I Would Not Leave Wuhan

For personal reasons, Naeem and the Lebanese girl living in Wuhan decided to stay in Wuhan. As for me, although I secretly determined to stay, I had not given the final answer. This is because all the discussions about evacuation are still speculative.

On the evening of January 26, the Director of the Consular Department of the Lebanese Embassy in China told us that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited all foreign embassies in Beijing to a meeting to elaborate on the measures they were taking. The director of the consular department estimated that China would help solve the problem of Lebanon's evacuation of overseas citizens from Wuhan. Therefore, he communicated with us Lebanese in Wuhan in advance and promised to notify us as soon as possible after the meeting.

On January 27, this was the fifth day of my isolation. In the morning,my father sent a message, “From Today's Russian Channel to Beacon TV,all the news media are reporting that China has obtained a treatment plan.What new situations do you know? May Allah bless me and reply to me as soon as possible.” He still kept paying attention to the news about the special medicine, he doesn't want to accept any bad information.

I said, “The Chinese Prime Minister came to Wuhan today. The Lebanese Embassy in China also participated in a meeting held by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

“Has the Prime Minister arrived in Wuhan?” He said excitedly, “They should know exactly the situation facing the country. Didn't they say anything about the treatment?”

“The Lebanese Embassy told us that Jordan will evacuate its nationals, and we can go with them, but those who leave Wuhan must be quarantined in a Jordanian hospital for two weeks. However, this matter has not been confirmed and is subject to Chinese approval.”

My father said, “Yes, I heard that Jordanians, French and Americans will send planes to evacuate their nationals. How are you, are you alright?”I told him that my situation is stable, “everyone stays at home, we only go out when necessary, such as buying food or other necessities.”

I had to deal with this many times because I didn't want to worry them. He asked me what I ate and if anyone was in the room with me.My father thought that I was still living in the university dormitory. I did not tell them that I lived outside of the university so as not to aggravate their anxiety. He continued to ask me, “Are you with Lebanese? Are there any Arab students around? Are there French friends?” He wanted to make sure I was not the only one who made this crazy decision.

Since France is the former suzerain of Lebanon, in our thinking, the French usually make the right choice, and we often refer to their practices.I replied, “I didn't see the French, because we were all in our room. One of my Jordanian Palestine friends, Nadia, is still there. As for my neighbor from Bangladesh, he returned to his country not long ago.”

That morning, I did contact Nadia and asked her about the evacuation situation of Jordan. She confirmed to me that the Jordanian Embassy was preparing for this and asked them to pack their belongings. Although I knew that she did not intend to leave and would prefer to stay, she was worried that her decision would cause the entire evacuation work to be cancelled, which would affect the opportunities for young people to reunite with their parents. They may be in a state of fear and anxiety at this moment.

I had made up my mind that I would not leave Wuhan. In this battle,I am fully armed. This is my war, and it is also a war for all mankind.The people of Wuhan are destined to be on the front line of this war.I need to understand various situations. For me, I would like to exhaust all the knowledge related to the epidemic, and I worked hard every day to study and learn this knowledge. Based on the information I had,China is capable of preventing and controlling this epidemic. China has made tremendous strides in science, politics, medicine, and economics.Of course, this has also been recognized by the broad masses of people.Therefore, we are advancing according to the plan made by experienced scientists, and are injecting tremendous energy into the execution of the plan. The people who fought alongside me also included those workers and medical staff who devoted themselves to the prevention and control of the epidemic.