The China Story (part 2)
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Good Grief
EarthQuake Relief |
By Lynda Dyer
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The story continues………
I woke early this morning to news of the Olympic Torch now going through Chengdu and Sichuan where the Earthquake was recently. They have chosen over 1500 runners to take the torch through this area to highlight the efforts these people performed during the rescue efforts. One police lady lost 10 people in her family including her parents and two year old daughter. She continued to rescue others through her own devastation and has become a national hero. She led the torch bearers today. Her story brings fresh emotion to me today for what we have seen and heard since our continuous trips to the Earthquake area on May 12. The courage and tenacity for these people to move on is nothing more than heart felt inspiration. I feel so blessed to be playing a tiny part in this massive rescue and rebuilding project. I am moved to tell you about our recent adventure into this area.
My third trip to China was on Thursday July 25. I was granted an extra box of luggage by Qantas to take more Good Grief Books in English to China. I met Hong at the airport after an 11 hour flight from Australia. Hong and Beate were carrying over 300 more Good Greif books in Chinese. After a couple of hours at the domestic airport we were off to Chengdu on the same night. On this day I was to find that there were three after shocks that reached 5.6 or more on the rickter scale so more fear and devastation was occurring as we landed.
In Chengdu, we settled immediately into our hotel in the middle of the city and got some well earned sleep before our planned our busy three days ahead. Despite the recent after shocks we noticed a different energy in this city and many more people out and about. It was like a confidence we hadn’t seen before, a determination to move on, a defiance to not be at the effect of this natural monster that had preyed on them since May 12 and who had taken so much from them. I felt this renewed energy. It was very encouraging and at the same time I felt so proud for these people to have made the shift both mentally and physically.
The next morning (Friday) we were off early in a car with a driver organized by Lucy (a professional volunteer who uses the Book Worm as her base) We were off to deliver books to schools that were in desolate areas and not visited by many people. We came across this small school (Wu Qi School, Tu Men Zhen, Mian Zhu) and some volunteers working in the school from both China and the USA. One of the volunteers had both of his children with him from the USA. Their job was to play and teach English. I thought about the stories they would have when their school starts back. What a phenomenal gift they brought into this village and what a phenomenal gift they would have received from the Chinese children going through dramatic change and finding courage every day to move on with their lives.
The makeshift school was a bunch of tents amongst the trees just off the roadside and opposite a temple hidden in the trees up the hill. We went inside the tents and found the most basic conditions with chairs, blackboards, some desks and a staff tent that had thin mattresses on the floor as this was also their home. They told us of the heat as this was the middle of their hot summer so the mosquitos were on the prowl every day and night. The toilet arrangements and lack of running water were challenging but seemed little concerns compared with the gift they gave these children by being with them every day. Even though this was the school holiday, these teaches were offering half day classes to get the children up to date with what they had missed and to give them some normality in their life and contact with others. They also had counseling as one of the volunteers was NLP trained and the other was a doctor. Both volunteers had been there for two weeks and were about to change shifts with the next two volunteers to come in.
The children all got the booklets and we were thrilled when we walked around the temple and village later to find the children chasing us for our signature when they found out we were the author and translator of the book they now possessed. We spent some time at the temple praying for peacefulness for these people and watching them prepare food on the side of the road or making a bed out of scrap wood. The young children played “building blocks” with the scrap wooden bits that the father had given them. Just like the songs they sang at the last place we visited, I was reminded again of the similarity of this game to the games my son played at their age. The context was different, and the game was the same.
While walking further into and around the temple we learnt a great deal more about this area, the people, the loss and that many of the people were transported their from their devastated areas both higher up the mountain and over the other side of the mountain. They had experienced great losses and were making their new life along the roadside and in the vicinity of this temple that offered them spiritual support.
A teacher appeared right next to me as I wandered around with my own thoughts and continually amused by the children appearing from the village with their book to be signed. I looked at this good looking man next to me and thought immediately that he was a teacher and wanted us to go with him. It was not long before Hong came along and confirmed my thoughts with her conversations and translations. He was keen for us to go “off track” from our planned day and visit a huge school that he works at some distance away that has school in the morning and in the afternoon during the summer and has attracted a huge following from the remaining children in the area.
We found the directions and we were off again. We passed more devastation and we passed the remains of the school (Guang Ji School) that use to be. This school lost the top floor and with it 2 teachers died and over a dozen children. It was a stark reminder of what had just occurred.
Then we arrived at this massive temporary building site set up for a new school. Portable new buildings emerged wherever the land would allow kitchens, canteens, toilet blocks, the works had all been built. In the middle was a tent for the staff. We met some of the teachers and a headmaster that deserved no less than a medal of honour for his efforts. He was working with donated goods, donated chairs and desks from Oxfam Charity Group. He had three charities supporting him to get this school up and running. He had gathered over 1200 students and half day schooling was now in full bloom either in the morning or in the afternoon. They were sharing one tenth of the computers that they had in the last school. They had donated photocopiers, paper, pens, and back pack school bags for each child laden with goodies. He had books but no book cases and he wanted 1200 of our books for each child.
This man worked all day as the President of this school, he designs websites to attract donations for the children at night, he sleeps in a chair in his office every night to protect what he had gathered for the children. He eats the same food as the children in the school (a basic diet of noodles). He had to leave his wife and child to do this work both knowing how important it was. School begins in September and he did not want to wait until then. He had a toilet block with no water but he worked out how he could make it functional until the necessary plumbing arrives. He has gathered children from other schools on the outskirts of the town and asked them to join him. He is now designing another website to gather donations for a boarding school for children who want to really study and for children no longer with parents. He has the donations already for the buildings but he needs money to buy the land from the farmers.
This man was inspirational as were the teachers sweltering in this office to make school happen for these children as were the children who came back to school in their school holidays to catch up on their lessons lost due to the earthquake. We walked around the school meeting the children and taking their photos as they requested it. You could have been anywhere in the world. The camaraderie between the children was also inspirational. I felt lifted with the energy this place exuded and wanted to go back and get the books and let others know of this man’s dreams and for them to seek help for him to help so many others. I believe book cases are already on their way from us spreading the word.
We then came back to Chengdu and had a meeting at the Book Worm with Lucy. We told her about this man and what he was doing and she will now follow up on our advice. We just arrived back to the hotel when the phone rang and Lucy had a call for another 1200 books. Then our wonderful volunteer from our very first trip gave us an order for 6,000 books by September 1 for three schools in that area. We knew then that our job of printing the Good Grief books and distributing them had just begun. We had to think of other ways to raise enough funds to keep this booklet going out as it had been so well received from both the children, volunteers, parents and school teachers alike. I was thrilled that this little book had found such a huge following and was assisting so many people to move through their grief.
The next day Hong and I went to printing shops getting quotes for having the booklet printed closer to the schools. We also sent packages of books off in the post to volunteers who were keen to distribute them; keeping 200 for our children’s sports camp we were working on the next day in another earthquake zone. I was teaching an NLP Master Practitioner course back in Shanghai on Monday so took the opportunity to print workbooks and take some time out to rest in the afternoon. That evening we met Beate for a meal in a Tibetan restaurant and wander through a traditional market place. It was a light relief for us all.
The next day we all met at the Book Worm once again ready to catch a bus to the Earthquake Zone with a group called The Rainbow Project started by a lady living in Chengdu from the USA. Her name is Kate. They have been gathering volunteers over the last 9 Sundays and hiring a bus, buying crafts and sports and games equipment and taking them into the Earthquake Zone so the children can come to the one centre and enjoy this school holiday activity afternoon. They have been attracting over 300 children each Sunday so we knew we had our work cut out for us. Lucy heard about the sports and games camps I ran in Australia over the last 14 years in the school holidays and asked if we could join the efforts of the Rainbow Project on this Sunday that we were in the town. Of course we could take our books and hand them out at the end of the day to the children.
We arrived to an excited bunch of children smiling and waving to us and coming out to greet us on the road. We were glad to get out of the bus taking what we could in equipment for the day. We followed Kate to a designated area passing hundreds of adults, a makeshift kitchen that fed thousands, a medical tent to address wounds and other illnesses and a huge tent that had all the men playing cards and other games while they sought shade from the scorching heat in the middle of the day.
We had craft goods spread out on many tables and jigsaw puzzles on another two tables. Hong and I took the soccer ball and parachute to the centre of the park for games while Beate worked tirelessly around the numerous craft tables.
You could see that this was once a showground and many tents were once here as the yellow grass was a clear indication. Many of these families had moved from here to portable housing so the tents were gradually being disassembled. This gave Hong and I and the kids following us more space to play in. I began kicking the ball and in no time attracted a crowd of boys to join me. It was great to see them smile and practice their English when they wanted to talk with me. It was extremely hot, so we changed our game to the parachute using the soccer ball on the top. This gave us the opportunity to get under the parachute for some shade while we continued to play. Some smaller children were now attracted to this game while the older boys sought some drink and shade. Eventually we all came in from the heat and began assisting the crafts and jigsaw puzzles which had become an instant success with large groups of children of all ages.
The afternoon continued with both the kids and the adults taking “time out” from their Earthquake thoughts just for a few hours of fun. The Rainbow Project volunteers worked tirelessly to make sure all kids were catered for. We felt blessed to be a part of this day and to help make a small difference in these peoples’ lives.
The Rainbow Project Volunteers decided to run a raffle for prizes that were taken by them and so we decided at this point that all the kids should have a gift and it was time to hand out the “Good Grief” booklets to all the kids. The reception we received was nothing short of overwhelming. The children bombarded us with their hands out and we had to stand strong to remain standing up. They then left and the next group of children flooded in. It was then a sight to be seen as one child realized I was the author so they should take the opportunity to get my signature and all the others as well. As the children turned around and ran back to us it was mayhem and wonderful at the same time. We all felt overjoyed that these kids respected us enough to want a personal piece of us on that day. It was humbling for me as this was a dream of mine to be inundated with people wanting me to sign my book for them. I just wasn’t specific as to where that would take place and I was thrilled that it was right here right now.
We left the children and walked around to where all the adults were sitting and handed out the remaining books. No words spoken, just a smile of gratitude from us to them and them to us. The adults read the book immediately and again I felt blessed that this little book was making such a difference. As we left the camp some time later we noticed that the open air kitchen was in full swing busily preparing food for these hundreds of people for their evening meal. It was a great group effort. We waved and hugged those who followed us out to the bus.
The bus ride home was quiet as we witnessed more devastation than we had seen previously and reflected on what these people had been through and how well they worked together as a community to assist each other. Then out of the blue I noticed some tents from Australia from the St George Illawarra Football Club. What a hoot. A little piece of home right here provides a roof over some families.
We arrived back at 5.30pm after a successful day and had to prepare for a live interview at the Book Worm with a journalist who was keen to prepare some recording of our journey so he could assist us to raise funds to print more books and to let others know of the booklet so that it may assist others.
We enjoyed a meal while we were at the Book Worm and met with Lucy, our main organizer in the Earthquake area. We then worked out future opportunities and arranged to meet one month later in the Earthquake Zone to do some fundraising for the demand that was now rising rapidly around the book. Lucy wanted another 1200. A volunteer wanted thousands and a school principal wanted 1200. We needed funds for 10,000 more booklets and we had four weeks to do it in.
We flew back to Shanghai late that night and I began 11 days of Master Practitioner Training in NLP. It was great teaching this course with people from all around the world. With more Earthquakes happening every week in the same Sichuan province we knew our efforts had to continue. It was an interesting time in China with earthquake activity in one area and Olympic Games in the other. Our project here had only just begun. With new contacts both overseas and in China itself we could see the growth of the project and we were determined to see our work through.
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