My children of quake-hit Qingchuan

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A colleague and I left our school in Chengdu on May 15 for Qingchuan county to find out how we could help the children in the earthquake-hit areas. Two teachers from the Ningxia Hui autonomous region joined us the next day. They had covered some 1,000 km on motorbikes, living on a bagful of steamed buns.

We painted the words "Teachers have come" on our car. As soon as we arrived, the children rushed out of their tents, waving boards that said "You are heroes", at us. All four men in the car cried.

We gathered the children and tried to cheer them up. Most of them had lost everything and some had been orphaned. We thought playing games would help them forget the sadness, if only for a while.

I led the young children to play first. Forming a circle, we jumped like frogs and played chickens evading the eagle. Gradually, their tense faces relaxed. When I asked them what they should do if soldiers came, they raised their arms in salute. When one girl, who is yet to enter school, raised her left arm, all the others broke into a smile - for the first time that day.

As the older children began to show more interest, I asked them to line up and place their hands on the shoulders of the child in front. "Rub the shoulders and say, relax," I said. Then I led them to sing a song about gratitude. In our games, we also discussed how to protect ourselves during earthquake, fires and other natural disasters.

I gave them some homework. I found that there is a local tradition of children wearing a piece of garlic on a thread around their neck to drive away evil. So I asked the children to make a garlic necklace and bracelet for their mothers. They were also to say "Mom, take some rest".

The next morning, two boys came and covered my eyes. They put something on my neck, then kissed my cheeks and ran away.

It was a garlic necklace.

That afternoon, about 100 children of different ages gathered around us. We read the poem written by a netizen about a mother calling out to her child who died in the quake. Everyone cried.

I asked them to remember that May 12 would be another birthday for them.

I had prepared to stay there for three days. But the children held my hands wherever I went. Except while sleeping, they all stayed close to us. It was clear that what the children craved the most were their teachers.

On the eve of my departure, some children came to my tent, but they didn't wake me up. I walked out of the tent in the morning and found they had been waiting for me throughout the cold night.

Back in Chengdu, the children called me and said that ever since I had left, no one had played with them. I told them that Qingchuan was like my second hometown and all the children were like my own children.

I told them, Qingchuan means green mountains and valleys. Although the beautiful landscape has been destroyed, I know, as I see their faces, that this is still a beautiful place.