27. Boundless life, boundless world. By Dr. Manu
I am Dr. Emmanuel MANIRAFASHA (Ph.D.), but most friends call me Dr. Manu or Maboshi (马博士) here in China. My Chinese name is 马希望; it is recognized as an official Chinese name because it is mentioned on my accommodation registration form for persons from abroad (local residence permit), my Chinese driving license, and car registration certificate. I am from Rwanda, “The land of a thousand hills” referred to as the heart of Africa. I work as a Senior Scientific Research and Development expert at XIAMEN CANCO BIOTECH CO., Ltd (厦门昶科生物工程有限公司). My story has three main parts: how I get to China, my studentship and work experience in China, and my love for China as my second homeland.
Dr. Manu
I have been excited to visit China since I was a young boy due to Chinese movies, particularly Jacky Chan’s films called “Who I am” and “Drunken Master I & II.” My dreams came true the first time I came to China in September 2008 for my master’s program at Xiamen University. It was the start of my Home Away from Home, the first time in my life that I spent eighteen months abroad without meeting my relatives and my girlfriend face to face.
Living in a country where I do not understand and speak any word in the local language was challenging. Fortunately, we came in a group of twelve students from Rwanda; four were my classmates. I thank everyone who contributed to the sustainability of the Rwandan community in Xiamen. We try to create entertainment such as sports activities and room parties to attract foreign and Chinese friends. Apart from making our entertainment activities, we actively participated in various activities organized by the University and other international students’ communities through extra-curriculum activities:
Community Work
From our initiative, we participated in community work (general cleaning around Xiamen City) during the typhoon period (2015); volunteering cleaning of displaced places.
Cleaning around Xiamen City during the typhoon period (2015)
Culture Exchange
Rwandan community in Xiamen actively participated in the Food Cultural Festival organized by Xiamen University Cultural Groups.
Cultural exchange and festival participation
Representatives of the Rwandan students’ community have offered traditional symbolic Rwandan culture gifts to Xiamen University President’s offices. The gifts are traditionally symbolic of Rwanda culture: a traditional Basket known as “AGASEKE” in Kinyarwanda.
Agaseke
Agaseke symbolizes secrecy, love, and peace. Another part of the gift is a woodcraft that shows the geographical map of Rwanda with handshaking in it. From the Woodcraft gift, we would like to express the bilateral cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Rwanda sustainable and further collaboration.
Cultural exchange and gift with small giving
Volunteering Service
There was a time we were requested to help a Chinese friend who had low blood platelets; I am thankful to Almighty God that the life of that Chinese friend was saved. Since that time, I have decided to donate blood regularly. It emphasized that people with different skin colors are one family even if some people deliberately create discrimination. Rwanda Students and workers are also willing and very passionate about blood donation to save the lives of people in need.
Dr. Manu’s blood donor card
Concerning my studies in China, I did not face any problems in coursework as our professors taught us in English as planned. The main challenge came when I started my research, where most of the laboratory machines were labeled in Chinese. That challenge did not discourage me, but it motivated me to maximize my working time, where I had to find someone to explain the functionalities of the equipment. During training sessions, I try to make notes that would guide me while I have to manipulate the machines on my own. After graduation in 2010, I returned to my country for work and family responsibilities. In September 2014, I returned to China to do my doctorate program at Xiamen University. I luckily joined the same supervisor and lab group. During my doctorate program at Xiamen University, I diligently performed my assigned tasks and responsibilities, thus winning an outstanding international student award in 2018.
Our team
My work at CANCO is to develop biological products, especially algal-derived products, to promote healthy environments and people. After realizing that one drop of seawater contains millions of various microorganisms, I decided to focus on Natural Resources and Technology Deployment for Green Economy and Sustainable Development. I have developed a unique diatoms product with two functionalities: live aquatic foods for shrimps and fish and a water purifier.
I consider China as my second homeland, which pushed me to assign my three sons official Chinese names (希望, 小王, 和马哇哇). In that line, I decided to work and link with Chinese institutions and companies to exchange knowledge and resources for full deployment, as China has established the Belt and Road initiative for sharing resources and technology that many countries are gaining from development projects initiated by China. I will continue to create jobs for Chinese people and foreigners through B-2-B companies’ cooperation and partnership, thus leading to impressive mutual benefits for sustainable development.
My message to everyone: the world does not possess absolute truth; it needs your truth. It is currently challenging for everyone who wishes to come to live in China to get trustable and complete information from social media or mainstreaming news channels; because of plenty of fake news. From now, if every person provides reliable information, it will be trustworthy to get salient news and information from social media in the future. Let me share quotes that inspire me: “Do whatever you can, with whatever you have, wherever you are.” Theodore Roosevelt; “All of us together can bring a greater change in this world.” Shadab Hassan