January 2: The Sichuan Situation

After the fall semester concluded, I traveled to Sichuan. After the 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan, my (very Chinese and very cool) parents came here to aid local churches and organizations, on behalf of Chinese Christian Herald Crusade. In 2009, I joined them for their second follow-up trip, going to Mianzhu, Deyang, and Beichuan. This year, with the long winter holiday, I decided to go back for two reasons. One, out of curiosity, to see what 2 years has led to in the area (add it onto the year and a half that was between my initial trip and the actual earthquake). Two, to visit and help out the churches and orphanage that CCHC helps support.

For any post-natural disaster zone, I believe two major things happen:

1. People forget.
2. People move on.

People, meaning both the people affected and the people spectating. It's part of human nature and how we cope.  I'll be honest, I have a tendency to walk with a do-gooder chip on the shoulder, chiding people for forgetting about the (insert sad child/starving panda). The first time I went to Sichuan in 2009, my general conclusion was horror (with other people and with myself) over how quickly people can forget about disasters and the people affect. We spent most of our time there simply spending time with people, hearing stories about the earthquake, the lives lost/destroyed, and the subsequent chaos in the cracks between government controversy and human pain.

And I forgot.
And I moved on.

2012 brought me back there and I saw how people here did the same. And what I mean by moving on is that I saw the amazing opportunities that sprung forth from this massive disaster and again and again, the amazing human capacity to adapt, change, grow, and ultimately, move on.

I came back to remember what I learned, what I saw.
And I came back to move on.

2009 (one and half years after the quake)

2012 (almost 4 years after the quake)