Good man in Africa
When Miao Yunsheng learned he'd be going to Sudan to work for China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), his preparations included studying the Quran. A liberal drinker and smoker, Miao ended up giving up alcohol and cigarettes as he settled in for a sojourn that eventually stretched into 11 years.
During this time, Miao came to be known among Sudanese employees, local inhabitants and tribal leaders as an especially conscientious and caring visitor to the extent that, when he was scheduled to return to China in 2006, an influential tribal chief prevailed upon the Sudanese Foreign Ministry for Miao to stay longer.
China's ambassador to Sudan relayed the request to CNPC and Miao did stay one more year, returning to Beijing just this spring.
Now 45, Miao is glad to be reunited with his wife and their college-aged daughter, having missed out on most of her childhood while he was abroad. He also was unable to say a final farewell to his own father, who passed away last year. But he clearly has no regrets about the firm friendships he formed in Sudan.
With short hair and glasses, and a frequent smile, Miao came across as a sympathetic and attentive person during an interview with China Daily.
"Maybe that's one reason I have so many friends in Sudan," he said. "I always consider respect for others as the most important thing."
Among the first group of staffers sent to middle-southern Sudan by CNPC in May 1996, Miao worked as a health, security and environment camp manager at "Block Six", a CNPC worksite to explore oil. He, a handful of other Chinese and about 10 Sudanese colleagues lived in the middle of forestland without telephone, radio, or regular use of vehicles. Their makeshift housing consisted of shipping containers. Evading vipers, spiders and other bugs was an everyday challenge. And the constant heat made Miao's skin peel.
Under these conditions, he worked with colleagues to explore for oil, and settled construction compensation for local tribes people.
The rigors of life at Block Six didn't change until proper housing and a clinic were completed in 2001. More and more Sudanese came to the area as word of the project spread, and local people sought jobs with CNPC.
By 2007, according to Miao, CNPC and related contractors had hired more than 1,000 additional Sudanese staff at Block Six, paying salaries that surpassed local standards. "Some ordinary tribe families could earn only several heads of cattle or sheep a year," said Miao, "and we indeed provided well-paid employment opportunities to local people."
But the company's presence also brought broader benefits, according to Miao. The area suffered from water shortages, especially during dry seasons, with tribes unable to dig wells deep enough to ensure a steady supply. On such occasions, Miao would deploy workers to arrange pipes diverting water to convenient locations. Tribes people then could drive their herds of cattle and sheep to drink there, and bring buckets of water back home.
"Without your help our sheep would have died," Miao said some herdsmen told him.
When Sudanese people in the neighborhood were seriously ill, Miao and other managers would arrange ambulances or even helicopters to send patients to the capital, Khartoum. As Miao's reputation for kindness spread, tribes people began calling him "Yusif", the name of a prophet of Allah.
Whenever Miao returned to Sudan from a vacation in China, he would bring gifts for Sudanese staff and other friends - including tea, cooking oil, porcelain and cameras. He said some families felt comfortable enough with him that the women, who usually covered their heads in the presence of men from outside the home, didn't wear headscarves when they had him over for dinner.
In March 2006, as Miao was getting ready to go back to China for good, the company suddenly informed him he'd be staying one year more.
He learned that a chief named Marktar of the Misuri tribe, whose region covered the whole of Block Six, had written a letter to the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, asking for help to make Miao stay longer. The request was passed on to the Chinese Ambassador to Sudan, Zhang Dong, who praised Miao as a "civilian ambassador" and asked that his departure be put off. "This great chief had scarcely asked me for anything for his own private reasons over the decade," said Miao, "but we are true friends and respect each other."
When his extended term finally expired in March 2007, Miao planned to return to China without any fanfare, but Marktar drove more than 100 kilometers to join in a send-off party that included the chief's wife and children, 10-plus other chiefs and local officials.
Miao Yunsheng and a Sudanese colleague work at Block Six in middle-southern Sudan, where China National Petroleum Corporation explores oil. Li Xiangyang |
Miao said the worth of his work really hit home as he was leaving. By that time, at Block Six alone, CNPC had constructed 580 kilometers of roads, 10 bridges and an airport.
Elsewhere across Sudan, the company has supported construction of 25 schools as well as supply of desks and chairs to 222 schools, and built 101 clinics and hospitals, as well as 185 wells and ponds. CNPC calculates that over 1.5 million Sudanese have benefited directly from this aid.
Cooperation in oil exploitation has boosted economic development, with Sudan's annual GDP now exceeding 8 percent. CNPC says it has provided jobs to more than 100,000 Sudanese while contributing to other employment sectors as the oil industry has grown.
"Cooperation between China and Sudan in energy resource development has played a positive role in helping the local economy and improving living conditions in Sudan," said Ran Zongze, a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies.
"If what I did is good for China, Sudan and the two countries' friendship, I am satisfied," Miao said.
(China Daily 05/11/2007 page20)
