Two doctors from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia travelled thousands of miles to central China's Kaifeng city to learn traditional Chinese medicine. [Photo: Xinhua]

Hello and welcome to this edition of  Africa Express here on China Radio International. I'm your host, Wei Tong.

Today we'll get to know a Cameroonian named Chia Fuhzah Njiti who travelled thousands of miles to China to practice traditional Chinese medicine.

Here is a treatment room at the Shanxi Provincial Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Hospital in northern China. Njiti is now treating some children suffering from cerebral palsy by applying acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medical treatment. The kid's parents are sitting nearby, anxiously waiting for the treatment to end.

One of the kids burst into tears as soon as he saw Njiti.

"The kid is scared of me acupuncturing him. After all I am a doctor. It is natural for them to be scared since I'm holding a needle."

With black skin, Njiti is called Uncle Black by many children. He was funded by the Cameroonian government in 2003 to pursue neurology at Shanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. After obtaining a Master's degree, he volunteered to treat children with cerebral palsy.

Njiti has a lovely Chinese name, Fei Long. He explains that "Fei" means Africa, and "Long" is dragon in Chinese—becoming African Dragon when combined. He tells me that he used to learn about traditional Chinese medicine before coming here.

"I began to take interest in natural therapy when I was attending medical college in Cameroon. I think traditional Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, is a fairly good natural therapy since it can eradicate some chronic diseases with less side effects. But it is not so easy for a foreigner to get to the essence of Chinese medicine. It takes time since I have to read many classical medical works written in ancient Chinese. But I will never give it up."

By now Njiti has been living in China for over four years, he still clearly remembers the day when he first stepped upon Chinese soil. Everything he saw astonished him.

"It took me nearly one hour to drive from the airport to the hotel by car. Really surprising! The capital Beijing is so huge and very well developed. This was my first impression of China, I believe nearly all people who first arrived in China would have such an impression."

After a short stay in Beijing, Njiti came to nearby Shanxi Province to pursue his studies. He often spends his spare time giving free treatment to children suffering from cerebral palsy. Do these kids accept an African doctor? Here is Guo Xinzhi, head of the hospital where Njiti works.

"At first, the children couldn't accept his treatment. They cried, 'I don't want to be treated by Uncle Black.' They were scared of him. I coaxed them not to be afraid. I asked them not to watch his face while he was massaging."

Shortly after things began to change.

"Njiti is doing massage gently, so the children find it quite comfortable. The second time, they ask Uncle Black to massage them voluntarily. Now children often queue up to receive his treatment so he works extra hours from time to time."

"I love kids very much. I would like to try my best to treat them."

Apart from treating patients, Njiti spends his spare time doing business. He often purchases some daily necessities, medicine and electrical products, and sends them back to Cameroon and other parts of Africa and sells them there. He says nearly all daily necessities are available in China. They are of a good quality so there is increasing market demand for them overseas.

Nowadays Njiti has comfortably mingled into Chinese society. He regards himself as a typical Chinese person and feels glad to witness the improvements in people's lives.

"Taiyuan, the city where I live now has undergone great changes compared with four years ago. There are more modern buildings, the air is cleaner and the roads have been renovated. If I leave Taiyuan now and comes back a few years later, I would no doubt feel that the original city was completely demolished and replaced by a new one."

Njiti regards China as his second home and hopes to stay here as long as possible. He is dreaming of marrying a Chinese girl and settling down in the not-too-distant future. Warm blessings to Njiti, we look forward to hearing that his dream has come true!

Now that wraps up this edition of  Africa Express. If you would like to listen to this or other stories again, you can log onto our website at: www.crienglish.com. I am Wei Tong. Hope you can tune into our program next time! Bye for now.