Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen Tunisia——The Siren Island Sweeps All Our Tiredness and Fear

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave me the task of embassy in Tunisia relatively early, because Tunisia is the closest to Tripoli, the capital of Libya. "We suggest that Djerba Island can be an ideal transit point." Ambassador Huo Zhengde immediately proposed to the country that Djerba Island should be used as an evacuation assembly place. This suggestion was approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the national evacuation emergency commander. Ministry's approval. At around 19:00 on the evening of the 22nd local time, the first working group sent by Ambassador Huo Zhengde, consisting of military attache Yang Xu, economic and commercial counselor Zhou Zhaoming and two other staff members of the embassy, ​​had arrived in Djerba Island.As soon as they arrived there, they began to deploy and contact the resettlement of the evacuated citizens. At the same time, with the help and coordination of relevant Tunisian departments, they prepared for entry procedures, personnel safety and medical assistance.It can be said that the embassy's "early action" provided absolute guarantee for the huge team of more than 10,000 people evacuated from Libya in the future, which amazed the UNHCR officials.The United Nations Refugee Agency has also set up a refugee camp there, but the situation of the people in the two places is very different.

Djerba Island is located in the southeast of Tunisia in North Africa, 513 kilometers away from the capital Tunisia. It is known as "Tourist's Paradise". . "We have arranged teams, but every time we want to get on the island, it will take several months." An official from Beijing International Travel Service told me. Djerba Island is so beautiful, but the reception facilities are limited. Now, Ambassador Huo Zhengde and colleagues from the embassy have exhausted their efforts to accommodate more than 10,000 Chinese who have fled from the war at once.It took them two days to complete all the resettlement and reception matters, and proposed to wait for the evacuated compatriots to cross the border at the Tuli border for a whole day.

“Thanks to the Tunisian government.” Ambassador Huo Zhengde, who had worked in five embassies abroad, said with emotion, “They are a small country and have just undergone a regime change, but they are very friendly to China regardless of the old or new government. When we offered to rent Djerba as an evacuation transfer point, they readily said no problem, and they went all out and tried their best to serve us." Most Chinese may not know much about Djerba Island in Tunisia, an island on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea only 240 kilometers away from Tripoli, the capital of Libya, but it is one of the earliest birthplaces of human civilization.There is a road connecting Djerba Island with the land, which can be described as a witness of history.It was built in the 2nd century BC and has a famous name - "Roman Avenue", which can be called the earliest land-sea highway in the world.

In addition to the fascinating scenery on the island, the biggest feature is the architectural style of the island.The buildings on the entire island are not high, generally not as tall as the coconut groves dotted among them.The uniquely conceived resort does not have the usual hotel-style buildings, but only the whole courtyard of a single house.Walking into the house in the small courtyard, the room is a standard hotel room layout.The outer walls of the entire building on Djerba Island are pure white, the doors and windows are blue, coupled with the high or low coconut groves in the courtyard and the yellow fruits hanging on them, all of which reflect the local people's love for color. A unique understanding of reconciliation.

Djerba Island belongs to the homeland of the Jews, and more than a thousand Jews live here.It is said that their ancestors were here very early, making it the earliest Jewish settlement in the world.There is a famous Greba Church on the island, which was built to commemorate the tragic death of a Jewish woman who immigrated here in the 6th century BC in a fire. Legend has it that the first tourist received by this famous tourist paradise was the famous Ulysses (Odysseus).In Homer's Epic, the island of Djerba is where the lotus eaters live.Homer once described it like this: the banshee of Djerba lured Ulysses and his party to eat lotus flowers, and all the eaters were greedy for the taste of lotus and refused to return to the ship, so they all became servants of the banshee.Therefore, Djerba Island is known as the "Mediterranean Siren".We Chinese know about Djerba Island. Apart from reading it from Homer's "Odyssey", most of us may know this "Mediterranean Siren" from a movie called "Lucia's Lover".The author has not had the opportunity to go to Djerba Island, but like many movie lovers, I have heard the description of Djerba Island by the novelist Laurence in the film very early: "This small island is actually floating on the sea. , It’s just that people don’t know it. Its bottom is made of lava with many holes, and when the tide comes, it will emit a slight tremor.”

"Although our compatriots may not have paid attention to the 'slight tremors' described by Lawrence, they never expected that after escaping death threats, they would live in a four-star hotel and come to a world-famous tourist destination. A reporter from Xinhua News Agency wrote such impressions, "My embassy in Tunisia has made thoughtful arrangements. After they let my compatriots live in Djerba Island, the first thing they do is to send everyone a mobile phone calling card. This is what the compatriots who have lost contact with their families for several days need most; then take them into the hotel room and let them take a hot bath, which is what the compatriots can't wait to do; after that Let them have a full meal of delicious hot soup and hot rice. I saw that some compatriots ate three or four bowls and did not let go... In the afternoon, I deliberately went to the corridor of the room where the compatriots lived. The doors of the rooms were closed tightly, but the snoring sounds came out one after another, like thunder and roar. I saw several Tunisian waiters covering their mouths and smiling at me, and I laughed too, laughing that our compatriots slept so soundly! "

A lady with the online name "Xiaojuan" who was in the Central South Hospital with Gao Xiaolin wrote on her blog: During the few days in Djerba Island, I only went to a nearby town, and I couldn't name the town.The roads in the town are clean, and the shops are full of imported goods. The salespersons can't understand English, but they can speak French.The crocodile T-shirts we bought cost about 90 yuan each, so I believe they are not fakes.In the small town, whether they are children, young people or old people, they are all polite and well-bred. When the Arabic translator talks to them, their voices are not high, but they are very elegant.We gave the taxi driver an extra Tunisian dinar when we returned to the hotel, and he insisted on returning it to us.The people of the town left a good impression on us.

Cleaning women in hotels wear striped overalls, like working women in Libya.They were very curious about us guests from China, and they couldn't understand English, so they could only communicate with me by drawing pictures. Once, several waitresses ran up to me with a bottle from the next room, pointed to the shrimp pattern on the bottle, and opened it to smell it. They covered their noses with bitter faces, expressing that it was very difficult. smell.Is this thing still edible?What is it for?I have no way to tell them that this is the shrimp paste that people in the coastal areas of Zhejiang Province like to eat.This Zhejiang worker actually did not forget to bring a bottle of shrimp paste from his hometown when he evacuated.

Another time, the waitress held up my stainless steel thermos and asked me, "What is this?" I pretended to drink water, and she understood.Seeing how she liked it, I gave her the cup.In fact, they never drink hot water, and they don’t need a thermos. They are just curious... It is often said that let the world understand China, let China understand the world, and have a fate with Djerba Island in Tunisia these days. I have gained a little understanding of North African countries, and I have recorded every bit of it in my blog. The days that followed were waiting to return home.Since the 26th, our embassy in Tunisia and the front-line working group have been welcoming batches of compatriots coming from the border every day. In addition to arranging their board and lodging, they are doing everything possible to get them to meet the flight back home.More than 10,000 people, how many flights can be transported away?Ambassador Huo Zhengde and all the staff of the embassy have never experienced such a large-scale air transport, even Djerba Island, which has a tourist history of more than a thousand years, has never had such experience.It is easier said than done to complete the shipping of 10,000 people across the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa in just a few days!However, the Chinese have done it, and they have done it perfectly.

The first flight to Djerba Island was the China Southern Airlines CZ2001 charter flight of the B777 fleet of the Guangzhou Flight Department of China Southern Airlines.They arrived at Djerba Island in the early morning of the 27th Beijing time and returned to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport in the evening of the same day.After that, at Djerba Airport, an average of at least eight to nine charter planes took off and landed from here every day, sending away batches of Chinese compatriots... Let's read another blog post by "Xiaojuan": We finally received the notice from the embassy last night, arranging for us to return home on a chartered flight of China Eastern Airlines at 10 am on March 3.When hearing the news, everyone felt like a child who has been away from home for too long is about to see his mother.

We waited for four days and five nights in Djerba Island, which seemed to be a long time, but the mood was pleasant, even full of happiness.Because this place is so beautiful, with beautiful scenery and beautiful people, the living environment arranged by the embassy is even more beautiful and comfortable.I often think, if it weren't for the evacuation arrangement of the country, would I have the opportunity to spend a few days in Djerba Island in my life?Maybe never.But now I enjoy it and am satisfied.I understand that this is a special gift from my motherland! At 6 o'clock in the morning, everyone gathered in the hotel lobby and waited for departure.It was slowly getting brighter, and four buses drove up.Standing on the steps outside and looking forward, it is only at this moment that I feel that the morning of Djerba Island is so beautiful, but we are leaving soon.Someone handed me a camera and told me to hurry up and take pictures of them, some as a group, and some individually.Djerba, Tunisia, we will never forget! I got on the bus and arrived at the airport half an hour later. Most of the waiting halls were Chinese.The China Eastern Airlines chartered flight that came to pick us up flew directly to Shanghai.The stewardess told me that they have never flown from China to Tunisia before. In order to evacuate, the domestic flights have been greatly adjusted. In the past few days, many flight attendants, flight attendants and flight personnel have given up their rest, all in order to pick up Chinese citizens in Libya. Return home safely.When someone pointed the camera lens at the busy flight attendants, they smiled and declined, saying: "This is our job, please don't thank us." During the evacuation process, many Chinese business leaders in Libya formulated the evacuation principle: women first, then men, masses first, party members first, workers first, cadres first.This principle runs through the entire process and all details of the mass evacuation, ensuring a safe, orderly, fast and efficient evacuation.On the chartered flight, I saw that ordinary workers were sitting in the first class, and the company's leaders were in the economy class at the back. Sitting next to me is Boss Gu from Zhejiang. He said that although he is over 40 years old, he is still an "angry youth". Said: "When I was evacuated from Tripoli to the Tunisian border under the guidance of the embassy, ​​I didn't have any resentment in my heart, only gratitude!" Boss Zhou’s wife in Xiaoshan is used to living a comfortable life in her hometown. She followed her husband to Libya for the first time in September last year. During the turbulent days, she heard gunshots every day and was frightened and tortured. It is to blame.She said that during the days when she was evacuated to Djerba Island, she truly realized how insignificant the power of an individual is. A strong motherland is the strong backing of overseas Chinese, and she also deeply felt how important social stability is to us ordinary people. When I was talking to several workers from Gansu and Liaoning, I asked them: "There was a turmoil in Libya. The thugs smashed up the construction sites of the Chinese and even injured our workers. After Libya is calmed down, are you still willing to go there?" Are you working?" They all said that after this evacuation, they felt that there was a strong motherland and the protection of the embassy, ​​and they became more courageous when working abroad in the future, and they didn't have to be afraid of anything.Among them were bricklayers, carpenters, steelworkers, and a chef, who said that they would also like to work on our projects if they had the opportunity in the future.At present, China has 50 construction projects in Libya, with a total contract value of 18.8 billion US dollars. These projects have not yet been completed. If no Chinese return to Libya to continue working, these projects will become ruins. This is what no one wants to see of. After 11 hours of flying, the China Eastern Airlines chartered plane that carried us arrived at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 4:00 a.m. on March 4th, Beijing time.We came back, shook hands with the leaders who greeted us, and warmly embraced the eagerly awaited relatives and friends.What a precious handshake!What a happy hug this is! At around 8 am on March 4, 2011, Zi Changmei, a reporter from International Aviation News, got a boarding pass she had been looking forward to for a long time.This boarding pass is not available to ordinary passengers. Ms. Zi is only qualified to enter the 27th charter flight CCA030D sent by Air China to carry out the mission of evacuating overseas Chinese from Libya as a reporter from the civil aviation department.At this moment, Zi Changmei understands the weight of this boarding pass in her hand. It is a precious seat among the last group of compatriots on Djerba Island in Tunisia who are eager to go home.We also have to thank Ms. Zi for bringing back a special voyage experience to readers after winning this special seat: At 9:10 am on March 4, Beijing time, chartered flight CCA030D took off from Beijing Capital International Airport and flew to Djerba Island, Tunisia. Before boarding the chartered flight CCA030D, the reporter did not expect to see Song Zhiyong participating in the mission as the captain of the team on the plane.Not long ago, Song was promoted from the vice president of Air China to the deputy general manager in charge of flight of AVIC Group. His departure proved that the Civil Aviation Administration attaches great importance to it.The charter flight CCA030D implements dual-pilot guarantee, so in the cockpit, there is another leading captain, Guo Jinyu, who is the deputy captain of the fourth team of the Air China Flight Corps. He just flew back from New York three days before the charter flight mission. .This veteran captain with more than 30 years of driving experience has carried out the special plane missions of national leaders many times, and has flown many airports that are not officially open to navigation. He has rich flying experience. The round-faced pilot, Hao Bing, is very talkative. He is known as an "all-rounder" in the eyes of his colleagues. He has first-class flying skills and is good at singing and playing.The slender first co-pilot Wang Zheng is a photography enthusiast. He just returned from Crete, Greece two days ago. This is his second charter mission to evacuate overseas Chinese from Libya. The 25-year-old Li Yuntao is the co-pilot. He doesn't talk much and does his job very seriously. When Wang Zheng accepted the charter mission for the first time, he left without a camera because he left in a hurry. This time he specially brought equipment, because he felt honored to perform this kind of mission and wanted to leave some memories.He took pictures of Li Yuntao from time to time, and jokingly said that he would send the pictures to. According to the traditional route, the plane should fly from Mongolia and Russia to Africa, but the air traffic control department of Air China temporarily applied to change the route to Djerba Island via Western Europe and Southern Europe, which can save 25 minutes of flight time. "We fill up the plane with fuel in Beijing, and we can save some fuel and save some time in Djerba Island. We have considered every detail and have only one goal: to take our compatriots home as soon as possible." Song Zhiyong said. Song Zhiyong's words reminded me of a sentence I heard in an interview with the cabin department of Air China not long ago.At first, Air China used A330 and Boeing 777 to carry out the evacuation mission, but the third charter flight to Crete used Boeing 747. I clearly remember when we posted on Weibo that Air China dispatched Boeing 747 to evacuate all passengers When the news came out, some netizens replied so excitedly: "The big plane is dispatched." That sentence was: "There are all passengers, all passengers are used, and one is one!" Song Zhiyong also said. In the cabin, chief purser Zhao Li arranged for the flight attendants to rest in shifts, and then, together with Tan Wenwen and Huang Yi, the flight attendants, cleaned up the national flags, banners and food items to be used after boarding the passengers.In order to shorten the stay time of the charter flight in Djerba Island, the charter flight brought meals for the return trip. In addition to double meals, instant noodles, eight-treasure porridge, fried rice cakes and whole fruits were also added. "This is all in consideration of the travel and the lack of local food, tourists will be very hungry, and these foods are more in line with Chinese tastes." Zhao Li said. When the charter flight was about to arrive at the destination, all the flight attendants who took turns to rest had already taken their seats, and placed additional whole fruits, instant noodles, eight-treasure porridge and other food for each seat before boarding the charter flight. There is a 7-hour time difference between Beijing and Djerba Island. At 21:10 on March 4th, Beijing time, when the chartered flight landed at Djerba Island Airport, the local time was 14:10 on March 4th.At this time, 330 stranded personnel from Beijing Construction Engineering Group and other Chinese-funded companies are gathering at the airport in an orderly manner.On the terminal building and the apron, a temporary ground support team composed of seven business backbones from Air China's transportation control, ground service, dispatch and maintenance departments, coordinated and directed by team leader Lei Wei, handled passenger boarding nervously and methodically Relevant procedures, such as refueling and loading the aircraft.Security personnel stood by the plane closely. As in the case of Crete, Air China and Djerba Airport are not officially open to traffic, so there is no ground agent to rely on. "When we first arrived here, due to the language barrier, we couldn't communicate well with the ground service personnel at the local airport. Finally, with the help of the embassy, ​​we found an agent to coordinate and solve the ground support problem. From March 1, Air China We sent additional Boeing 747 planes to Tunisia to evacuate overseas Chinese, and today we have guaranteed six evacuation charter flights. Now that we have completed the task, we can follow the charter flight back home, and I am finally relieved.” Later that day, Lei Wei was on the charter flight Speaking to reporters on the way back.During the three hours of the charter flight passing through the airport, Lei Wei and his support team members were always busy and had no time to accept interviews with reporters. At about 16:00, the airport shuttle bus brought the first batch of stranded compatriots who had completed the check-in procedures. There was no confusion and panic as expected by the reporter, only joy and excitement that could not be concealed.The evacuees carried simple hand luggage and lined up in a long snake formation as soon as they got off the bus. From the front of the ferry car, under the passenger elevator, to the cabin door to the cabin, members of the Air China ground support team, safety officers, and flight attendants "welcome Amidst the greetings of "going home", boarding the chartered flight one by one, many evacuated overseas Chinese made V-sign signs to reporters, and heard them say from time to time: "It's good to go home!" "Thank you!" "Thank you for the motherland!" In the cabin, the flight attendants guided the evacuees to take their seats from the rear cabin.On this special flight, the compatriots were seated in an orderly and fast manner. When the ordinary cabin was full, the upper cabin and business cabin were arranged. No one cared about the difference in cabin class, and the smiles of the flight attendants were also very sincere and kind. sincere. At 17:24 local time on March 4, the plane was fully loaded with 330 Chinese compatriots evacuated from Libya to Tunisia. It took off from Djerba Airport and flew to the motherland and then to Beijing. "My compatriots: Hello! I am Zhao Li, the flight attendant of this flight. On behalf of the captain Guo Jinyu and all crew members, I would like to extend my sincere greetings to you. You have worked hard! We are authorized by the Party Central Committee, the State Council, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and Air China Entrusted to pick you up home. The motherland and family are waiting for your safe return...May you rest in peace and take care of your health. We are very happy and will do our best to provide you with services and send you back to the motherland safely. Let us walk together Let’s go home and start an unforgettable journey.” Before the purser’s in-flight announcement was over, there was already warm applause in the cabin. After the flight stabilized, the flight crew immediately began to provide food and beverages.In the business class, the reporter saw that some compatriots said that they hadn't had beer for a long time, and the flight attendant Huang Yi gave him one and then another.Some compatriots do not know how to use in-flight entertainment equipment, Huang Yi patiently explained to them and helped them operate.During the charter flight, every time the reporter met Huang Yi, she always had a sweet smile. "I feel very excited in my heart. It is an honor to be able to perform this charter mission!" said the girl with five years of experience as a flight attendant. After the compatriots had their meals, the cabin gradually became quiet, but the silence was soon broken by warm applause and cheers. It turned out that the flight attendants were presenting small national flags to the compatriots.The compatriots waved the national flag emotionally, and the cabin instantly became a sea of ​​red.The flight attendants unfurled the large-character banners "the motherland will take you home" that had been prepared long ago, and the cheers suddenly swept through, and some compatriots shouted with emotion: "Long live the motherland!" Wherever the reporter's camera can see, there are excited smiling faces. Many compatriots are shouting at the reporter: "Take a picture for us too!" The simple and weather-beaten face is fully revealed, and the lens in front of the reporter's eyes gradually begins to blur... Flight CCA030D carried a total of 330 people. This was the last charter flight that successfully completed the task of repatriating 10,539 compatriots from Djerba Island, Tunisia.After ten hours of long flight, CCA030D arrived at Capital Airport at 10:55 am on March 5, Beijing time.It was discovered that among the passengers who got off the plane, there were six special young men who were the first special operations team led by Mingxing Fei. "Brother, you're finally back!" It was Guo Shaochun who hugged Fei Mingxing.Fei Mingxing didn't cry, but Guo Shaochun burst into tears. "Home! We are finally home!" Fei Mingxing and his five comrades hugged each other suddenly, weeping uncontrollably.