People in our hearts means strengths in our legs; obligations in our hearts means responsibilities on your shoulders. In order to stimulate young students’ sense of social responsibility and mission, postgraduates from SBA proactively carried out the activity naming “Doing Practical Deeds for the People” in the Nanhu Community, Guanshan Sub-district, Hongshan District, Wuhan, Hubei Province, which were guided by Zhao Yuanyuan, director of the Postgraduate Affairs Office, and student counselors Jiang Qianqian, Xu Yiling and Jiang Weimin from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm on June 9th, 2022. They assisted the community in completing a survey of residents’ willingness to rebuild the old urban areas in the way of door-to-door surveying.
At the beginning of this activity, staff of the Nanhu community gave training to the volunteers on household surveys and reminded them to fully respect the wishes of the residents. Afterwards, led by the staff, the student volunteers went to the buildings respectively in groups to conduct the public opinion poll.
The volunteers visited 17 residential buildings in total during which they patiently explained the purpose of this survey, helped them to fill in the Survey on the Willingness of Residents to Renovate Old Urban Areas, and collected residents’ views and suggestions on such renovation. The over-60s, the majority of the community, cares more about “elderly-oriented” reform to facilitate life and travel of the elderly. “I have to assume the responsibility because I am also a member of this community”, 74-year-old Grandma Lei said. She expressed her willingness to renovate this neighbourhood and to allow property management to take charge of the follow-up maintenance work. Meanwhile, she suggested that the neighbourhood be equipped with more lighting. Over-80-year-old Grandma Yan, who is a retired teacher of ZUEL and has lived in the Nanhu community for 25 years hoped that the neighbourhood could install elevators to provide the elderly with easier access to go upstairs and downstairs. Also, she filled in each question carefully and was willing to financially support the renovation of old urban areas, insisting to share bliss together.
The renovation of old urban areas is a project that can deliver real benefits to local people. During this volunteer activity, those volunteers put the people at the center, and enhanced their sense of responsibility and honour in serving the people and the community, thus gaining a deeper understanding of their mission and responsibility as youth in the new era. Fang Weiting said that it was very meaningful to serve the residents and she would always follow the basic principle of “serving the people wholeheartedly”, participate in more primary-level Party building activities, and accumulate more social practice experiences so as to serve the people better. Mu Huihui said that after this activity she has understood the hard work done by community workers and promised to take real action to take up her responsibility, and to dedicate herself to the people.
There is no small matter in people’s livelihood; every branch and leaf is a matter of concern. Through this “Doing Practical Deeds for the People” volunteer activity, the students gained deeper understanding of the need to follow the principle of “from the masses, to the masses”, grasp the facts of the masses, understand the needs of the people’s well-being, and to listen to the people’s opinions, so as to continuously help people feel more satisfied, happier and secure.