Lessons in caring

Walking the cobblestone road to Qingshi School in mountainous Mianzhu county of Sichuan province, a team of 50 volunteers can't help worrying about the psychological problems of the children who survived the devastating May 12 earthquake.

"The whole province is undergoing a very hard reconstruction period," says Feng Xiaoxia, a professor of an infant education research group with the Beijing Normal University (BNU) Education Foundation.

While the rocky road is hard for adults, they have no doubt that the children they are seeking to help will be walking a longer, more difficult path as they attempt to reconstruct their lives in Mianzhu of Deyang city, one of the worst-hit areas, says Feng, frowning.

Led by Feng, the volunteer team includes people from the Jiangsu Infant Education Academy, BNU Education Foundation and Cargill China Co, an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services.

Since June, under the sponsorship of Cargill China and with a total investment of 3 million yuan, they have been implementing a Sichuan Infants Psychological Care Project in cities and areas of Sichuan province such as Deyang, Dujiangyan city, Mianzhu, Wenchuan, Beichuan Hanwang and Shifang county.

With on-the-spot outreach and studies, the team is making a report about the local kids' psychological situation. Following the research, they will bring professional childhood caregivers to 3,500 children aged between three and six currently living in rebuilt houses in Sichuan.

Feng says there is no doubt that the Sichuan earthquake has had an overwhelmingly serious impact on the youngsters.

Take Dujiangyan city (one of the worst-hit areas) where only 24 of 96 kindergartens can now be used. With the new semester coming, it is an obvious emergency for the young students.

"They need more help and care from society," the professor says.

So specialized caring and education methods implemented in the kindergartens will play a significant role in helping the children, teachers and parents alike, he says.

Under professional guidance, the volunteers who come from Jiangsu, Sichuan, Liaoning, Hubei, Hebei and Guangdong provinces, as well as Beijing and Shanghai municipalities, have been engaging the students with activities such as puppet shows geared at different age levels and presenting gifts donated by Cargill China such as schoolbags, pencils, dolls, books and clothes.

"The gifts are not heavy but they will play a better role of showing our care for the victims," says Norwell Coquillard, president of Cargill China.

In addition to the gifts, Cargill China Co has donated 200,000 yuan to 50 injured students in Juyuan County Middle School, in Dujiangyan city in Sichuan province.

Happiness is the most significant element that should be encouraged for children after such a disaster, according to the Infant Psychological Situation Report made by BNU.

Teachers, together with parents, should not focus on teaching and making more rules for children at this time, says Feng. "That will cause more stress for the children and it will be worse for their long-term psychological care," Feng emphasizes.

Statistics from BNU's report shows that among the 11,000 children aged between 3 and 6 and living in a quake-hit area, 74.6 percent exhibited unusual actions after the earthquake, such as excessive fear of the dark and becoming overly dependent on their parents. Many can't avoid recalling the quake repeatedly, Feng says, making communication with them stressful and difficult for all concerned.

To help solve the problem, some 80 psychological care courses for more than 1,600 teachers were conducted in August in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan province, around 100 km from Mianzhu county.

The courses involve ways to help children forget the pain and trauma of the earthquake.

"It was so impressive when I saw the children coming back to kindergarten, playing games with their friends and not crying like before," says Yu Ying, a teacher of Qingshi Kindergarten in Mianzhu.

"It's both an urgent psychological care project and also a golden chance to further enhance the education level of China's rural areas," Feng says.

Teachers are also earthquake victims, especially those who lost their families, Feng points out. They also need psychological care, and on the other hand, are also coping with the responsibilities of being caregivers for the suffering students.

To help solve the problem more than 22 professional teacher-training courses have begun throughout Sichuan province, according to statistics provided by Wu Jianying, an employee from the women's federation of Dujiangyan city.

The training covers self-help care for the teachers, grief therapy as well as upgrading their knowledge of basic educational courses such as Chinese, mathematics and English, as well as some computer courses.

"With the new semester, these courses can better help teachers cope with their own problems as well as help their students as soon as possible," Feng tells China Business Weekly.

"It's a long-term project, and the effect will not only be found in the quake relief work, but also as a way to promote sustainable development in education in China's rural areas."

(China Daily 09/22/2008 page8)