More than 600 years ago, Chinese navigator Zheng He (1371-1435) in the Ming Dynasty led seven expeditions around the Indian Ocean from Taicang, Suzhou, and arrived in Kenya four times, bringing silk, porcelains, and friendship.
Ten years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Now, Kenyan girl Mwamaka Shariff, a descendant of sailors travelling with Chinese explorer Zheng He, has changed her destiny and is writing a new chapter for her life, benefiting from the long-lasting Sino-Kenyan friendship and the Belt and Road Initiative.
With her efforts and help from the Chinese Government, Shariff came to Taicang in 2005 and attended the ceremony of the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages as a descendant of sailors travelling with Zheng He. She then studied at the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Clinical Medicine and a Master's degree in Pediatrics of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine.
During her studies, she often practiced at the Taicang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. While she honed her professional skills, she wished to visit the place where Zheng He started the voyages and find the historical relics. Luckily, related departments in Taicang offered assistance with her studies and life. Shariff often told others, "I am a Taicangnese."
Recently, Shariff came back to Taicang. Apart from visiting the TCM plantation in Dianzhan Village, Chengxiang Town, Taicang, Shariff paid a visit to her teachers from the previous internship at the Taicang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and inquired about opening a clinic. She said that she desired to open a TCM clinic in Kenya so that she could help improve the backward medical conditions in her hometown by using what she learned at the university.
Her story is a vivid case denoting the 10-year development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Shariff has told us a stunning story on the shared aspiration and pursuit for a better life through personal efforts.
Small as it is, her figure reflects the long-lasting friendship between China and Africa, Suzhou's opening-up to the world, and its confidence in Chinese culture, projecting the Chinese wisdom of building a community with a shared future for mankind and adhering to the people-centered principle.
