After China’s quake, disarray for kids
By Peter Ford | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the June 2, 2008 edition 美国基督教科学箴言报
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Laughter and balloons in a tent city
Among the most fortunate tots on Sunday were those at the Youcheng day-care center, a fenced-in collection of prefabricated buildings and semipermanent tents erected outside Mianzhu on what was a wheat field just a week ago by the China Social Entrepreneur Foundation, based in Beijing.
“Our aim is to provide a safe place for kids,” says Ma Wanli, the group’s deputy secretary general who oversaw the center’s construction. “Very few of their needs are being met, and they can’t be met while they are living in those shelters. We have to get them out of their dreadful conditions and into a good environment.”
Mr. Ma envisages a mother-and-child center and day-care facilities for about 500 preschool children. On Sunday it was decked with balloons and flags and loud with squeals of laughter as children from the surrounding tent city played with volunteers, their mothers looking on.
“If he could just forget what happened in the disaster and be happy again, that would be great,” says Xiao Xinqing as she watches her son play. “I hope this can give him back his happy childhood.”
The Youcheng center is a rare bright spot, however. Most children are languishing in hot, cramped tents with little to do and only their harassed parents to care for them. “With the government still focusing on resettling victims it has not had the time nor the energy to organize and coordinate psychological help for kids,” explains Shi Zhanbiao, a psychologist from the China Academy of Sciences who is volunteering in refugee camps.
This lack of coordination could continue to plague the authorities as they struggle to resettle millions of earthquake victims in the coming months, warns Mr. Wanli. “In emergencies you need horizontal coordination, but the government works according to orders coming from above,” he points out. “Local government has done a good job so far, but its old system doesn’t work in these circumstances, and they haven’t set up a new one yet.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0602/p01s01-woap.html
帐篷城中的笑声和气球
那些在友成儿童活动中心的孩子们是这个周日最幸运的，这个中心是总部设在北京的友成企业家扶贫基金会在仅仅一个星期前还是一片麦田的绵竹市郊建立起来的，围栏内包括活动房屋和半永久帐篷。
“我们的目的是为孩子们提供一个安全的地方，”主持该中心建设的友成基金会的常务副秘书长老马说， “他们的需求很少得到了满足，而当他们还生活在哪些救灾棚里的时候这些需要是无法完全满足的。我们必须使他们脱离恶略的条件来到一个良好的环境”。
马先生设想了一个亲子中心以及日常活动设施，可容纳500名学龄前的儿童。在周日，这个中心装饰着气球和彩旗，从周围的帐篷城市里来的孩子们欢笑地喧闹着在他们的母亲的注视下与志愿人员玩耍。
“如果他能忘记这次灾难中所发生的事情并重新快乐起来，那就太好了！”肖信清（音）看着她正在玩耍的儿子说。“我希望这（中心）可以还给他快乐的童年” 。
然而，友成儿童活动中心是一个罕见的亮点。大多数儿童在炎热、拥挤的帐篷里没有太多事情可做，只有已经备受困扰的父母照顾他们。 “政府仍然在着眼于安置灾民，一直没有时间也没有精力去组织和协调对于孩子们的心理援助，” 史占彪（音），一位在安置营里志愿工作的中国科学院的心理学家解释道。
马先生说，在未来的几个月中政府仍将努力安置数百万计的地震灾民，而这种协调的缺乏，可能会继续困扰当局。他指出，“在紧急情况下需要横向协调，但政府工作程序是自上而下的”。 “至目前为止地方政府已做了出色的工作，但平时的制度在这些情况下并不完全有效，他们还尚未建立一个新的应急机制” 。
中文翻译：http://www.singtaonet.com/ed_china/200806/t20080602_789068.html
（友成之家儿童中心）
