SGR airlift graduates elated by China President Xi reply to their letter

Students who wrote to Chinese President Xi Jingping to express gratitude for the support of the Asian economic powerhouse were beneficiaries of the SGR scholarship.

They have welcomed the President’s reply to their letter, which they say they penned during the celebrations to mark 10 years of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The students also sent Xi an SGR ticket and invited him to consider a ride in what has been hailed as Kenya’s infrastructural masterpiece.

The lot represented by Everline Mugenya, Tafawa Patricia, and Issa Abdirizak said it “was a great honour to get the response of the President.”

“We thought of sharing our gratitude for the support that China gave us. From it a number of us are now graduates of engineering disciplines,” Mugenya said.

She said at a forum hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi on Thursday that some of them had challenges joining universities at the time China Roads and Bridges Corporation (CRBC) came knocking.

At least 100 students—the majority being freshmen from high school—were taken to China – in three batches to study railway operations and engineering.

The first batch of 25 travelled to Beijing Jiaotong University in 2016, followed by 35 others a year later and 40 in the subsequent year.

Six of the students recently went back to Beijing for Masters in engineering courses.

“I had a personal challenge that saw me stay home for one year. The SGR scholarship came to my rescue,” Mugenya added.

She explained that the scholarship was beneficial as “everything was catered for, and we’d come home annually.”

“It was a big deal. I have never experienced such a high level of care. It was thus important that we share our gratitude to the Chinese people through the President,” Mugenya said.

To the graduates, the lessons learned in the programme, the skills transferred, cultural experiences, and a taste of the Chinese festivals “remain unforgettable.”

Concilia Owire, the first female SGR locomotive driver, also shared her experience saying she was a beneficiary of technology transfer in the Kenya-China SGR arrangement.

“We appreciate the letter. It shows Xi values SGR. Our mission is that SGR expands more.”

Owire says she learned to drive trains in China, adding that those they trained in were all absorbed in various positions at Kenya Railways.

“The love they gave us was immeasurable,” she said, even as CRBC’s Zhang Weijun held that the company would still maintain the good relationship between Kenya and China.

Joseph Maritim, who was the first student in the long-running exchanges between Kenya and China, said, “Kenyans have a lot to learn from the Chinese people.”

“While there, I learned about the virtues of honesty, integrity, and time-keeping. Interactions between us are the only way to make our countries better,” Maritim said.

China’s Minister Counsellor in Kenya Zhang Zhizhong said the letter by Xi ‘reflects the great importance of Sino-Kenya cooperation, bilateral exchanges on BRI, and other aspects of development’.

“It would make a memorable story. The embassy is always ready to facilitate the mutual exchange between our two people,” he said.

Dr Henry Rotich, chairman of the Kenya-China Alumni Association, asked Chinese Ambassador Zhou Pingjian to convey appreciation of the other 1,400 students who have benefited from the China airlift programmes.

“Convey our gratitude to President Xi for the support we received to study in China. We are doing great, transforming our lives and that of Kenyans and promoting greater cooperation between the two countries.”

Buoyed by the feedback, President Xi replied to the student’s letter, encouraging them to continue contributing to the friendship between China and Kenya and between China and Africa.

Xi noted that “China and Kenya enjoy a time-honoured friendship.”

He cited the Belt and Road Initiative as having “turned the ideals of development and revitalization of China and Kenya into reality and closely linked the well-being of the two peoples.”

The president named the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway as a flagship project and a successful example of China-Kenya Belt and Road cooperation.

Xi said, "I am glad to see that you have bonded with China through this road to happiness.”

“You have witnessed and benefited from the China-Kenya and China-Africa friendship and cooperation, and you have helped build and spread the friendly cooperation between China and Kenya and between China and Africa," he said.

The Chinese president said that looking ahead, “the magnificent picture of the Belt and Road Initiative and the grand blueprint of the China-Kenya comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership need more promising young people to realise.”

Xi added that China hopes the traditional friendship between the two nations would continue.

The president asked the students to devote themselves to bilateral cooperation, “tell well stories of China-Africa friendship, and make greater contributions to the building of a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future,"

Kenya is among the three African countries that the Chinese government has recognised expressly.

President Xi, in his congratulatory message to Kenya during the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of China-Kenya bilateral ties, said “China stands ready to build a China-Kenya community with a shared future.”

“It was the first time I heard the head of state express China’s willingness to build a China-Kenya community with a shared future. We always say China-Africa community with a shared future,” Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Zhou Ping said.

Apart from Kenya, President Xi has only referred to two other countries specifically as China’s most valued partners: South Africa and Egypt.

“We’ve said China-South Africa community, China-Egypt and now Kenya…That means China values its partnership with Kenya,” Ping explained.