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Hand in hand, Heart to heart—Cultural exchange fellowship between China and Sierra Leone

In August 23rd, youth volunteers from our institute and 30 trainees from Sierra Leone got together and carried out a special cultural exchange meeting.

At the beginning of the event, the young volunteers introduced Chinese language, writing, food, clothing, drama and other aspects that the trainees interested in. The trainees were surprised at the diversity of Chinese language and interested in Chinese writing through the introduction of the origin, characteristics and evolution of it. The representatives also volunteered to try to write the four words of “Sai La Li ang” named “Sierra Leone” with their writing brush. They all indicated that Chinese characters were easy to read but difficult to write, and they were proud of completing their “writing works”. The volunteer representatives also explained Chinese food, ancient and modern costumes and drama to let them know more about China's profound culture. Finally, the volunteers taught them some simple and practical mandarin dialogue. The trainees showed an amazing gift for language and their pronunciation were accurate, which won our praise.

Subsequently, representatives from Sierra Leone told the Chinese people about their country's culture, including location, population, industry, agriculture, preferences and customs, and sang their national anthem in chorus finally. When their singing resounded through the venue, the Chinese people were moved and felt their love for motherland in their singing.

Our volunteers expressed thanks for their exchange and sharing, and held a birthday party for trainees who were on their birthday. The trainees sang the birthday song in Chinese they had just learnt and the scene was warm and touching. After the exchange meeting, we sang and danced hand in hand to release our talent for music.

The event came to an end in the cheerful chatting and laughing of trainees. What we heard most from their mouth was “I am very happy today”; “All of you are so nice”; “Xie Xie Ni Men”. Cultural exchange promoted the friendship between Chinese and the foreign members, and also deepened mutual understanding. Moreover, this event made both personnel feel the deep cultural heritage of each other, and also made the students fully feel the concern and warmth from our institute.