Chinese doctor Zhao Jianfeng conducts cataract surgery in Sri Lanka. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Addressing difficulties

With its geographic advantage, the southwestern province of Yunnan initiated the "Hand in Hand" program, a nonprofit initiative, in 2022 to provide aid through small yet smart projects to nations in South and Southeast Asia, including Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Over the past two years, 92 programs have been launched in 17 countries, benefiting more than 2.6 million people. The programs have provided medical assistance and safe drinking water, installed energy-saving streetlights, upgraded rural roads and offered vocational skills training.

In recent years, the Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group, which has been investing and operating in Laos for 26 years, has conducted 11 small-scale assistance projects in the country, including constructing basketball courts and providing water purification equipment for schools, installing streetlights for rural villages and donating books.

Zhang Youzuo, head of the company's overseas programs in Laos, recalled his visits to remote mountain villages lacking streetlights and kindergartens with old, shabby teaching tools.

"It is difficult for villagers to go out at night, and the kindergarten can no longer meet the kids' educational needs," he said.

To address practical difficulties for the Lao people, the company installed 70 solar streetlights in two villages in Oudomxay province.

The company also donated equipment such as desks, chairs and bookshelves to kindergartens in a village in Oudomxay.

The projects provided timely solutions to daily challenges and improved the villagers' living and schooling conditions, Zhang said.

"I remember when we handed over the projects, local villagers spontaneously prepared meals for us to express their gratitude. A villager from Namodai told me that thanks to the streetlights, he no longer has to walk in the dark at night.

"Receiving such feedback makes me feel proud and honored," Zhang said, adding that 26 years of construction efforts have proved worthwhile, as local people truly appreciate the work his company has done.

Wang Yu, vice-president of the Yunnan Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said that by taking the locals' situations into consideration, the projects under the "Hand in Hand" program have achieved quick and tangible effects, and can be replicated and promoted to meet the needs of people in other areas.

The projects have garnered widespread popularity due to their emphasis on addressing people's immediate concerns, she said.

They have also brought about a mutual trust between the people of Yunnan and neighboring countries, enhancing people-to-people exchanges, she added.