Daniel is going to visit this month, and this time I'll be staying in the US. It's hard to imagine what he'll see in our city of Chengdu and beyond... if I wasn't 22 weeks pregnant, I'd probably be there already to help in the relief efforts. I'm actually thinking that once the boys are about 9 months old, I will head back. Despite my exposure to development issues around the world, never have I had the experience of a place I love being devastated the way Sichuan has. I think of my family and friends there constantly, and of how much there is to do to help my sisters and brothers there recover.
We still haven't been able to reach Zhang Lin or her family - the phone number we had for her uncle (our primary contact) isn't working. It's quite troubling to think of her situation... Daniel will surely track her down when he's there later this month.
Speaking of his trip, he wanted me to spread the word that he's going to hook up with some relief teams himself. He is taking small donations of money with him, which he will give directly to victims of the earthquake. He plans to take a photo of the recipients to send back here to those who make donations. You can contact me about this by email (bamboovillagepress AT gmail DOT com) if you're interested. He leaves in a week.
Aside from our own feeble attempts to help, I wanted to also point out that there's a blog about Chengdu from NPR. It's very touching to read how these big names in NPR reporting have been moved by their experiences in Sichuan. I thought you might like to take a read as well.
5 comments:
Um . . . I'm still reading!
Hello:
I'm reading. Please keep writing. And thank you for linking to the NPR blog. I hope that your family are all safe and that your husband will be able to locate all those you have been unable to reach.
Many years ago, I experienced the Good Friday Earthquake in Alaska (March 27, 1964). This was before the era of satellite communications. Because of the quake damage, the telephone lines were down and I was "missing" for 48 hours. My mother was in California at the time and was packing to come looking for me, when she was finally able to connect via a "ham" radio operator and learn I was OK.
Portland is beautiful at this time of the year! I've been to the Rose Festival -- many Junes ago -- but remember it fondly.
Thanks for blogging about Chengdu. I feel so sad for all the people who have lost loved ones and all their worldly possessions.
I'm still here.
Grace and I are still reading!
Thanks for the update. We were wondering if you'd heard from her yet.
I'm still reading - definitely keep writing! Hope you're settled in Oregon (I'm SO jealous!) and hope Daniel's trip is safe and successful. Hope things are going well with your pregnancy - I'm 20 weeks myself (we're finding out Tuesday if it's a boy or girl - I'm so excited!) But not as excited as my 4-year-old daughter, who CAN'T WAIT!!! Hope all continues to go well with everything - and please keep us updated about Sichuan!
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