By Gao Junya - CGTN Radio Journalist & Producer of the "China-Africa Talk" Podcast
How much can a doctor learn in ten months? For Himidati Nassim, a general practitioner from the China-Comoros Friendship Hospital, those months have been an opportunity to learn anesthesia skills her hospital urgently needs. I met Nassim at the People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China, where she was learning to help keep patients breathing safely through surgery. Her training is part of a cooperation program between paired-up Chinese and African hospitals. When I interviewed her, Nassim described learning to intubate patients and monitor them during operations. She was becoming more confident in an operating room that had initially felt unfamiliar. What interested me most was how carefully her training had been tailored to the work awaiting her at home. Her instructor, Gong Zheng, had visited the China-Comoros Friendship Hospital and seen its conditions himself. Most operations involved trauma, obstetrics and gynecology, and equipment was limited. Back in China, he adjusted the teaching to emphasize techniques, including spinal anesthesia and nerve blocks, suited to those circumstances. I think that decision captures something important about China-Africa cooperation: its value grows when knowledge is adapted to the people and places that need it. Nassim and her teachers faced a language barrier. So did I during our interview—a reminder that it’s never too late to learn French. They used translation apps, repeated explanations and practical demonstrations. Behind each new skill were hours of patient work on both sides. Her determination was matched by instructors willing to find ways to teach her.
The results of such training reach beyond one person. Gong Zheng told me about an operation in the Comoros to remove a piece of wood lodged deep inside a child’s ear. He provided anesthesia, assisted by Ali, a previous trainee in China. The child recovered. Knowledge gained in China had become part of a team providing care locally. Listening to these experiences, I came to see lasting capacity as a useful measure of cooperation.
The same idea emerged in my interviews for a story on Luban Workshops, which offer vocational training to help young Africans gain practical skills and improve their employment prospects. Ethiopian student Kalkidan Kibrete recalled her excitement when the electrical automation skills she had learned at the Ethiopia Luban Workshop proved useful in a pipe manufacturing factory. Her experience also encouraged younger women to pursue engineering. Chinese teacher Jiang Jiang explained how teaching in Ethiopia had changed him, too. He rewrote lessons to give students more time with machines, allowing them to see their programs produce real results. Local students and teachers later asked for him and his wife to return after their first assignment.
His work in Ethiopia has now spanned 14 years, and he plans to return next year to help introduce new fields of study and technologies. These stories helped me understand the human foundation of industrial cooperation. Factories need people who can operate and maintain equipment, and training creates opportunities for local workers to take on those responsibilities.
In Changsha, African business representatives visiting SANY’s factories spoke about the technologies they wanted for their own businesses. Africa brings a young workforce and growing markets; China brings technology, manufacturing experience and investment. Together, these strengths can support local production and skilled jobs. I reported these stories this year as China and Africa mark the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties and celebrate the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges. Healthcare, vocational education and industrial development are different sectors. But together, they gave me a clearer understanding of how China and Africa can build a shared future through practical cooperation. At the end of the interview, Nassim anticipated shortages of staff and equipment when she returned home. Yet she spoke with confidence about using what she had learned and working with the resources available. That confidence stayed with me. China-Africa cooperation gains meaning through people like her. Its promise lies in the skills they acquire and the work they will carry forward.
Ten months of training can be one step in a much longer partnership, with benefits that continue through the patients treated and the students trained.
Gao Junya Contact her via: gao.junya@cgtn.com
Here are the links to the interviews: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LAgThKJ-A3w9r40Wegmm_mHLFWKBbAD9/view?usp=sharing [06/10, 10:45] CGTN Beijing Junya Gao: https://youtu.be/ks8R5ghbGQ8?si=hniiGE-Kgdm0sQo3 [06/10, 10:47] CGTN Beijing Junya Gao: https://youtu.be/YPeb6UJxDrg?si=wvZEqpoMJMAx-vjX [06/10, 10:47] CGTN Beijing Junya Gao: https://youtu.be/Flr5hKgMw1s?si=g68MteVNxk5rP7UB