Workers outline the rewarding experience of helping others

Editor's note: Seven Shanghai residents interviewed by China Daily at the peak of the city's COVID-19 outbreak tell of their plans for the future and how the epidemic, which is on the wane in the metropolis, has changed their lives and work.

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER

Since the lockdown was introduced in Shanghai in early April, Shankar Koirala, 29, from Nepal, has worked as a volunteer at a community in Xuhui district, helping residents receive packages from delivery workers.

With the outbreak on the wane, his workload has increased.

"The number of packages, including food, groceries and personal items, is rising as the citywide lockdown is lifted and more courier companies and restaurants resume service," Koirala said.

Each day, more than 1,000 packages arrive at the neighborhood, where 2,000-plus households live in some 60 buildings without elevators.

Koirala and other volunteers work three shifts a day, disinfecting goods and delivering them to residents' doorsteps.

He said that before the outbreak hit the city, he didn't know anybody in the neighborhood, even though he had lived there for a year. "The experience over the past months has brought us closer," he added.

Koirala runs a local business selling artifacts from Nepal, but trade has been affected by the outbreak. He is worried about household bills, rent for his shop, and salaries for his employees.

However, he believes the city's business environment will recover, adding that he will not change his long-term plan to continue working and living in Shanghai.