One Sunday in early August, Chen Zhufeng, chief of a Chinese medical team in Tanzania, drove to check the water supply for his members in Tabora, a water-is-life place in Tanzania. Walking by a small reservoir, he was stopped by an old woman. She held up several eggs in her hands, begging Chen to accept them.

She told Chen Chinese doctors brought her critically ill grandson back to life several days before. Those eggs were the only valuables her impoverished family had to offer. "Please take them. This is the only way I can express my gratitude," she said. Chen accepted her eggs, but paid her several times the normal price for them.

Things like this often happen to Chinese doctors working in Tanzania, Chen said in an interview with Beijing Review in Dar es Salaam. "Although we overpay people on these occasions, we are very gratified to help them and make their lives better."

According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, 981 Chinese medical team members are working in 41 African nations. They have left their families and well-paid jobs to work in Africa during the peak years of their careers. Many places on this continent have the toughest medical conditions imaginable. But the contributions made by Chinese medical teams have won sincere respect from the people they serve.

Whenever a Chinese doctor meets local people, he will receive warm greetings of "Chinese doctor, my friend," Chen said.