For Metro volunteer, aiding others is in his blood
Print Edition
BEING a Metro volunteer, 26-year-old Zhou Yu always feels good about helping others.
A volunteer for nearly eight years, Zhou, a mathematics teacher, is now an administrator for the whole team, which consists of 600 members. They go to Metro stations to keep order and help commuters.
“My goal is to have 1,000 volunteers on the team,” says Zhou. “And in addition to services in Metro stations, we are trying to expand to other fields.”
The volunteer team started with shanghai.metrofans.cn, an online forum for frequent commuters and fans of subways. People gathered there to talk about the construction of Metro lines and experiences on the trains. The idea of volunteers was born from the forum. And after the founders left, Zhou took over the management work.
“At the beginning there were only 10 people, and we just had some activities occasionally,” says Zhou.
The team started to draw attention during the World Expo 2010 Shanghai. At that time, Metro lines faced a great challenge of extremely high passenger volume, especially at some major stations such as People’s Square and Xujiahui, and at stations around the Expo sites.
Zhou says many of the Metro volunteers were also Expo volunteers, so they were very busy during that six months, as their work in the Metro stations started after their shift at the Expo.
The Expo event gave a lot of public exposure to the volunteer group and helped it draw in high school and college students, retired people and expats .
“My family is very proud of me as they believe I’m doing something big through volunteer work,” Zhou says.
Zhou’s life, however, is far from smooth. He has naturally blond hair, which is very rare among Asian people. He says he had intended to work for the Metro operator in Shanghai but was rejected because the company thought he dyed his hair, which is not allowed.
Zhou then turned to Bai Wanqing, a popular television mediator in Shanghai, whom he wrote to for help and advice. A week later, Bai replied.
“She talked about many things with me, including my non-profitable tutoring for disabled children, and she said she was willing to help me,” Zhou says. “She said it was a very good example of spreading kindness.”
Under the help of Bai, Zhou was eventually hired by the Metro company, but soon he found the work consumed too much of his time, constricting the volunteer work he still wanted to do.
Now he teaches mathematics at a training center, and his working time is more flexible, allowing him more time to do what he loves.
“We have established connections with a local children’s hospital where we will help patients and their families to register and do other affairs,” says Zhou. “Volunteer work should not be restricted to only one form.”
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