Video transcription:
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world are reaching out to each other, sending aid—and hope.
This is a “World of Good” Special Edition.
In early March, a Japanese youth group sent boxes of medical supplies to China, to help the country fight the coronavirus.
The packages were marked with part of an ancient poem that, loosely translated, means, “Even though we live in different places, we live under the same sky.”
Later, a Chinese technology company sent tens of thousands of masks to Italy, marking the crates with a line of ancient Roman poetry: “We are waves from the same sea, leaves from the same tree, and flowers from the same garden.”
Beyond words of solidarity, organizations around the world have sent masks, equipment, and millions of dollars first to China, and then to other struggling countries.
China itself is sending planes full of supplies to Italy, Serbia, Spain, Iran, and more. South Korea is sending testing kits to the Philippines. Taiwan plans to donate 100,000 masks weekly to the U.S. And Cuba has dispatched six medical delegations to vulnerable countries, including one group of 52 healthcare professionals to Italy.
This global generosity is providing relief to those who desperately need it, and hope to the rest of us.
Further reading
Countries have also been broadcasting hope to their citizens. In Brussels, for example, a bright red bus loops through the city in the evening, delivering messages of love over a loudspeaker. People call in to send a message to a specific address, and later recipents get to hear the voices of their loved ones wishing them well and blowing kisses. And hotels around the world are strategically lighting windows in their facades to spell out “love” or display hearts.
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