Expat business owner delivers food to checkpoint workers

Abdul Azeez Mohamed Azarudeen from Sri Lanka has pitched in since early February to help in the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus by delivering food to people dedicated to the struggle in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.

Azarudeen owns a store in downtown Quzhou and has been living in China for 13 years. Each year, he spends several months at his Chinese wife's home in Lizhu village, Qujiang district, especially during Spring Festival. This year was no exception.

However, the epidemic, which was first reported in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, hindered him from going back to work after the holiday. Instead, it gave him an opportunity to see how local villagers are fighting the contagion.

Lizhu village began to set up checkpoints along main roads on Feb 1 and designated young people, mainly members of the Communist Party of China, to register people coming in and out of the village, check their temperatures and disinfect public spaces.

Just 10 meters away from Azarudeen's home, there's a checkpoint.

"They work really hard from 7 am to 11 pm, and take shifts for the rest of the night," Azarudeen said.

He decided to prepare food for people working at the checkpoint as he noticed that most of the time, they had to wait for meals from their own families.

Azarudeen volunteered to prepare two meals a day for them and sometimes he offers something new, like Sri Lankan delicacies such as chapati and curry rice.

"China is my second home and I feel obligated to play my part in this critical period for the country," he said.

Qin Jirong contributed to this story