It's 10am and I've already had two meetings, after falling asleep last night for a couple of hours at 3:45am.
Next up, I'll be meeting with a colleague to review, in painstaking detail, our project's finances. The rest of the donations have arrived from Canada, so we'll be doing a final count, subtracting the large amount we've committed for the next load of tenting materials, factoring in the clothing I plan to buy on Monday, and we'll see what we have left.
I was hoping to visit an orphange here in Beijing, where my contacts tell me that some of the Sichuan orphans arrived this week but, interestingly, all official channels here in Beijing disavow this fact, claiming that such a transfer has not occurred. The reality, though, is that there are 110-125 orphans here who have arrived over the past week from the Beichuan area. This is fact.
I'd like to be able to make a donation to help the organization as well as local foster families who have really overstretched their means to take them in. So, I'll keep hunting.
On the subject of children, here is an update from a team of international child welfare experts and psychologists, currently in Sichuan:
"We travelled nearly 3 hours to get to the child welfare institution we work with in Mian Yang. All the children are still living in tents. We spent three hours assessing the needs of the orphanage and came up with some simple rehabilitation plans for the children, some of which have just lost their parents in the earthquake.
The orphanage director was told that about 100 new orphans from the earthquake were coming into their institution soon. It is vital that they receive some training on post-trauma counselling and rehabilitation.
We have never seen such a massive need in one place. Long term training and support is crucial for the lives of these children after this terrible disaster..."
The official count of new orphans from the earthquake is 4,000, though sources close to me say that the actual figure is in the 5,500 range. Statisticians grapple with a concept of net gain in orphans, the gruesome reality that while "x" number of children lost their parents in the Tragedy, "y" number of existing orphans were killed.
If Schopenhauer was right - that compassion is the basis of all morality - these days in China have demonstrated to me, in very practical terms, the great morality of the people of China. Their generosity of spirit and action has been truly remarkable and, as I have mentioned before, this relief effort has set a new standard from which the world can learn.
I'll end this post with a Hebrew proverb: "When a needy person stands at your door, God himself stands at his side." So, as much as you possibly can, give. If you have anything at all to give, you have everything to live for.
ANS
