Chinese people, which made me feel proud to be Chinese.

Africans are funny people, they are naturally happy people, and the smallest thing makes them laugh. If you think about it, living in such difficult local conditions, year after year, what's not to be optimistic? The country they yearn for most, of course, is France, and other European countries, but not many people can immigrate to France. The locals I have met here are very simple and friendly. Both children and adults would smile and say "hello" when they met us. Their pronunciation was so standard that we could hear them clearly. We do not know where they learned their Chinese, but through their simple, smiling faces, we can really feel their goodwill towards Chinese people.

The climate of Franceville is very interesting. There is no change of seasons, except the dry season and the rainy season. In the rainy season, it rains almost every day, and sometimes when we wake up in the morning, it's cloudy and raining hard outside the room, and we wonder how we're going to work in that weather. It was interesting that by 7:30, the rain would stop, and then the sun would come up, and it was as if all the water on the road had seeped into the ground, and the road would become dry again. Patients walk slowly to the hospital in their slippers, and our day's work begins.

Plants grow very fast in the tropics. We set up a small vegetable patch near our site and tried to grow vegetables. All kinds of vegetables grew very well, and even for a person like me who had never done farm work, we were able to grow tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, winter squash, and so on. In 2017, leaders of the Tianjin Municipal Health Commission came to Franceville, where we work, to visit the members of the medical team and understand the relevant situation. In May 2018, in order to improve the living conditions of the medical team members, the state shipped supplies from China and built a new greenhouse for vegetables, which greatly improved our problem of eating vegetables. Later, I tried to plant traditional Chinese medicine, but unfortunately, the time was too short and I returned to China without success. I thought that if I could plant Chinese medicine well, I might be able to better carry out the work of Chinese medicine in Africa.

The local traders are usually very friendly. I once bought sugar cane and wanted to take it home to eat. When I passed another vendor, she stopped me. She was a tall woman with a big knife in her hand. I was surprised and wondered what she was up to. She asked me to give her the cane and I gave it to her. She put the cane on her vegetable board and cut it into several pieces with a knife. Then she put it in a plastic bag and handed it to me. I said to her, "Thank you!"

That experience will live somewhere in my heart forever, popping up now and then to let me savour the good memories.

the author:

Li Xiuqiang (tianjin dong li district hospital of traditional Chinese medicine)

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