As we bustled about packing our bags, just hours before the start of a (very) long journey home, and with a sense of accomplishment after more than three fascinating but grueling weeks at Beijing Olympics, we had a thought for our hosts.
Not the billion and a half Chinese going about their daily lives that we only glimpsed through the windows of the buses in our health bubble, but the thousands of volunteers who took care of the smooth running and our comfort in this bubble. . Present everywhere, all the time, in their blue and white winter clothes, they were almost all in their twenties, were generally young women, with often functional English, and seemingly inexhaustible kindness and patience.
It is fashionable, and always deserved, to salute these humble “shadow workers,” as they say, at the end of grand events, because they literally couldn’t stand without them. What is special this time is that due to the strict Chinese sanitary rules that we are now so happy to leave behind, these volunteers will still have to remain locked in the bubble another three weeks to have the right to return, in turn, to their homes. So, thank you for everything, and see you another more normal time, we hope.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.
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