Shipments of Supplies to Chengdu, Needs in Wenchuan

Our third shipment was sent from Guangzhou to Chengdu today. These items include medicines, children's supplies and 150 tents.


The first 422 school bags of 1,000 arrived in Chengdu to be distributed to the students on Children's Day.



This morning, we heard from our contact in Wenchuan: Those receiving aid receive 0.7 Jin rice per day, and no longer have to eat instant food. People use simple cookware they found to cook for themselves. Thus they need rice, flour, cooking oil, etc - basic food supplies - and especially water purifiers, since they still rely on the army to bring clean water every day.

Officier Zhang and his group found a 4-month-old baby girl in need of formula. They don't have any 0-6 month formula so they gave the mother 30 eggs and some rice. Officier Zhang and Children's Hope are both trying to get the formula to this family as soon we know of anyone going into Wenchuan.

Accessing Shanxi and Gansu's Needs, Seeking Volunteers for Beichuan Victim Centers

There is a great need in Shanxi and Gansu now for diapers, formula, etc. Children's Hope is sending our staff to the two orphanages in the region for details and is gathering goods for Shanxi and Gansu from now on.

We have three staff in Sichuan at this point: Chen Hui in Chengdu in charge of receiving and sending supplies, and Xiaonian and Jiaying in Mianyang counseling the children. Xiaonian works within Jiuzhou stadium, the largest gathering place for Beichuan victims, and Jiaying in Anxian, at the new Beichuan settlement center. They both need more volunteers to continue and develop our work. Xiaonian specifically needs volunteers with education experience.

Words of Encouragement Drawings to Be Sent with Backpacks of Supplies for Children Returning to School

I got back to home last night, at 10:00 pm. Kevin and the girls went to the airport to meet me and Xiaowei. It feels like another world being back in sandy Beijing. I am back in my office and have met with all of our staff. Our meeting room is now the storage for the supplies.

I received my first batch of 400 cards to be sent to Sichuan children this morning - these are the letters of encouragement for the children on the streets. The sweet words speak so much. We will be sending them with our 1,000 school bags to Sichuan before June 1st, Children's Day. Thank you to each young person who showed their caring in this way!

More Medicine and Supplies to Disaster Area

On the night of May 27th, we received 50 boxes of medicines and supplies from Beijing. Unfortunately, the bottles in two boxes were broken. We found storage for our 10 tons of supplies today. Here Ms Liao and I were waiting for the truck to arrive for the airport at 10:00pm.

Our Success in Wenchuan and Our Return to Chengdu to Plan for Phase II of Disaster Relief

To be honest, my experiences in the disaster area, with all that I have seen and the difficulties I have met, are overwhelming. I almost can not stand. One thing has been supporting me - I have been very grateful to have such an opportunity to help the people of Sichuan, to have such a chance to share my love.

Today has been a very smooth, good day. All of the volunteers who visited Wenchuan orphanage have become the best of friends. The four of us are Li Rui, female reporter of Jing Newspaper; Zhao Qian and Huang Jian-feng, reporters of Chongqing Television Station; and me.

On the drive in.

As time passed, I became particularly happy on the road and had a feeling we would be successful in our pursuit of the Wenchuan orphanage. We felt so comfortable that some of us even fell asleep in the car!

When our two vehicles (a military truck and a Jeep) loaded with supplies arrived at Wenchuan orphanage, the orphanage director Mr. Lang was too excited to say anything. The orphanage cares for 31 children and six elders. I took pictures of each child. I will send those pictures to our office when I find Internet service. The supplies we delivered are piled up like a small hill, including: a generator, children's products, daily necessities and even toilet paper.

Mr. Lang and Wenchuan's children. He is called Daddy Lang by every child.

Mr. Lang called me this afternoon telling me they finally had electricity and light at night on the 25th, using the generator we brought them. The children were all delighted!

This is the girls' tent. They went back into the orphanage to get beds and other items and rushed back out of their damaged building.

Tomorrow, I will return to Chengdu. I will discuss with Mianyang and Chengdu colleagues about our next plan. I have some preliminary planning and thoughts - the basic point is that as a private charitable organization, we really need to aid local people during their most difficult stage; when everyone's attention has shifted to normal life, we really need to set up a long-term program to help the children affected by the earthquake.




Now the most important work should be resettling the people in the disaster area. A lot of people want to be independent, but it is very difficult. The private charitable organizations and agencies can do something for these people.

Yesterday, I mentioned a family; the first name of this family is Tang. Their mother and grandmother are dead. Only the father and two children are alive. They are a typical victim family after the earthquake. The sister-in-law of this family is pregnant, at the end of her second trimester. She doesn't have enough food and no clean water in which to bathe.

The father of this family can drive; I think if I take him to Beijing he may find a job. Anyone who sees the sad situation in the disaster area, really wants to do something to help these victims.


The children gave us cherries to say thank you.

Thank you for all of your nice comments... They give me encouragement.

Road Conditions Slow Relief

Yesterday our team stayed in the army camps. Today we visited some of earthquake victims with the soldiers. One of the families, mother and grandmother were killed in the earthquake. The father and two young children have nothing left beside the clothes on their bodies.

Tomorrow, we will finally make it to Maoxian, to deliver food and the other things to Wenchuan orphanage. Wenchuan orphanage is located in Maoxian. From the first day of the earthquake, the orphanage has been without water and power, we cannot imagine how bad situation it is now.

Out of our team, only 4 persons are left (the other 5 gave up), and we don't have enough vehicles to send goods to the orphanage. Mr. Zhang, an army officer found a car for us, and will escort us to Maoxian.

Our plan is, after visiting Maoxian, we will not go directly to Lixian. (Note: These two areas are the heaviest hit areas. Because of bad road conditions, relief supplies cannot be delivered in large quantities)

The rest of the Children's Hope earthquake team based out of Chengdu is continuing to deliver supplies to orphanages or to the greatest need.

Frightening Memories of the Treacherous Road to Wenchuan

Despite our previous plan, we decided to pursue the quicker route into Wenchuan instead of the longer/safer way, saving us 200km in driving time. Everything was fine until 10:00pm last night, when a dense fog set in and visibility dropped to 3-4 meters. We were driving down a mountainside with a deep ravine on one side. This made us all very nervous. Our route took us over Mengbi Mountain, which is over 4314m tall; we were taking the same route the Red Amy took during the Long March 70 years ago. Our driver became worn out and so requested that we rest at about 2:00 am . We slept in a little inn at A Bazhou overnight, and continued our trip at daybreak. According to the Wenchuan Orphanage director we will be the first batch of people to help the orphanage specifically. We were eager to arrive.

Near midnight, in a little county named Xiao Jin, a scene moved us. There were several Tibetans along the road, offering volunteers and victims donated food. They live in the mountains, and come down every morning to the roadside, making some simple meals for the people passing by, and do not return home until midnight. They gave us some food before we left, telling us to eat on the way and share with the victims if we see any.


Brainstorming on the Road...

In the beginning, our rescue and material aid operation was centered around Mianyang and the most damaged city of Beichuan. Volunteer Mao Yuan from Beijing Medical University 3rd Hospital was with us dispersing material aid. Our nurse Zhao Xiao Nian was and is with a psychology team at Mianyang, counseling the children. Children's Hope staff member, Shen Jia Yng , arrived on the 20th to join the counseling work in Mianyang. While Chen Hui , also with Children's Hope, is in charge of receiving and dispersing material aid.

Now we are expanding our rescue area with the help of many volunteers, in many different ways. As of May 21, we began sending volunteers and donations to Qingchuan, Guangyuan, and Shifang to reach the victims there.

My main task is helping the orphans in the orphanages and the children who have become orphaned from the quake. It is hard to calculate how many children have been orphaned; they are under government protection and we can not become too involved at this point. What we can do is help the original orphans and build relationships with the orphanages, so when we can help the new orphans we will be able to do so as soon as possible.

Our quake rescue team expands, as we are asking psychologists in our network to research the best way of aiding the children (and to create training lessons for the volunteers) and relying on contacts in Hong Kong for materials and lessons on major disaster interventions.

We are cooperating with the Red Cross to design a poster, to be printed and issued to the public after government confirmation for epidemic prevention.

A lot of charity organizations and NGOs are collecting donations, both cash and material. Children’s Hope has had an amazing response to material aid; many needed items reported from the front lines are met almost immediately from our different sources. The money we raise is used for the greatest need of children.

I have a proposal now: I want to build a foundation with the money we have, a Growing Fund. This fund will help the children effected by the earthquake, specifically, for psychoanalytic consultation, education assistance, necessary medical treatments, and skill training and career assistance for the older children.

As time goes by and people change their focus from the disaster, I wish this fund will bring professionals together to help and care for these children as they grow into adults. It is a big proposal, but together – we can do this for the children.

Disaster Relief Team Arrives in Wenchuan After a Dangerous Drive In

The CHI Beijing office received a SMS from Melody:

"In the last 2 hours, we have been met with frequent dangerous conditions. The road from Li to Wenchuan is too rugged to go through. Our tire has burst twice. A leak in our petrol tank was discovered after we arrived in Wenchuan. We're going to repair it now. We are unable to send pictures."

(Click map above to view a full map of China listing orphanages in the disaster area and our Children's Hope Emergency Volunteers' locations. PDF, provided generously by RedThreadMaps.com)

Traveling the Distance to Wenchuan Orphange, Where the Children Have No Water

"We are determined to go because the children there have no water and electric supplies."
...

We received three trucks full of supplies from our main office and other locations and were stored in the hotel lobby. Mrs. Liao, the owner of the hotel has been most helpful. She offered her van for me to sleep tonight again. I tried to stay inside, but the hotel staff set up tents on the grass area and urges every guest to sleep there. It has rained and there is limited internet across the area. I am sending this update the morning of May 21st.

I am leaving for Wenchuan Orphanage today, and, if we take the long road, I may not have internet access for the next 5 days. I will try to send emails from my phone and will be in contact with Children's Hope - US by phone if possible.

Our team members traveled from Yingxiu to Wenchuan on May 19 and returned the same day - the road from Yingxiu to Wenchuan City was still closed. They did not find many children in Yingxiu, as they all have been evacuated to Dujingyan. They did, however, see some on the road.


We received a request from Wenchuan Orphanage for food, an electric generator, and more supplies today and we gathered all the items and contacted Red Cross for Jeeps to send them in. Wenchuan Orphanage is to the Northwest of Wenchuan City. There are two roads to the orphanage: one is closed often as the pictures show here; the other is through Yaan, Maoerkang and will take 2 days to travel one way. We are determined to go because the children there have no water and electric supplies.

Deyang's Precious Orphans Receive Aid, Mianyang Medicines Delivered for Soldiers

Baby Xiao Qin is on her way to Beijing and Children's Hope International's foster home #2, run by Angel Moms. (Lily, who has been traveling with me, is the head of Angel Moms.) Amidst the chaos, I was able to give Xiao Qin a peaceful moment this morning.


We delivered the supplies the Guangzhou Moms brought Sunday to the Deyang Orphanage. Director Wu is delighted to see us back. I told her I received a request from one of my blog readers to come and see one baby here. The little boy has an American family coming for his adoption and they are so worried. I took the picture of this boy and another boy the director knows is assigned to a family already. For privacy reasons, I will not say which is which. I am sure the families will recognize their little ones. My best wishes to you!




The children at Deyang orphanage are great. On the back wall there are pictures of all the children adopted by foreign families. Director Wu remembers every one of them. She has been working here since 1998 before the current building was built. Post-quake this building is now dangerous to live; they will need to build a new steadier building in the future.



Two shipments arrived today from Beijing, after seeing off Lily and baby Xiaoqin, I stayed at the airport to meet both groups arriving at 8 and 9pm. The volunteer driver delivered the Babytree donor supplies to their van and are scheduled to take more to Deyang orphanage. The rest of the supplies were purchased by Angel moms in Beijing and scheduled to ship to Mianyang tonight. Five boxes of baby items and medicines from these shipments will be for the Wenchuan orphanage.

Below are the supplies we sent to Mianyang tonight, including 1,000 bags of Chinese medicines, Angel Mom Xiaowei brought for the soldiers to prevent the spread of disease while in the front lines of the disaster area.


Here I am in our makeshift office; last night we slept on the grass and some of us in cars.

Leaving for Wenchuan Orphanage

I was just in touch with Director Lang: all the children in Wenchuan are safe. It is a miracle given the fact they are between the two worst hit places - Wenchuan and Maoxian. They do not have water yet, and need rice, oil, bowls, and bedding. They are living together in tents - 37 children and their 12 caretakers. Our team is going there as soon as we get supplies and the van ready.

New Locale for Supplies; Early Morning May 19

We moved to a nearby motel last night. Normally, the rooms go for 120 per night. The owner, Ms. Liao, after learning we are here to help the victims of the earthquake, gave us a free room to store our supplies and offered her own SUV for us last night, to sleep in. Most of the people in Chengdu sleep outside every night since May 12, preventively for the aftershocks everyday. Last night, we felt a pretty big one while we were in the car.

Our bed.
More photos:

Yesterday we came across this place - a temporary place for found bodies. I don't have words for this.

Earthquake Orphans

Today, I went back to Deyang Orphanage with two of our team members to deliver more supplies. It has been in my heart since we came on the 14th, to help take care of the Sichuan orphans. And this wish finally came true.

Today, I found this one month little baby girl with a both a foot and hand deformity. We know she needs some correctable surgery and asked the director. She said they are so busy now and they have to wait on this. I asked if we might take her back to Beijing with us and help her to get the surgery and rehabilitation there. Since I was turned down for two other children yesterday, I was so surprised when the director said, yes, but only if we sign a foster care agreement first. Our two volunteer moms were so delighted and Lily held little Xiao Qin in her arms the whole way back to Chengdu.

Getting her medical checkup.
In the car, we looked at the baby, and she became prettier and prettier in our eyes. We heard from three area orphanage directors that they will soon receive earthquake orphans, 20-40 each. Many Chinese families are requesting to adopt earthquake orphans, and the provincial Civil Affairs office announced two days ago, that this is the time for families’ reunification and not adoption. And they prefer to keep these children in the area so the families can find them easier.

Our hope is if we can help take some of the orphans back to Beijing before those children arrive at the orphanages, we will take some of the load off the workers there. I am so glad we are able to start with little Min Xiao Qin.


Three Guangzhou moms arrived with 75 boxes of diapers and formula - both donated and purchased from Guangzhou. The Guangzhou airport staff let them take it all on without overweight charges. By 10:50pm, they arrived at the hotel where we are staying. We promised the Deyang and Guangyuan orphanage directors, we will deliver the supplies tomorrow.

Is it Real? Medicine to Orphanages, Supplies to Hospitals, and the First Wave of Evacuations

For a small portion of the day, I was taken away from the disaster and brought into a normal, peaceful life. Could it be true? Was this real? For a moment I hoped, "Maybe this is all a long dream."

Then I heard the news on my TV. The death roll is now 21,000 and over 100,000 injured. The Wenchuan earthquake is the worst earthquake to hit China since 1949.

Last night I slept in a bed for the first time since I arrived in Sichuan. Two of us returned to Chengdu to use the computer and Internet, as well as plan our next steps. Thank you to our volunteer XiaoYu Mommy (her handle on the web) - she opened her house to us for rest and work space. Her building manager also offered their office as temporary storage for our supplies delivered in from different parts of the country. This saved us from moving those heavy boxes to our hosts 6th floor apartment.

Just now, as I tried to write this update, I felt the third earthquake of the day. The first quake - around 10 this morning, while I was connecting with Kara, my friend from Operation Blessing - I felt the sofa shake a little and I jumped and gathered all my things and left the 19th floor of a hotel room. When I reached the lobby, the front desk staff looked at me calmly and said, “This is normal. No need to worry.”

In a taxi later, the radio confirmed this – what I felt was one of the thousand aftershocks since May 12. It is surreal.


One night of sleep really helped my thinking. Our goal is to help children affected by the earthquake; there are two target groups: orphans and the children in need in general, especially those who are in need of medical assistance. In the first phase, as all disaster relief work goes, we focus on relief first, through distribution of much needed supplies and help with whatever need we can find. The next two phases will be recovery and development. Right now, I am thinking again about the need to work with children with PTSD, help with family reunification, etc. But now we are still in the first stage. Here is what happened today:

The volunteer group with medical supplies from United Hospital in Beijing went to Mianyang. A young lady, Dengshuang, contacted me for medical supplies, as her team is now assigned to Jiangyou, which is the other main city where victims are being sent. There is a great need in Jiangyou hospitals, with thousands of patients just now arriving. She gave me a list: antibiotics, diarrhea medicine, surgical tools for bone surgeries, blood protein, and any other medical supplies. I would like for our volunteers in other part of China, even overseas to please try to get these and find a way to get them to us in Chengdu. As soon as we receive them, we will deliver the items to the Jiangyou hospital right away.

I visited Sichuan Civil Office today. Mr. Ye, Mrs. Li and Mr. Han are the directors of the social welfare department of the entire province. They issued me an intro letter for three orphanages thought to be in great need - Jinyang Children’s Welfare Home in Deyang, GuangYuan, and Mianyang Children’s Home (the orphanage I visited Thursday). In China, having a letter like this can be a great help. I called Jinyang right away and was able to get connected to Director Wu. Our staff just sent another 13 boxes of baby supplies to us tonight and I will bring them to Jinyang tomorrow morning.


Xiaonian, our nurse from CHI who came with me, went to Beichuan from Mianyang today with a medical team all the way from Luoyang Henan. The latest news: people in Beichuan are being evacuated to nearby counties. After 100 hours of rescue effort, every survivor found now is considered a miracles.

Survivors at the stadium.

New areas of disaster are being found everyday - like Mianzhu, Lixian, Shefang. More sad scenes are being seen on TV, dead bodies, moms crying for the loss of their children.

This is not a dream but a hard, hard time for the entire country...and it’s long from over. The entire country watches Sichuan.

What keeps us all going is the love we have felt from everyone in the country. Yes, this might be the worst earthquake we have experienced, yet, it is also the first time I have seen the whole country with one goal, and acting on it with a great unified force.

I can’t give much to you, children of May 12. ..But I want to you to feel loved.

--Melody

VIDEO: From a Taxi in Chengdu, Melody Gives Urgent Update (6 min)

Giving When There’s So Many In Need, Children’s Hope Team in Quake’s Aftermath

"Here, many babies born in the last several days have been starving with no milk from their moms and a shortage of formula."

Received from Melody: 1 pm Thursday May 15, 2008

I arrived in Chengdu at 5:25 pm yesterday with volunteers, Hehong and Lily. On the plane, two more joined our team - reporter Qiyan and a medical radiologist, Maowei. Met by our volunteers at the airport, we traveled into the devastated nearby city, Dujiangyan.

What the world was seeing by news, we saw in person. We went to the Chinese medicine hospital - the whole building collapsed Monday, burying over one hundred people alive. We were accompanied by staff from a Chinese formula company, who are donating over one million Yuan of formula - two truckloads full to the brim and bottles for the infants.


When we arrived at the city's maternity ward, we were told all the children had been sent "home". Their donation registration line was long; we made the decision to move our efforts to Mianyang City where there are more victims. We traveled amongst ambulances and flashing lights. Masks protected us between the two cities from a strong chemical odor seeping through the van doors. As if it wasn't real enough, a small aftershock rocked the van.

By the time we got to Mianyang City, in the heart of Beichuan, it was 3 a.m. We went to the first maternity hospital we could find and delivered 20 boxes of infant formula. Here, many babies born in the last several days have been starving with no milk from their moms and a shortage of formula.

At the second hospital, we saw the victims from Beichuan; over 7000 were reported dead Monday. At the Mianyang Central Hospital, 5 -6 rooms had been set aside especially for Beichuan’s young victims. It was in one of these rooms I met the 4-year-old girl Shenxiaoyu, whose face is still covered with blood.


Her volunteer caretaker said Shenxiaoyu climbed out of the daycare building debris on her own. She is a brave little girl but now refuses to speak to anyone. So it is with the other young victims in this hospital. A little 6-year-old boy in the next room has nightmares and cries for help every night in his sleep. This emphasizes the need for me to begin a counseling program for PTSD for these children. Children’s Hope can train the volunteers necessary to begin a small art and play therapy for them all.


We spent the rest of the night in the square, in the middle of the government and Red Cross's temporary headquarters. Armed with donations, we left with information of the nearest orphanage - 20 new orphans live there today, brought from the Beichuan rubble.

Our volunteer driver drove us and our 40 boxes of formula to Zitong County. Director Zhang Ping met with us and was relieved to receive the formula, toys, blankets, bottled water and one big sack of cucumbers. Their orphanage is now a dangerous place, with cracking walls and electric leakage. They need more formula, cloth diapers, materials, medicine and cotton for making their own quilts and clothes for children.


On the square where we stayed, we met 10-year-old Liuliya from Beijing. When the quake hit, she came - as everyone did - frantically into the streets with her aunty. They found her father, but he went straight back into the devastation, looking for her mom. He has been gone for 24 hours and has not returned.


While Lily and I visited the Mianyang orphans, three other members of our team, Hehong, Qiyan and Maowei, joined the medical team and went to the front line - Beichuan. Their goal is to help dig through the debris and find more survivors.

Jiuzhou Stadium

Before heading back to Chengdu, I visited the Jiuzhou Stadium, where over 10,000 victims are staying. This is what I saw:

* A nice looking family with two children, ‘mom” and “dad” and “grandpa”; when I asked, I was told they were from 5 different families
* A bulletin board with handwritten notes searching for lost family members
* Tens of thousands of people living on the floor of the stadium, under covers or on the grass – some with and some without tents
* A loudspeaker, announcing formula supply, medical assistance, and missing family information
* Many young children playing on the swings and playgrounds; finding the relief they could

I was amazed with so many people living under one roof how smoothly things seem to be running - and calmly. People are sad, but are holding on in good spirit, living with thanksgiving. Many locals bring food, water, and clothes to the victims everyday. There is hope.

We will be in touch with Mianyang Red Cross before Lily and I return to Chengdu tomorrow afternoon. The need is now sterilizer, medicine of all kinds, and mostly, tents of any size for those still on the streets.

Beichuan

The word from our front line team: Hehong came in just as I am writing this. They are finding dead bodies today in Beichuan; it is extremely difficult because the rescue teams don’t have large equipment, as the roads are blocked. The latest numbers from CCTV: there were 20,000 people dead from May 12’s earthquake in Sichuan, more than 100,000 people injured, and 10,000 people saved. All of China is helping Sichuan; more volunteers and foreign donations are pouring in each day.


Let’s pray for the thousands of victims still waiting to be rescued,

--Melody, May 15 midnight (China time)