Half the Sky Children's Earthquake Relief Fund

Dear Friends,

Today we were starting the process of wrapping up the major portion of our orphanage relief efforts. With your help, we had purchased and delivered or were in the process of delivering huge amounts of medicines and medical supplies, tents, cribs, cots, bedding, baby formula, diapers, kids clothing and shoes, rice, noodles, cooking oil, water, powdered milk, bowls, cups, towels, mosquito repellent and much, much more. As we finalized plans to ship two giant tents to house hundreds of newly orphaned children and bring in engineers to erect them, we got an emergency call from the Aba Civil Affairs Bureau.

The Aba Civil Affairs Bureau is caring for approximately 1,000 orphaned and displaced children, most of whom are 7-12 years old. There are over 100 infants. They had been placing the children in local shelters but had just received news that 70 more children are on the way. There are no more tents and no more beds for them. Further, they urgently need powdered milk and diapers. And they need foods that don’t require cooking because most of their cooking stoves and supplies have been destroyed. They need so much they can’t even give us an estimate.

The roads to Aba are dangerous but the need is tremendous. We obtained the necessary road pass and organized a convoy of three trucks. Our senior preschool field supervisor, Yang Lei, will lead the effort, along with Aba drivers who are familiar with the dangers. It’s a 3 day round-trip. However, we have reluctantly postponed the relief mission because all reports—including from the directors of the Aba and Chengu orphanages--are that it's just too dangerous and too unsure to take such a risk while there are so many mudslides. “This is a very difficult decision for us to make, but we simply can't risk life to save life,” the orphanage directors told us. The convoy will take off as soon as we get clearance.

We have not yet really begun the second critical phase of our operation in Sichuan: training caregivers and volunteers to care for and address the non-material needs of displaced and newly-orphaned children. There are billions being donated for rebuilding, but we need help putting young lives back together.

Here’s a note from Ma Lang, who was at a relief shelter today talking to newly-orphaned children:

I talked to a junior high school girl. Here is part of our conversation: Lang: Do you know there are psychologists and counselors there to help people? Girl: Yes. Lang: Would you be willing to talk to a psychologist? Girl: Yes. Lang: What would you like to talk about with the psychologist? Girl: Things that make me happy. Like happy stories and movies. Lang: What do not you want the psychologist to ask? Girl: [pause] Do not ask me where my families are!

And then

“I met Lei in the “inner circle” at Jiuzhou Stadium. He was a cute and curious second grader who’d lost his parents in the quake. He approached me and asked me what I was doing when I was organizing the pictures I took. We looked at the pictures together, and chatted a little bit. He told me that after the earthquake, there come aftershocks, and then comes the epidemic. He said epidemic means you die if you do not wash hands before and after meals. When I asked him what an earthquake is, he said if you talk loud, earthquakes happen. I lowered my voice and asked him if our voices were loud. He said, I do not know.”

Half the Sky is finalizing plans to work in consultation with an important international resource for children traumatized by crisis. I want to thank all of you who have worked to help us locate Mandarin-speaking child trauma specialists. I think we are assembling an outstanding team. I will share more details in the next few days. What I hope I can communicate to you all is that our work is really just beginning. We need more help!

Thank you for all you’ve already done for these children – and for what you will do.

With love, Jenny

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