I received this picture from the team finishing up camps with Tibetan children in the quake ravaged town of Yushu.  She has decorated her cloth with each of the five characters from the story “Pete’s Adventure” and has written next to it these words, “These are my five best friends.”

Each of the characters teaches the children a lesson for recovery from trauma.  But I was touched that she would call them her friends.  A lesson is information, knowledge that can be helpful or give better understanding but a friend is so much more than that.  A friend is comfort, encouragement, and strength.

This girl was at a boarding school when the earthquake happened.  After the disaster she learned that she had no home to return to and her family was dead.  While some children at the school returned home to their parents or were helped by relatives, she had nowhere else to go and became an orphan and her school an orphanage.

Our team of volunteers give these children love and attention, listen to their fears and comfort them, but after the camp is done they have to leave.  Our hope is that the characters that we leave with the children, with the lessons that they share would provide more than just knowledge.  We hope that these children would find good friends to see them through the most difficult times.