Doctor treated to people's kindness amid suffering

Dr Wang Lin follows a young girl to her school after the child asks the doctor to help her retrieve her pencil box.

But, it is buried inside a classroom in Zipingpu, a town of Dujiangyan city. When they arrive at the school, Wang, a doctor with the medical team from the Guangdong Provincial Border Patrol, realizes the building is on the verge of collapsing.

Wang pulls out 100 yuan and gives it to the girl. She tells her to buy a new pencil box and pleads with her not to go near the school building.

But, the girl does not want money. She persists to ask the doctor to kindly fetch her old pencil box.

"I couldn't withhold tears any more. The sadness that has been pressing on my heart for days erupted, and I let tears flow," says Wang in a mobile message sent to the headquarters back in Guangdong.

Wang then takes out a pen and a piece of paper, asking the girl to write down her name and address. Looking into the girl's eyes, she says: "I will buy you the most beautiful pencil box."

"This is a promise both for her and myself," says Wang, whose frontline diary has been widely publicized.

Wang is among 214 relief personnel from the Guangdong Border Patrol, who have been searching for survivors and treating wounded people in Mianzhu and Deyang cities.

At one place in Mianzhu, the doctor found two hills joined into one, after the earthquake. The Qingping town that used to be between both hills no longer exists. A lot of people were buried. "Our arrival has brought the people hope," Wang says.

Without rest, the rescuers fought against the rain - and ignored bouts of sadness - to save the young and old. A temporary hospital was set up for the much needed medical staff. Wang's team was pulled back from frontline rescue operations to help treat the wounded in the area.

One bite of bread was all the doctors ate for breakfast. That morning, the physician treated more than 100 patients.

As the doctor sat chewing on a few biscuits for lunch, she noticed a man who was saved after being buried for about 50 hours. While trapped in the debris, the man kept telling himself the People's Liberation Army would soon come and give him a popsicle. Then, he would lick his lips and tell himself not to fall asleep, for fear he would not be able to hear the rescuers when they arrived.

The man's mother told Wang her son had always liked to help others and donated blood many times before. The mother believes the heaven was moved by her son's kind heart.

"We can do so little in times of such a grave, natural disaster. But, as long as we have an iron will, we will overcome any obstacle in our road," Wang says.

Wang is especially touched by the work of the volunteers, which include students, workers, enterprise managers and those from other walks of life.

Wang worked with the volunteers to send patients to bigger hospitals. She has found the volunteers to be fast and orderly, keeping detailed files of each patient, so doctors in different hospitals can continue treatment without losing time.

"From such a group of lovely people, I truly understand the meaning of 'when disaster strikes one place, people from all around rush to help'. I believe that all the people working on the frontlines can and will overcome this major earthquake with determination," Wang says.

At Zipingpu, for the first time in five days, the doctors washed their faces, brushed their teeth and had a hot meal.

The local people have been enthusiastic about the doctors. They all voluntarily left the relatively flat playground of a Zipingpu school so the medical team could set up a hospital.

Even though the town's water tower has cracked, the quake victims insisted on directing the remaining clean water to the doctors.

"Our leader asked us to use water only when necessary, as each drop of water is saved by the thirsty victims," Wang says.

Treading on slippery mountain paths, Wang and her team split into three groups to visit remote villages. After journeying for a dozen kilometers, she treated 52 patients. The doctors distributed their own canned porridge and biscuits to the children, hoping "they could eat better and forget the pain".

Before 10 am on May 19, Wang had received 20 patients. Then, orders came for them to move to another place.

When they set out to leave in the afternoon, Wang was surprised to see the local people lining up, waving at the doctors. The doctor could not help crying.

"Such sincere and simple gratitude helps me understand the true meaning and value of my uniform and how heavy the responsibilities weigh on my shoulders," Wang says.

(China Daily 05/27/2008 page20)