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August 13, 2016

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Home » Metro » Public Services

Expats form volunteer community safety team

TEN expats in Changning District formed the first all-expat community team of safety volunteers in Shanghai yesterday.

Known as the Ping An Volunteers, the expats, who live in the Chengjiaqiao community, will patrol the neighborhood with local policemen and serve as traffic volunteers in their spare time.

“We hope they will help improve the safety of our community from their perspective and with their multi-lingual advantages,” said Yu Wenhao, head of the community police station.

Habib Ur Rehman, a 26-year-old carpet merchant from Pakistan who has been living and working in Shanghai for seven years and speaks fluent Chinese, is one of the volunteers.

“Police officers patrolling our shopping mall often come to us with safety reminders and help us when we’re in need,” he said. “I’ll do my best to help them build a safe community.”

Rehman said he has already been working with traffic policemen on the street, translating Chinese into English for foreigners that are stopped by officers.

“Mutual support between us residents and the police benefits us all,” he said.

Raphael Iltisberger, a 23-year-old German who is going to study in Shanghai for one year, also joined the squad.

“I have always wanted to get more involved with the local community and to see the Chinese way of doing things, so I’m looking forward to this interesting experience,” he said.

Rehman and Iltisberger’s fellow volunteers come from the Netherlands, Italy, France and Argentina.

About 70,000 expats live in Changning District, which is home to one third of the consulates in Shanghai.




 

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