 Saving the children
By BAO WANXIAN (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-21 07:43 Beijing Normal University (BNU) Education Foundation and Cargill China Co have formed a joint team to provide psychological help to children and aid school and community rebuilding following the May 12 earthquake. More than 300 child psychologists from BNU will work with Cargill's volunteers and local social workers to provide rehabilitation, care and education to stricken children, especially those who are disabled, orphaned or live in poverty.
The team will focus on offering short-and medium-term psychological intervention for children between 3 and 15. "A total of 3,500 children are expected to participate in the early childhood care and developing program," says Norwell Coquillard, president of Cargill China. "We expect to introduce three child development curriculums and diversified sports activities to meet the different training needs of children. The curriculums cover building living ability, dealing with fear and regaining confidence. Coquillard says another part of the project is to cooperate with BNU's social development and public policy researching institute to help local education authorities make more scientific and more sustainable education plans for the children. In addition, with a 3-million-yuan investment, Cargill, an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services, will integrate some experiences on disaster-rescue works around the world into the Sichuan children rehabilitating project. According to the agreement of Cargill-BNU rescue project, the project will implement in line with the government's proposal on community and school rebuilding in Jiangyou, Dujiangyan and Qingchuan counties in Sichuan province. The earthquake also impacts Cargill's business in Sichuan province. Two of its agricultural plants suffered great damage. A few of the company's employees and their families lost their homes and possessions. "We have formulated comprehensive recovery program, which will not only help our employees and customers deal with the difficulties after the disaster, but also support establishment of a long-term solution to the enormous earthquake-affect children," Norwell adds. (China Daily 07/21/2008 page8) |
