French volunteer helps out during city outbreak

In the middle of the fight against Shanghai's latest outbreak of COVID-19, Clarisse le Guernic of France has become a bridge between foreign residents and epidemic prevention personnel in her community.

The 26-year-old, who can read and speak French, English and Chinese, is aiding the community by translating the epidemic control measures for fellow foreigners in the Ruijin Second Road subdistrict of Huangpu district. She also helps them and the elderly navigate apps to retrieve the QR codes needed for nucleic acid testing.

She took the initiative to become a volunteer in March, when the metropolis began trying to cope with its worst COVID-19 outbreak in over two years.

"Many elderly people live in our area, and as a group that can be easily infected with the novel coronavirus, they're not suitable for volunteering," she said.

"I'm young and strong, and compared with those who have to work from home, I'm more flexible. So I decided to be a volunteer without hesitation," said Le Guernic, who runs a tourism company in the city.

"Instead of being idle and depressed at home amid the resurgence of the pandemic, I want to spend more time doing something meaningful. That's why I'm here," she told China Daily while organizing residents to line up to have a nucleic acid test on the morning of April 27.

Wearing protective clothing and holding her small red bag, Le Guernic walked around Jianguo West Road to keep the line in order. She greeted everyone and also reminded them in both Chinese and English to maintain social distancing.

After finishing a nucleic acid test, a woman from the United States turned to Le Guernic and spoke of her difficulty in getting a mobile phone signal and topping up her mobile data.

"We volunteers are all in white, making us look the same, so the red satchel is my logo that will help foreign residents find me more quickly," she said, adding she also puts her mobile phone in the bag to prevent it from going missing and to free her hands to do other things.

With Le Guernic's aid, the US woman recharged her cellphone and got the mobile data she needed.

"She moved into our area on March 31, and the next day, Puxi, the west area of Huangpu River, was locked down due to the epidemic. This resulted in many issues, such as her not having had time to buy access to the Wi-fi network and daily necessities," Le Guernic said. "So she needs more aid and care."

To ensure the woman can continue receiving epidemic-related notices when her mobile data runs out, Le Guernic also explained the problem to other residents via a WeChat group. Luckily, she found a neighbor willing to share her Wi-fi network access with the woman during the pandemic.

Le Guernic has added foreign peers in the WeChat group, so she can translate notices sent by the subdistrict committee to them in a more timely manner. "When Chinese neighbors decide to buy food together in the group, I can also ask the expats if they have such a demand," she said.

The French woman became interested in the Chinese language when she was in middle school. Taking Chinese as her second language, she studied it in a college in Rennes, France. She went to Shanghai in 2015 and became an exchange student at Fudan University.

One year later, she went to Ningbo, Zhejiang province, to further study tourism management and later got an internship in the province's capital city of Hangzhou.

"But I finally went back to Shanghai because I love its history and architecture, and I have many friends here," she said. "Additionally, I also sought a job in the metropolis at that time."

The company where she worked closed due to the pandemic in early 2020.

"There were just two paths in front of me－return to France or find a new job. But both were hard and I wanted neither," she said. "So I decided to start my own business, even though it was difficult."

As founder of Arcade, she and her colleagues offer cultural and historical outdoor experiences, including city walks, scavenger hunts and team-building activities for residents and tourists in Shanghai.

"Many activities my company provides have been placed online because of the latest epidemic, but I'm optimistic about its future," she said. "Everyone's ideas and choices are different. They'll stay where they feel comfortable. For me, it's Shanghai, as my life is here."