I feel safe now
Some 20 children from Guangfuqiao Township are playing happily in a tent. “I am happy today! I will write this down in my diary to memorise this special day,” a little girl called Yaqi says with excitement.
Yaqi lives in Cili County of Hunan Province, which already faced destructive floods that affected around 2.5 million people across 28 counties. The tent area is near the place where World Vision distributes rice for flood victims. The laughing children are indeed some of the affected but they are finally finding a way to ease some of their emotions.
The tent is a child-friendly space set up by World Vision. The participating Grade 2 or 3 students live nearby and most of them have either lost their house, farmland or both.
Disasters do not only take away villagers’ possession, but also leave harm children both physically and mentally. World Vision’s programme manager of children-in-emergency, Esther Wong, says that children usually feel lonely, helpless, hopeless and empty during and after a disaster. “So we set up child-friendly spaces in disaster zones to provide a safe environment for children to play, rebuild their support network, relieve stress and regain the sense of normalcy.”
Yaqi, 8, has a six-year-old sister. They come from a single-parent family and rely on their mother who works in the city to earn a living. They live with their grandparents in a village. The flood inundated their farmland and Yaqi is sad about that because all her family is worried about is where to get food.
As she learned that there is a child-friendly space which organises games for children, Yaqi was excited. During the activities, she is interested in every game and especially loves the “rainbow parachute” which is totally new to her. Children are delighted almost immediately as they start playing games and a cheerful heart makes good medicine.
World Vision also set up child-friendly spaces in Yiliang County of Yunnan Province which was recently hit by quakes in early September 2012. The setting up of the playground shows its importance, especially in the ruins. This is because schooling is halted as campuses get damaged and houses are ruined so children have to move to tents. They suddenly lose every place they used to play in and get bored and depressed.
Futing and Shuancai, both 7, now have no choice but to play in a small place filled with debris nearby their damaged school. They also dwell in the tent area beside the “playground” after their houses collapsed in the quake. Yiliang County is in a mountainous area with rare level ground, though the tent area is not flat anymore due to the many ruins, this is already the best place villagers can accommodate themselves.
As the little boys look at their damaged school and crowded tents, they lamented having no space to play. They were still playing in the debris even when the government health workers were spraying disinfectant.
World Vision staff then invited Futing and Shuancai to join a child-friendly space that was set up nearby the tent area. They finally had a safe place to have real fun from games and learn how to protect themselves from disasters.
As Futing and Shuancai happily show the staff what they have painted in child-friendly space, everyone is touched by their pure laughter. Though disasters hurt, these children find something that makes a difference.