The more you're slipsliding away..."
Was Paul Simon ever involved in relief work? Ever time we made a plan for today - the nearer our destination - the more it went slipsliding away.
You don't need to be bored with the details, but on about 45 minutes of sleep I had to move carefully and slowly across several rings of town. The first thing we addressed today was a wonderful project - an idea incubated by a colleague of mine in this rescue effort.
She thought that, given that 1st June is Children's Day here in China, she wanted to do a creative project that would spread something in very short supply - hope. She thought that if we had some some high-quality photos taken for us (which we could then turn into many beautiful Children's Day holiday cards) of kids happy at work and at play at a school in Canada, this could give the schoolchildren of Sichuan a sense that, yes, things will eventually imprive and they will again find happiness. Here, in her words:
"the receivers are kids between 6-15.
"Happy Children's Day! Wish you are strong and happy forever!" Though we are far away, our hearts tie together!"
So I ran it by a couple of child psychologists here and they thought it was awesome, so we're having 10,000 cards made and that was our first stop of the day, to design the cards so they'll be ready for us to ship for 1st June delivery in Sichuan.
Traffic today might be the worst I can remember in Beijing. It took me 90 minutes to go about a quater way across the city to the printer. And, in the midst of this, we have gone to a plan C as to how we can transport the tenting material that arrives at 2pm today from 5th ring to our shipping spot. I have a pretty clear sense that by the time 2pm comes we may really be at the Plan K. Or P.
1:58 pm: Great News! The tenting material is here!!! Well, here being in the middle of nowhere, far from the heart of Beijing. And, as promised, it looks REALLY solid and durable, as promised. And the manufacturer threw in some extra square metres, given our cause. Nice. I'm so impressed by the quality of this stuff. If you have to be out in the elements and you need a material to shelter you, this looks like THE stuff.
And we drive to our drop off point, very focused and motivated to get these materials on the way to Sichuan right away, Coldplay is blaring from the stereo:
Am I part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease
And, then, 3:55pm, one of the most visceral, moving moments of my life:
As we pull up the the area set up by the great, wonderful, lovely and kind people of the Beijing Red Cross for the free, express shipment of donations to Sichuan, the driver of our truck tells me, through my colleague who translates, that he is from Sichuan.
It happened like this: My colleague parked and had just exited the car. I was fishing in my Roots leather bag for a couple of hundred RMB to pay the short transfer shipping, and, as I look out the car window, I notice that the driver has broken down in tears. His crew comes to pick him up off the ground. I get out and he and I embrace, right there, in this shipping area that resembles a graveyard.
And then I learn that the entire crew of the truck are Sichuanese. The driver's entire family have lost their homes - some in the earthquake and the rest in the aftershocks. They have nothing - no possessiona at all - and they thank me over and over again for what seems to be hours. But I'm completely undeserving of their praise. The people of Sichuan are and these amazing volunteers here. All of them. Not me.
The moment was surreal. Amazing. THIS moment was why I came. This exact moment.
ANS
