in the summer of 2012, mrs. meng bo, associate dean of the school of public policy & management(sppm) of tsinghua university, leaded the impa 2012 class to visit ying xiu town., the memorial place where the ying xiu middle school relics lies. the purpose of the visit was to commemorate the history of chinese people standing firmly together to relief and recue during the earthquake on may 12, 2008.
on the relic’s site, most of the building collapsed. there were huge boulders and broken reinforce bars lying on the ground. witnessing the immense earthquake destructive force, the impa 2012 class understood deeply that life is not easy to come by and we should help each other and cherish it. when the students heard that there were many children lost their parents due to earthquake, and some of them were facing great difficulties. karaffer blaise (chinese name as ke hao), a student from cote d’ivoire immediately stepped forward and expressed to meng bo, the associate dean of sppm, about his decision to contribute some money to prevent the earthquake orphans from dropping out the school. meng bo contacted then mayor zhou chunying, he recommended with great attention of 3 orphans who were in primary school, middle school and university respectively. considering the language communication issue, sppm chose an orphan (name as yao yao) who studied at southwest university for nationalities. yao yao lived in community xiu ping, ying xiu town, and lost both of her parents during the earthquake. from then on, ke hao donated ￥200 from his ￥2000 monthly stipend to support the school supplier. the donation continues until ke hao’s graduation from sppm, tsinghua university. before returing to his country, ke hao said that he had discussed with his wife, and they would continue to support until yao yao graduated from university and found a job. the faculties and staffs are all moved, because ke hao did not have a high salary in his region, and he had to support his family, and would also confront much inconvenience about money transfer. but all of that did not stop ke hao’s determination and generosity. when he came back to his country, he persisted to donate every month and increase the donation to ￥300. every month he had to go to the local post office and filled in the form and transferred the money to sppm program office, and program office relayed to yao yao. the “love relay” continued until yao yao found a job after graduation.
ke hao wrote a book based on his donation story, and published in french, and set up a website(). the domain name was his chinese name and yao yao’s name. he said that the part of income from selling the book would continue to donate the earthquake orphans in wen chuan, and child from cote d’ivoire. his good deed also got local chinese embassy’s support.
life goes on, but the memory never fades. wen chuan earthquake was seven years ago, but for the survivors and rescuers, no matter you are chinese or foreigners, will never forget; and want to do something, to promote something, to improve something. ke hao’s experience in impa program in tsinghua university, not only changes his life, but also changes other’s life. he benefits academically and more importantly, he fosters and enhances his friendship with china. the “love relay” between he and tsinghua faculties and staffs has become the symbol of international care and friendship. just as what ke hao said, “tsinghua university does not only provide teaching, tsinghua university impacts students for a better future in the world.”