BEIJING, Nov 07, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- In a split second, disasters changed everything for children.
Some children lost their parents, some were left permanently disabled, while others became homeless. But the cruelest are the inerasable horror and pain in their minds. Weak and vulnerable, children suffered just as much, if not more than adults, when disaster struck.
They survived, and many thrived. They were amazingly resilient in their struggles against personal tragedies.
It is love that sustained them in their efforts to stand up from the wreckage of their lives.
Song Xinyi, a 3-year-old girl, was found alive after being buried under debris for more than 40 hours in the wake of the magnitude-8 earthquake that hit Wenchuan, a county in China's southwestern Sichuan province, in May 2008.
The rosy-cheeked girl was one of the more than 600 who were made orphans by the quake.
She was lucky. Alhough she lost her parents and her right leg in the quake, everybody around her offered love and help.
She was adopted by her uncle Song Gang, a young man of 28 who was still single and had no experience of raising a child. To take better care of Xinyi, he gave up his work and became a full-time "dad."
Xinyi got free admission to a local kindergarten, where other kids made a point of avoiding speaking of parents in front of her and quickly helped her up when she fell to the ground when walking with her artificial leg.
Song Gang met and fell in love with a nurse when Xinyi was under treatment in a hospital -- a kind young lady who would like to help him take care of Xinyi. She even agreed not to have their own child after getting married until Xinyi was 8 or 9 years old.
Indonesia's Kurniady, whose Chinese name was Chen Jian'an, was just as lucky. He was redeemed by the love of a stranger during the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004.
The 8-year-old Chinese-Indonesian was swept away from his family in Banda Aceh by a raging torrent. Drifting for a long distance, he was saved just before he lost consciousness by an indigenous woman who pulled him out of the water.
On that tumultuous day of the tsunami disaster, the woman, who just lost her own son, held Kurniady tightly in her arms and told him not to be afraid.
"Let me be your mom if you could not find your parents," she told him fondly, and began to look after him as a mother would after her own child.
They trudged along the streets day after day to look for his parents. After his final reunion with his family, Kurniady still called the lady "mom" and visited her often with his parents.
"He told me he would take me to travel abroad and make a pilgrimage to Mecca," the Muslim woman wept with joyous tears.
The disaster taught Kurniady not only how to love, but how to be tough.
Although Kurniady still cannot help trembling with fear whenever an earthquake occurs, he is now prepared for anything.
"If the tsunami comes again, I will take care of my younger brother and sister, and not let them part with the family."
Denis Opoka showed the same responsibility after his parents were killed by an armed rebel group in the Ajulu village in northern Uganda.
Denis was only 10 years old at that time. He was hidden in a relative's house by his parents and escaped the massacre.
He inherited not a single penny from his poor parents, but he knew he must assume the responsibility of raising his younger brother and sister, who are 8 and 5 years old, respectively.
"They were too young to live by themselves, so I cannot leave them," Denis said.
Living in their mud hut in the remote village, Denis managed to feed the family of three and continue their education at school.
They eked out a miserable existence by toiling barefoot in several small patches of farmland around the hut, planting maize, sweet potato and bean. The meagre harvest, however, could barely keep their bodies and souls together.
In order to scrape by, they work on weekends at the neighbor's garden in exchange for a little money to buy soap, candle or salt.
"When things are hard to get and we don't have anything to cook, we sleep hungry," Denis said.
But they never give up. Everyday back from school, Denis tutors his siblings and checks their homework. He hopes their lives could change for the better through their hard work.
Denis dreams of studying at a technical institute after graduating from middle school to learn some skills and get a job.
"Then I will be able to pay tuition fees for my brother and sister," he said.
Some of the kids who have suffered from disasters -- armed conflicts, natural catastrophes or any other kind of tragedy -- hold strong faith in life. It is love and responsibility to others that saw them through hard times.
Most of the children had a hard time recovering from the trauma. But they gradually learned to muster up the courage to leave behind the past tragedies to pursue a better future.
However, some are still in the dark world of sorrow and pain. They are haunted by the psychological aftermath of the tragedies, including nightmares about the dead or the terrific scenes of the disaster. Some even refuse to talk.
Children are the weakest group whenever a crisis hits. That is why the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly 20 years ago, defined child protection as a priority in emergencies.
Under the convention, humanitarian actions include establishing child-friendly spaces, mobilizing communities for child protection, and integrating child protection into disaster preparation.
Undoubtedly, more love will help children recover from the trauma of disasters. Besides providing medical and psychological services and financial aid after disasters, more actions need to be taken to avoid disasters caused by human misconduct such as war and global warming.
