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April 28, 2015

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Elderly have many reasons to thank 鈥榝ire captain鈥

“Zhu, I am cooking rice in the electric cooker and there is a electric blackout. Please have a look or I will have to eat half-done rice.” Zhu Jianming, the village electric technician and plumber received this call when he was having dinner and immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks to rush to the caller’s home. Less than an hour later, the home of the senior caller had electricity once more.

Zhu is a village electric technician and plumber in Dahong Village, Jiading New City (Malu Town). When he receives villagers’ calls about problems with electricity or water supplies, he rushes to the scene. He has been nicknamed the “fire captain.”

Last year, a villager held a wedding banquet at a restaurant in the village and during the banquet, the toilet was blocked. The people started to line up in front of the bathroom, which made the banquet host very anxious. The host called Zhu and Zhu rode his electric bicycle to arrive at the scene as soon as possible. In just about 10 minutes, the problem was solved.

Another time, a villager was hosting a birthday banquet and the food had just been put into an electric steamer when there was a blackout, with all the home appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioners out of action.

It was a hot summer day and some guests had already headed home when Zhu arrived. Zhu replaced the fuse wire to get every electric appliance working again.

Zhu doesn’t just do his job, he also looks out for the village elderly.

Zhu Hongsheng is an 87-year-old resident who lives alone. Each time Zhu’s route takes him past the elderly man’s door, he calls in to enquire about his health.

Zhu also offers to check the house system for potential electricity hazards. “He is even more careful than my own children and arrives very soon after I called him,” the old man said.

Visited several times

Last June, during a visit to mend a faulty tap Zhu found that an elderly widow had been suffering from a sore throat for a long time. It had made her so ill that she had taken to her bed and her condition meant she was unable to talk.

Zhu visited several times after that and eventually persuaded the old woman to go to a hospital that offered a superior service. She soon got better.

Dahong Village has more than 1,100 residents over the age of 60. “Many of their children do not live with them so I can lend a hand if there are some difficulties since I can visit them from time to time besides my work,” Zhu said.

Everyday, Zhu helps to submit villagers’ opinions to the village committee. Some of the houses have been rented to tenants and some tenant did garbage recycling as a living. These rented houses were surrounded by cardboard, plastic buckets and discarded newspapers, impairing the image of the village.

Neighbors felt the rubbish was a fire hazards when the weather is hot and dry. Zhu helped the neighbors to pass the information to the village committee. Soon after, the community ordered the recycling site to rectify the situation and send village security guards on patrol to spot safety issues.


 

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