Martin Li

    martin.mouse@163.com

    EXPATS in Shenzhen are lending a helping hand to the Sri Lankan parents of a 3-year-old boy, Dulan Nintharu, who suffers from a rare disease and is currently hospitalized at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital.

    The parents, Dinesh Ranil Askoa and Sujani Samarasinghe, speak Sinhalese and only a little English, which made it extremely difficult for them to communicate with doctors and nurses. The hospital and Shenzhen Volunteer Association started looking for a volunteer interpreter on social media like WeChat and Weibo on Monday night.

    Sam Fernando, a Sri Lankan living in Bao’an District, rushed to the hospital Tuesday morning after seeing the story on WeChat, offering to be a volunteer interpreter.

    “I decided to help them because they are from my home country,” Fernando, who speaks fluent Chinese, told Shenzhen Daily yesterday.

    Fernando works in a technology company in Shenzhen and has been living here for over 20 years.

    He said he will go to the hospital whenever the boy’s parents call him.

    “I’m also discussing with other Sri Lankans in Shenzhen about other means to help them. Subsidies may be one way,” said Fernando.

    He said it’s his first volunteer experience in Shenzhen.

    Ghanian businessman Anthony Prempeh, who also speaks fluent Chinese, is another expat who rushed to the hospital to offer help Tuesday morning.

    “Although I can’t speak their language, I do understand a little English. The parents need psychological love, which can be given by people who understand their language or English. They need to be taken out for meals and walks,” Prempeh said.

    Prempeh and a nurse took the boy’s parents out to a market to buy a rice cooker, a blender and some spices Tuesday morning so that they can use them to cook Sri Lankan food.

    The parents are staying in a room at the hospital while the boy is recovering from his operation. He needs to stay in the hospital bed for at least one month, according to Fernando.

    “The parents and nurses have our phone numbers, so they can call us whenever we are needed and we will help do the right thing,” said Prempeh, who lives near the hospital.

    The boy’s parents told Shenzhen Daily via Fernando yesterday that they are grateful for the help provided by volunteers, doctors and nurses.

    “They are warm-hearted, nice and helpful,” said the parents.

    A couple in Shenzhen paid for the Sri Lankan family’s transportation costs and the charity fund of Hongfa Temple has been subsidizing the boy’s medical treatment, according to Liu Liqin, who works as a secretary at the volunteer association.

    Liu said more than 200 people had called to offer help when they saw the story.