The Mercy Corps Blog

Blog Post Posted June 30, 2009, 4:10 pm by Joy Portella

Ned Lamont calls out Mercy Corps' work on The Huffington Post

Today Ned Lamont — businessman, former Democratic Senate candidate in Connecticut and Mercy Corps board member — called out Mercy Corps' work with Iraqi refugees in an insightful piece on Huffington Post.

Lamont discussed the "Independence Day" aspects of U.S. troops pulling out of Iraqi cities this week, and the ongoing "unintended consequences" of the Iraq war. Among these consequences has been the flight of millions of Iraqis within their country, as well as to neighboring nations such as Syria. Lamont recently visited Iraqi refugees in Damascus who are working with Mercy Corps to acquire job skills.

His notes on the plight of Iraqi refugees is sobering:

"Last month, I had the chance to see a different perspective as part of a Mercy Corps fact finding trip in Damascus, Syria, which is home to about 500,000 Iraqi refugees. Mercy Corps provides the refugees there with computer job training skills, but the Syrian government, terrified that this latest generation of refugees will stay in their nation, have instituted a $4,000 fine on any business which hires an Iraqi. None of the refugees we met wanted to return to Iraq; their lives as they knew them there were over. They wanted to start over again, in Europe or North America - in nations that are no more likely to welcome them than the Syrians. All wars have many unintended consequences." [The Huffington Post, 6/30/09]

To view Lamont's full article, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ned-lamont/independence-days_b_222921.html.

On this "Independence Day" there is certainly much more to be done to build peace, stability and prosperity for the people of Iraq.

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Blog Post Posted June 5, 2009, 4:18 pm by Joy Portella

Mercy Corps' Africa programs highlighted in Seattle Times

On the evening of Thursday, June 5, Mercy Corps Regional Program Directors Matthew Lovick and Phil Oldham gave a briefing on our work in ten countries in Africa. Donors and friends were treated to a sneak peak into the difficult, sometimes frustrating, sometimes uplifting work of improving people's lives in some of the world's most insecure countries — places like Somalia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Seattle Times journalist Sandi Doughton documented the briefing on the "Business of Giving" blog.

I encourage you to read and learn!

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Blog Post Posted May 23, 2008, 9:23 pm by Joy Portella

Thoughts from Half a World Away

Nothing is left of this middle school except a lonely four-story staircase. Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

The last place I visited in Sichuan Province was Juyuan Township middle school. Its story has been told in the media countless times but no news segment can convey what it's like to be there.

Up to 900 children died in this school. When the quake hit, it splintered into slabs of concrete and infinite bits of debris; nothing is left except a lonely four-story staircase. The surrounding buildings are all still standing.

The piles of rubble are strewn with flowers, both real and paper, and makeshift memorials. The day I was there, three young volunteers huddled around a small fire, feeding it steadily with scraps of paper.

I asked my Chinese colleague what they were doing. She explained that many Chinese believe that a dead person gets a second life but must first spend time in heaven. In the Chinese version of heaven, a person needs all of the things she would need on earth. So friends on earth burn paper replicas of money, food, even cars to send them up to heaven.

Young volunteers light a small fire for those lost to the earthquake. Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

I like the gesture. It gives the living the satisfaction of providing some comfort to the dead.

I left China today to return to the United States. I thought I'd be eager to get out of the earthquake zone — away from the stress of aftershocks and the human misery. I know that more Mercy Corps colleagues are on their way to help but still I felt hesitant to leave.

I can't stop thinking about the people I met and wondering how they'll get by. I see the faces of grieving parents and homeless families when I close my eyes. If I concentrate hard enough, I can smell those burning papers swirling up to heaven.

Returning to the States, my thoughts remain half a world away, back in China.

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Blog Post Posted May 21, 2008, 9:49 pm by Joy Portella

Meeting China's New Homeless

Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

In the past week, the homeless population of China has jumped by almost five million people. Shelters varying in quality from REI-style pop tents to curtains of blue tarp tied to trees are everywhere you look in Sichuan Province. They line the sides of roads, fill stadiums, and congregate under bridges. I even saw one elderly man reclining in a lawn chair on a highway toll plaza, seemingly oblivious to the traffic whizzing by him.

Today we set out to meet some of China's new homeless and hear their stories.

We first visited a large temporary shelter camp — a kind of tent city — in Dujiangyan county. Set up by the Chinese military, this crowded field of 500 blue tents houses approximately 3,000 people.

We met a group of people peeling and chopping vegetables near the entrance to the camp. They told us with pride that the army built these tents all in one night. Each family receives food and cooks on its own — woks and makeshift stoves abound — and soon a large kitchen facility will be built. They say they have adequate bathrooms, though a glance at the bathroom tells a different story. There are, however, no showers.

Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

I asked if any of them knew each other before living in such close confines. "No, we are new friends." replied one woman, smiling.

But not everyone in the tent camp is wearing a smile. We ran into several women who expressed deep worry. "The government is providing food and water for us now, but what will we do in the future?" one woman asked us. "I don't have money to buy a new house, and I can't grow crops in my field any more."

Outside of the tent area, a provincial government agency has set up a station where displaced people can register to find work. Information on people and their skills is collected, and information from employers and their needs is being gathered at the same time. Hopefully there will be matches, but the process could take months.

I met 45-year-old Wang Fuqin as she stood in line to sign up for work. She hasn't had a job in 15 years but the quake, which heavily damaged her home, has sent her back to the employment line. She explained that she and her husband must take care of their extended family of twelve. "I can just do housework, nothing else," she told me. "Going to work is the only way for me. The government can't help us forever."

Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

Just a few kilometers away is a temporary housing development being erected by Chengdu Jiangong Corporation. Working with donated materials and time, the team of 100 workers and many volunteers expects to build thousands of temporary homes in just 20 days. Each home will be a room of 15 square meters, and each group of 20 homes will share a kitchen, toilet and shower. They are said to be earthquake resistant.

We talked to a 22-year-old graduate student, Wang Senwei, who is interning with the company. He told us that Chengdu Jiangong has halted all other construction projects to focus on helping earthquake survivors. "After the earthquake, many of us were disappointed that we couldn't be on the front lines doing rescue work," he said. "This development provides us the opportunity to directly help earthquake survivors."

We left the scene hopeful for China's new homeless but knowing that much more has to be done to help these people build new lives.

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Blog Post Posted May 20, 2008, 8:29 pm by Joy Portella

Losing Sleep

It was another restless night for earthquake survivors; thousands slept on already-crowded city streets in fear of aftershocks. Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

Last night the Chinese government issued a warning of a 6- to 7-magnitude aftershock. The streets of Chengdu filled up like a giant, panicked block party. People dragged out chairs, tents and mattresses to sleep outside of buildings they feared would collapse.

I'll admit that I joined the panic and slept alternately on the street, in my bed and under my desk. My colleague Guo Xin slept in the hotel's first-floor restaurant area. The aftershock inevitably came (they're constant) but it was much smaller than expected.

I don't function well without sleep so I was slow and irritable all day.

We headed out early to the city of Deyang in Shifang County to meet with our partner, the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), in their temporary disaster relief office. We found their office to be more "temporary" than we had expected. With the aftershock warning, CFPA staff were working outside and sleeping in their cars.

I talked to Wu Peng, who is usually the vice director of CFPA's monitoring and research department and is now supporting the Sichuan relief efforts. He explained that CFPA, with Mercy Corps' support, has been providing short-term relief like food, water and blankets to displaced people in hard-hit areas.

Portella (left) and Guo Xin (center) talk with survivors amid the wreckage. Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

While CFPA remains active and interested in distribution, particularly of certain food (rice, vegetable oil) and clothes that the government is not yet providing, their focus has shifted to rebuilding communities. They are particularly keen to adopt select communities and provide interim housing for one to two years until people can be permanently resettled. CFPA is also getting involved in rebuilding schools and helping orphans.

I asked Wu Peng how much sleep he's gotten in the past week, and that made him laugh. He admitted to about one hour a night, with the exception of the blissful five hours he got in his car last night.

We left Deyang to go to nearby Jiandi Township, which has been heavily damaged by the quake. We passed streets of one- or two-story homes and storefronts that appear to have been stomped upon by a giant on a rampage.

We went to a high school where about 60 students were killed. A tearful middle-aged man on the street stopped to talk to us. "We're so sad to lose the children," he told us. "This shouldn't happen to the children."

The next township over is Longju, the site of another school tragedy. This time we visited an elementary school that collapsed and killed 60 young students.

I wandered among the wreckage, identifying the objects of children: a knapsack here, a notebook there, a small pink shoe a few feet away. Parents standing nearby told their all-too-familiar stories in a tone that can only be described as wailing - a deep, mournful crying like I've never heard in my life.

The Longju school will be rebuilt with the support of CFPA. I was there for the announcement of the 3 million RMB gift (a little under $500,000) that will make rebuilding possible.

Even in such a bleak scene, there is hope for the children of this devastated area. Mercy Corps is honored to be involved.

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Blog Post Posted May 19, 2008, 6:43 pm by Joy Portella

An Epicenter of Tragedy

Mercy Corps' Joy Portella (left) and Guo Xin (center) talk to 14-year-old Xiong Fujun, an earthquake survivor who saw his school collapse. Photo: Raul Vasquez for Mercy Corps

Today, Mianyang's main stadium holds not spectators but survivors of China's largest natural catastrophes in recent memory.

Approximately 20,000 people of all ages are crowded into the inside halls or scattered on the outside plazas: children running and playing, adults talking, eating, some reading or playing cards. Many people are strewn listless on blankets, just trying to get a moment's peace.

In fact the entire city resembles a giant refugee camp. Makeshift tents of plastic sheeting and tarp line the streets and are tucked under bridges.

The epicenter of last Monday's quake is just 60 miles east. Today it seems as if this city is the epicenter for stories of human tragedy. They are countless and moving, and many come from young people like Xiong Fujun.

Xiong Fujun is 14 years old and hails from the Ren jia ping village of Beichuan County. When the quake struck, he was sitting in seventh-grade history class. His teacher led the class out onto the playground. Xiong Fujun saw the building next to his school collapse. Then he looked back, and saw that his school was gone as well.

Xiong Fujun was one of 1,000 students who waited on the playground overnight to be rescued. A thousand more are buried under the school, and all are believed to be dead. One of them is his older brother.

Xiong Fujun and the other survivors were bussed to Jiuzhou stadium, where his parents found him after frantically searching a list of survivors.

With his home and village destroyed, he has no idea what the future will hold. "Here I don't get enough to eat and I'm always tired," he explained. "I need to find a school to continue my studies."

Some children at Jiuzhou were already going back to class. A temporary school housed in two enormous white tents opened today. It's quickly become a place of healing and recovery. On one wall in the elementary-school tent hung oversized sheets of white paper decorated with colorful post-its and drawings in magic marker. The wall is part of a "psychological assistance" program. Children are encouraged to write what they feel on post-its and press them to the wall.

The tone of the messages varies widely: "Smile and everything will be alright again" to "I hope this is all a nightmare and I can return to my Beichuan, to my home."

Young people in Jiuzhou and across Sichuan Province are just beginning the long journey back to normal childhoods. With play spaces and psychosocial assistance, Mercy Corps hopes to support them get there.

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Blog Post Posted May 18, 2008, 7:38 pm by Joy Portella

Hearing Survivors' Stories

Volunteers rush to post information on survivors and missing persons. Photo: Joy Portella/Mercy Corps

I've been in Chengdu, Sichuan Province's capital and home to ten million people, for a few days now. This city lies more than 100 kilometers from the epicenter of last week's 7.9-magnitude earthquake, but still suffered significant casualties and damage.

Mercy Corps is here assessing how we can best meet the immediate needs of survivors, as well as help communities rebuild in the long-term. These are only the first steps in what will almost certainly be a lengthy disaster response.

Yesterday I ventured out into the city to gauge the mood with my colleague, Mercy Corps Program Officer Guo Xin. A native of Sichuan, Guo Xin tells me that people in Chengdu stayed outside for two days straight after the earthquake for fear that buildings would collapse on them.

We set out through city streets to the West China Hospital complex at Sichuan University. This is the hospital where many of the most seriously injured victims of the earthquake have been taken for treatment. What we found was a grim scene. Carefully typed pages of hundreds of patient names hang on display boards. Anxious relatives gathered around, searching desperately for the names of missing children, siblings, parents and friends.

Guo Xin is intrepid. She led me inside the hospital, hastily asking passersby where we could find the earthquake survivors. We followed a crush of bodies into the elevator and found ourselves in ward 32.

There's a reason I'm not a doctor: the sights, sounds and smells of physical human suffering make me queasy. And there I was in the middle of it all.

Ward 32 is where the earthquake victims with bone injuries land for treatment and surgeries. The hospital is clean and well-lit but the ward is currently bursting at the seams. Most rooms hold five patients, and even more patients line the halls. All look exhausted and pained, with head-to-toe cuts and bruises — like they've been in the fight of their lives.

As we headed down to the nurses' station, a middle-aged woman was wheeled past us on a hospital bed. Obviously in pain, she had one leg wrapped and pinned, and the other tucked under her bed sheet. Strange, I thought, how that sheet lies flat even though her leg's under it  — then I realized that her leg wasn't there at all. Amputees, I later discovered, are common in ward 32.

A kind young doctor with a crisp British accent led us into the room of a young woman who had been trapped under the rubble of her school. She looked tired, shy and hurting. But she was surprisingly willing to engage with us, total strangers.

The young woman  — 18-year-old Jia Xuejiao  — is in 12th grade at Yin Xiu high school, close to the quake's epicenter in Wenchuan County. She was in history class when the earthquake struck. In a matter of seconds, her fifth-floor classroom hit the ground as the entire building collapsed.

"I was totally scared. The building was shaking and I didn't know what was going on. I just felt strange," she recounted. "I heard my classmates yelling, calling for help but I couldn't see them."

Buried by rubble and other building parts, Jia Xuejiao was dug out by a fellow student, who carried her on his back to safety in a nearby mountainous area. She languished there for two days without food or water, and with her head, back and foot injuries left untreated. She was later airlifted to West China Hospital.

Jia Xuejiao's body appeared battered — and she was propped up and motionless, betraying some kind of neck injury. I looked down at her left foot, which was held still and hidden under a thick layer of gauzy wrap. She explained that her foot was injured and had become severely infected. She had already had one surgery, and would probably require two more including a skin graft.

Jia Xuejiao is one of the lucky ones. She told us that, of her class of 48, only one student had died and three were severely injured. Guo Xin and I glanced at each other with nervous, knowing looks. Jia Xuejiao had been on the fifth and highest floor of the building. We could only speculate what unhappy end had met the young people in floors one through four.

Jia Xuejiao is one of the 245,000 people injured in last week's earthquake. Some of the injured are still stuck in areas that are difficult to access, where medical supplies and personnel can't yet reach them. Others are in hospitals like the one Guo Xin and I visited. For many, the long road to recovery is just beginning.

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