Nanning medico finds his own worth in Africa

Since his student days, Zhong Risheng, a 42-year-old anesthetist from Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has strongly believed that a doctor should be prepared to treat everyone, irrespective of their nationalities. That conviction has spurred him to go to Africa not once but twice as a member of a Chinese medical aid team organized by the government.

"During my first stay in Africa I saw how the people were short of doctors and medicines," he explains.

Cited as an outstanding doctor by China's national health authority in 2013, Zhong took the opportunity of attending the award ceremony in November to visit home.

On his first trip to Africa, from 2004 to 2006, he worked mostly in Zinder, Niger.

Zhong was a bachelor in 2004 when he left for that "unknown" continent. "My mother was still in deep grief because my father had just died of an illness and my elder brother had died in an accident in 2002. It was not an easy decision for me to leave China," he says.

By the time he went again to the archipelago island nation of Comoros in 2012, Zhong was a husband and the father of a 2-year-old son. "I owe my family so much," he says. "I appreciate my wife Zheng Qian's support and encouragement. She takes care of the whole extended family."

His wife, who is in her early 30s, says life without her husband can be difficult.

"Most children can play in the parks with their parents on weekends, but my son only has me by his side. That is the most uncomfortable time for me."

Many of his co-workers in China do not understand why Zhong chose to go to Africa a second time.