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.

OperationSAFE camps are designed to be very flexible because the situation on the ground in post-disaster settings is often still very fluid. We found this to be especially true in Yushu.  Even with the loss of most of the children to a sudden summer holiday, the team adjusted and continued the camp and actually found it to be more effective as the volunteers were able to spend more concentrated time with the children who had no where else to go.

As the second night of camp wrapped up, I heard stories from each volunteer talking about how their relationships with the children had grown and developed.  One volunteer had stated flatly the day before that all of his kids were “fine” and they probably didn’t need any trauma care at all.  But after the second day he saw that these children had lots of needs and hurts just under the surface.  During the story time discussion a couple of children had tears and opened up with their crew leaders about their own fears and loss.  Even with all of the difficulties, it was starting to happen.  The connections were being made and love was finding its way through every barrier.

The team would spend two more days with the children but I had to hurry back to Japan.  As I hugged them goodbye I knew that despite all of the setbacks and changes, the crucial work that we had come to do was being accomplished, these children would know that they are loved and would receive hope for the future.

Meet my new friends from the Tibetan plateau!  They are each beautiful, unique, precious and in great need.

Read about our work

Out of the Frying Pan …

After the first day of the camp the whole team was excited at how well it went.  Even with the time restrictions and late start we were confident that it would go well.  But the next day brought a very different set of circumstances.  The close to 80 students at the orphanage went each morning together to a public school.  When they returned at lunch they happily announced that they had been given the next week off as a summer holiday.  It was then that we learned that the orphanage was not really an orphanage, but had become an instant orphanage after the earthquake.  Like many schools in rural China, the students boarded at the school and went home to spend holidays with their parents.  So when summer vacation was finally announced the children were ecstatic, except for the 20 or so children who had no home to go back to.

I gathered our team together and shared with them that there are two children that I would do anything in the world for, my own son and daughter.  I don’t need five children or ten or twenty to justify going out of my way to love them.  I am happy to do it for two.  These twenty children left at the orphanage with nowhere to go are exactly the ones who don’t have anyone who loves them like that and need our help the most.  We decided to press on with the camp even though most of the children were gone.

Broken Glass

That afternoon, I walked in front of the row of tents that housed the children, looked down at the gravel and was surprised to see broken glass.  Not just one or two pieces but hundreds of sharp pieces of glass mixed in with the rocks.  Looking at old pictures on googlemap now, I can see that where the tents are standing there used to be a school building. The rubble had been cleared but the glass from the windows remained.  That afternoon before the program I spent picking up glass.  As I picked up glass and nails and trash, little hands started to join me and soon we had five large wash basins full.  Near the corner of one of the buildings I was once again surprised to see a glass IV bottle laying to the side of where the children played.  I thought to myself, “no way… there is not going to be a needle on the end of this tube.” But sure enough there was.  So often those who are caring day-in and day-out can become desensitized to the little things that matter most.  In there struggle to provide food, shelter, clothing, medicine and education, they can easily miss kindness, compassion, concern and love.  This is why I believe in bringing volunteers into disaster zones, even months after the heavy work is done.

… to be continued

The week of the Mt. Fuji climb, I was checking the weather constantly. July is officially the rainy season in Japan and we had a storm front moving in. By the day of, we were fully expecting to make the hike in the pouring rain, but resolved to continue as planned. One last check revealed that by 6 am the rain would let up, but that would be about the time we were supposed to be heading back down! Packing sixteen climbers into two vans, I could tell that a few of them had underestimated the mountain and would not be able to hike in the rain. But they all wanted to try and so we drove out to the base of Mt. Fuji and stopped at a local restaurant to load up on some last minute carbohydrates and change into our hiking gear. Checking the weather once again on my iPhone, it showed that the front was moving faster than expected and would be out of the area before midnight! Seizing our chance we arrived at the 5th station trailhead just as the last raindrops stopped falling and began our ascent of the mountain.

Most reasons to quit occur before you ever even start!

It is much easier to seize the opportunity when it arises if you are already there, prepared and have your eyes on the goal.

Our team was made up of seven men and nine women, all novice climbers who had never attempted Mt. Fuji before. Our youngest member was 14 and our oldest in their 40′s. Most people make the climb starting in the evening and timing the summit so that they can watch the sun rise. It is a very moving experience. Because we started late, after the rain stopped, we only had a few hours left to beat the sun and three of our men wanted to try for it. They succeeded in beating the sunrise by climbing Mt. Fuji in three and a half hours. The rest of us took twice that long! But we got to see the amazing sunrise nonetheless from a little further down the mountainside. Not only was the sunrise breathtaking but all night long the stars were innumerable and the city lights of Tokyo below us stretched on further and further as we climbed higher. The rain had cleared away all of the haze that normally covers the metropolis and left us with a real treat. Another thing we realized was that because of the rain there were far fewer people on the mountain than on a typical weekend during the short climbing season. The next day going down, we passed thousands of climbers starting the trek up!

Things don’t always go according to your expectations, but keep expecting wonderful things.

Of course the climb also had its share of mishaps. Two climbers who were unprepared for the cold had to turn back half-way to avoid hypothermia. One of the young men who raced up the mountain sprained his ankle on the way down. And a group of four took a wrong turn on the return trail and ended up on the other side of the mountain and had to take a very expensive taxi ride back to rejoin the group. But these were small things compared to the beauty and challenge of the mountain itself. The biggest challenge was each person’s battle with themselves, to persevere through pain and exhaustion, wind, cold and lack of oxygen to see how high they could go. And also the teamwork, as each group helped each other through the mishaps, and encouraged one another to press forward to the goal. After we reached the summit, I told fourteen year-old Rebecca that she was an inspiration to me, I kept telling myself, “If you can do it, then I can too!” She replied back without missing a beat, that she was saying the same thing about me!

Your personal struggle can help someone else with theirs.

Now it is a week before we start training for OperationSAFE camps for the trauma children on the Tibetan Plateau. And once again I am intensely checking the “weather”, all those things that are beyond my power to control. Will we find the right place to hold the camps? Will we be able to help the right children? Will the right volunteers come and will they be properly prepared? Will the local authorities cooperate, will local leaders catch the importance of what we are doing? Will all of the funding come in? All of these become reasons why we could quit, even before we begin. But we don’t quit, because we have stepped out in faith. We pray, we prepare, we move into place and expect that our opportunity to be of help will come. This is how we move mountains.

How Can I Help? Please make a donation to help children with trauma in Tibet.

Through partnerships with local ngo’s and volunteers and our volunteer staff we are able to provide a one-week OpSAFE camp for one child for .50 cents. Your donation helps children get the help they need to overcome trauma.

Tackling the problem of trauma in children around the world is very difficult. There are any number of stressors that can lead to PTSD, ranging from the obvious things like natural disasters, war and extreme poverty, to less obvious but no less damaging causes such as abuse, human trafficking, and child labor. Another obstacle is that each culture is different, making any one intervention or therapy that might be used in one place less than effective in another.

We wanted to start with the things that are common to all children. All children love to play games, learn new things, create art, make friends, sing songs and listen to stories. All children need to know that they are loved, accepted and important. All children need to learn courage, hope and that they are not alone. It turns out that these very things can help the majority of children who have suffered trauma to make progress on the road to recovery.

OperationSAFE has been using all of these elements with the story “Pete’s Adventure” to help children after earthquakes in China and Haiti, but we want to help not only children after a natural disaster, but those children who are suffering more personal trauma, families who are caring for children with special needs, and even families going through the loss of a family member, divorce or medical crisis. So for the last year we have been working on an animated film version of “Pete’s Adventure.” We still have a long way to go, but we are starting to see the characters come to life. Please let me introduce some of our first characters to you.

Pete’s Family

After Pete is separated from his family when their ice-shelf falls into the ocean, the story centers on whether he will find his way back home to them.  Along the way he meets a cast of characters that challenge him, become his friends and help him to grow.  Through friendship Pete learns that he is not alone, and no matter what happens, he is loved.

Discovery Bay

After a dramatic episode where Pete finds himself on the wrong side of the sliding ice and spends a night alone in the cold, Pete finds himself at daybreak on the other side of the ice-flow amongst a group of other penguins who look different from any that he has known.  Everyone is recovering from the disaster and Pete is relieved that he is not the only one.

Pete meets Gumdrop a baby penguin, Wally the Walrus, Sally the Seal, Rock, Hop and Boo three older penguin boys and as he seeks to find his way home he finds what he needs all around him.  

Sally the Seal

Sally is Pete’s first friend in this new place and she is a very cute seal pup who likes nothing better than to take a nap or curl up with a good book.  They get off to a difficult beginning but end up being great friends.  (My daughter became the model for designing Sally and we can see quite a lot of our art director’s son in Pete)

We are on track to finish all five episodes of “Pete’s Adventure” in 2011 and hope to make it available to help children with trauma everywhere.

“I am Not Alone”

This is the most important lesson and our theme ~ “I am Not Alone”  But through this blog and twitter I am beginning to realize how very true this is.  It seems that almost every day someone shares with me their own story of childhood trauma.

Many of these people are joining our #opsafe twitter team and helping to spread the news about OperationSAFE so that we can help more people.  I am excited to see this online community develop and hope that even as Pete learned that he is not the only one who struggles, many others would find hope and healing as well.  Thank you all for your help and encouragement!

Jonathan Wilson

OperationSAFE

The Risk of Low-Magnitude Stressors for Children’s Mental Health

Two articles in the American Journal of Psychiatry struck me as pointing out a vital need in caring for children’s emotional health.

The first article was on a recently published study comparing stress in children over 3-7 years of their life, the number of both low-magnitude stressors and extreme stressors and the risk of developing post traumatic stress disorder.  The findings affirmed what everyone expected that extreme stressors carry more risk, but what was surprising was that because low-magnitude stressors are four times as frequent as extreme stressors, they accounted for up to two-thirds of the cases of PTSD and half of the cases of sub-clinical PTSD.

“Relative to low-magnitude stressors, extreme stressors place children at greater risk for post traumatic stress symptoms. Nevertheless, a sizable proportion of children manifesting post traumatic stress disorder symptoms experienced only a low-magnitude stressor.” June 15, 2010 American Journal of Psychiatry

The second article I dug up was a 10 year old study of PTSD in quake victims in China.  This study compared two villages in the same region.  One was 10km and the other was less than one kilometer from the epicenter.  All other factors being equal the two differences between the villages were the level of severity of damage from the quake and the level of care that the village received afterwards.  Surprisingly, it was the village that had less damage but also received less care that showed the greatest number of cases of PTSD.  The village with the greater stressor also received a large outpouring of support – homes were rebuilt, donations flowed in and there was a much greater sense of hope for the future.  In comparison, in the village with less damage there was little help with repairing damaged homes and constant fear of aftershocks.

Earthquake damage in China

The connection between these two studies and the lesson that we need to learn is that even though extreme stressors require professional attention and have greater risk of developing into PTSD, even low-magnitude stressors can affect the emotional health of children.  Indeed, because of the high visibility of some extreme stressors, care is almost guaranteed, while children who were not personally affected but were in the vicinity of the event might be at greater risk of developing emotional disorders (i.e. school violence, outlying areas in natural disasters, siblings and friends of abused children).  Likewise, more common stressful events such as a move, divorce, loss of a pet, failure in sport or classwork, rejection by peer group, especially if concurrent require adequate care as well to prevent stress disorders.

Emotional Health – Five Lessons for Children

Operation Safe’s work with children after disaster in the developing world is aimed at reducing the risk of developing PTSD.  Because of the short supply of professional psychologists in these countries and programs for these children we train volunteers and parents how to care for the emotional needs of their children.  We have found that through the use of stories, games, crafts, songs and friendship we are able to help children who might not have received any care to be emotionally healthy.  I am not a psychologist and recommend that if you have any suspicion that your child is at risk of PTSD that you consult with a licensed professional.  But I strongly advocate for the mental health of children that the following five lessons be instilled in children even before trauma, but especially after either low-magnitude or extreme stressors are encountered.

Teaching Themes to Chinese Children

1.  ”I am Not Alone”

-  One of the most fundamental needs of a child is to know that they are safe.  Usually this means that they are with an adult who cares for them.  After trauma it is common for children to become isolated, to feel that no one else understands what they are feeling or are going through.  In the OperationSAFE program we use the story of “Pete’s Adventure” to help children see that they are not the only one’s who go through emotions such as anger, loneliness, frustration and fear.  We also help children who have lost their homes and normal surroundings find new friends and a new place where they can be safe.

2.  ”Everyone is Important”

- On the second day of the OperationSAFE program we help the children to understand that their story is important.  Many children are like flies on the wall, they listen to everyone else’s story (sometimes becoming more traumatized by the secondary accounts from adults than the original trauma) but are not given the chance to tell theirs.  Children can easily blame themselves for things that happened or assign more importance to parts of the story that others overlook.  As they tell their own story and listen to the stories of other children they are given a chance to heal and adults can help them process events with greater perspective.

Aurora the Whale

3.  ”Follow and Believe”

- In the story of “Pete’s Adventure” just when things seem to be the darkest, Aurora the Whale shows up to encourage Pete and his friends.  She teaches them to follow their heart and believe that things will get better.  One of the biggest factors mitigating PTSD is hope.  Children need to know that the people they depend on believe that things will get better and learn to take each day one at a time.  Adults should speak the truth to children, but always at an age appropriate level and always sprinkled with a healthy measure of hope.  No matter how bad the outlook might be, stress that they are safe now, that you are with them, and that things will get better.

4.  ”Be Strong and Courageous”

- Some symptoms of PTSD are irrational fears and avoidance of things associated with the trauma.  It can be too much to ask a child to just face their fears and be strong, so we focus on the courageous act of asking for help.  All too often children face their fears on their own and never express them to an adult, who then interprets the child’s unwillingness to go to bed, or obey instructions as disobedience.

Colorful characters teach the themes.

5.  ”You are Loved”

- The keystone to emotional health is that the child understands that whatever they might be going through emotionally, they are still loved unconditionally.  Because trauma so often involves loss, it is natural that a child would assume that everything in their life is at risk.  Adults need to make sure that children understand that whatever might happen in the future, and whatever they share with us, they can count on our love to never change.

Don’t wait until a disaster to strike to teach these lessons to your children.  The world is a stressful place and children are exposed more and more to low-magnitude trauma and secondary stress.  We might not be able to protect them from everything, but we can give them a strong mental capacity to handle stressful events in their lives.

This week I took a few days off and went to the Southern Alps of Japan, a beautiful area where rice fields are surrounded by majestic snow capped mountains.  If you don’t look at the architecture or the agriculture, you would think that around the next corner you would run into Heidi.  But of course it is the unique Japanese atmosphere that makes it all the more attractive.

Mt. Kaikomagatake in the Southern Alps of Japan

The Challenge

After one day of total relaxation, my dog Sammy and I started off to climb Mt. Kaikomagatake, one of the peaks towering behind us.  My motivation was both to enjoy the mountains but also to prepare for our July 10th climb of Mt. Fuji to benefit earthquake children on the Tibetan plateau.  You see although I adore climbing, it wasn’t until after we decided to challenge Mt. Fuji to get ourselves ready for the altitude in Tibet, that I realized how out of shape I am!  I haven’t climbed a real mountain for years!  Mt. Kaikomagatake is a real mountain with an elevation of 2966 meters (9829 feet) and I wanted to see how far Sammy and I could go before having to turn back.

Moving Mountains

It is funny how faith moves mountains.  One action that is spurred by faith encourages other similar actions.  It is the difference between hope and expectation.  When you are only hoping for something you look longingly into the distance yearning for the situation to change, for something to fall into your lap, for someone to notice but there is no positive action.  But when expectation enters into the equation, things start to happen.  I have been hoping to lose weight and get into shape for quite a while now, but there is always something else to do and another project to start.  My hope didn’t bring results.  However, now I have a very large expectation in front of me because I have stepped out in faith to lead a team to help children on the Tibetan Plateau.  I know that I will need more strength than I have, and cannot let my team down and so I took another step of faith and decided to climb Mt. Fuji to prepare.  Since I live in Japan, Mt. Fuji is not as far off and unimaginable as Qinghai, but it still is a mountain sized expectation for which I need to prepare.

Milestones

Sammy, my labrador retriever and I started out early in the morning hiking through the forest.  Posted repeatedly along the trail were warnings about black bears, so I fastened bells onto my belt-loop to alert the bears to our presence and kept Sammy on his lead until we were stopped to rest.  Sammy wanted to pull me up the mountain, but I knew that he would need his stamina for later in the climb.  I sure would need mine!  Thankfully we never met any bears but we did come across a troop of nine Japanese monkeys.  Things were a little tense as we passed through their clearing, but their leader shepherded his group off to the side and Sammy and I went through quickly without making eye contact.

More challenging than any wildlife, of course, was the mountain itself.  Japan’s mountains are very steep and this trail was no different.  The further we rose the more difficult each new section became.  Along the way I found that those who had gone before me had left markers, small stone reminders that progress had been made and that another milestone had been achieved.  If you only look at the summit, it is easy to lose hope.  If you focus completely on the pain of each forward step, you are as likely to turn back as to go on.  But by pressing forward to the next milestone we were able to keep going.  Sometimes it seemed like forever before we found the next one, dropped the pack, burst out the water bottles and sat down.  Sometimes we would come over the top of a ridge and find the next marker as a pleasant surprise.

As we neared 2000 meters, the terrain started to change and the weather began to shift as well.  We were surrounded by mist as we entered the clouds and the rocks and boulders grew larger forcing me to use my hands and Sammy to make heroic jumps.  The rewards were greater as well as it seemed that the whole mountainside was in bloom, like a well-tended park instead of a wilderness.  Looking down on the clouds we could catch glimpses of the surrounding mountains and reaching the summit of the ridge, we could peer down massive walls of granite on either side.  The way forward was up sheer rock with chains for hikers to pull themselves up with, but unfortunately my partner was unable to use them.  Not for lack of heart, but due to concern for his safety, we had to turn back and head for home.

Mt. Yatsugatake seen from the trail.

Partners in Faith

Faith is not a solo endeavor.  The reality is that faith is an adventure.  With every adventure there are risks and rewards.  If there are only rewards then it is not an adventure but a job, (and probably not a very fulfilling one).  If there are only risks then it is just foolish thrill seeking.  But because adventure demands both risk and reward, we must prepare for the risks and expect the reward.  If you bring someone along with you, many of the risks can be overcome more easily.  Sammy’s boundless enthusiasm kept me going through many torturous sections of the trail.  His presence gave me a sense of security amongst the creatures of the wild.  He isn’t much of a conversationist, but he is a very good listener.  And despite having to turn back because of Sammy, he actually saved me from greater danger, as the moment we arrived safely home, torrential rain poured down for the rest of the night.

This time we reached 2000 meters, and came home safely after 8 hours of hiking.  We didn’t make it all the way to the top, but we accomplished a lot.  The next morning I was feeling it, and even Sammy slept in till eight.  But I am already planning another marker along the way, recruiting more partners to join us, and expecting mountains to move.

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