Last year, we were faced with two disasters in Asia. Many individuals, families, foundations and corporations in the U.S. stepped up and generously supported the disaster relief and recovery of Cyclone Nargis in Burma and the Sichuan Earthquake in China. In the same spirit of sharing, I had invited several authors to pick a topic that was not in the mainstream news but related to the disasters. For the next several posts, we hope our readers will enjoy these stories.
Rebuilding Lives of Sichuan Earthquake Children Survivors from Golden Bridges on Vimeo.
The May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake changed many lives, but few communities were more devastated than the Qiang ethnic minority people. 10% of the entire Qiang race (about 300,000) perished in one event. The Qiang people are one of the few mintority groups with ancestral roots only in China, dating nearly 3,000 years back in Chinese history. Their culture is unique and their embroidery art, architecture, costumes, religious rituals, spoken language and music are one of its kind. Because they have no spoken language, their cultural heritage can only be passed down through its Living People. Nearly all of the Quiang "cultural carriers", religious teachers, and musicians died during the earthquake.
In the aftermath, 126 impoverished children were rescued from collapsed schools in wenchuan and Mao County. Almost all of the children (aged 8-18) lost one or both parents, and are considered worst-hit children from the earthquake-affected regions. 104 of the children are Qiang, 12 are Tibetan, 9 Han and 1 Hui. There are 56 boys and 70 girls with 24 in primary school, 52 in middle school, and 50 in high school. China Children Teenager's Fund (CCTF) was tasked with the daunting challenge of finding these Qiang children a safe and stable home.
In June 2008, CCTF reached out to the Shuren-Ribet Private School in Tongzhou District, Beijing. The school was a prime choice due to its history of successful charitable education initiatives for impoverished girls, and the fact that the school's founder is from Sichuan. The school initially indicated that it would only have capacity to take in 20-30 children (making up 105 of their existing enrollment of 240). But due to the unprecedented urgency of the situation, the school agreed to accept all 126 children in June 2008 at the plea of CCTF. The children named their new family at the school: Su-Meng ErMa. It means: hope in Sichuan for Qiang sons and daughters.
In the past year, the teachers, administrators, and volunteers at the Shuren-Ribet school have worked tirelessly to meet the complex physical, emotional and educational needs of these children. With a focus on providing quality care and stability, the school mobilized and hired 11 new teachers, expanded their classrooms, cafeteria, and dorms, tailored their classes in Sichuan curriculum, and enlisted mental health volunteers for weekly counseling services. The school also provides three square meals a day, Qiang cultural preservation programs, as well as many extra-curricular activities to ensure the most nurturing environment possible for the recovery of the children. The students are also structured to act as a cohesive family unit, with the older students taking responsibility for and mentoring young ones. The school has positioned itself to break the children out of the cycle of trauma and poverty, towards full recovery and on the path to become productive citizens.
Despite best efforts by CCTF to fundraise, the school has been unable to cover their basic costs. The school has had to spend approximately 1 million RMB of its cash reserves and continues to accrue 9,000 RMB in expenses every day for all 126 children. The children no doubt view the school and their staff as a foster home, and the school staff and principal have a deep emotional connection to these children, but without additional funding, the school will no longer have the capacity to keep them.
May 2009 will be an emotional and difficult time not only for the remberance of devasting loss from the earthquake, but to also decide the fate of the children. If enough funds are not raised by the end of May (US$465,000), the lives of the children will become destabalized and uncertain as the school will be forced to let the children go, and authorities will be tasked to decide how to integrate them back into the currently unstable and overstressed school system in Sichuan. What will happen to these children then?
If you are interested in knowing more about this story, please email hchang@goldenbridges.org or visit www.shumeng.org.
