What they got immediately was some perspective on the science of earth movement and the power of the human spirit. The ground in Chengdu has moved no fewer than 130 times over the past four days, destroying villages and leaving tens of thousands homeless. The UFV group is safe and living on the campus of Sichuan Normal University. For several days they have been contributing to the local relief efforts as best they can, signing up as blood donors and collecting blankets for the homeless.
UFV Director of International Education Karola Stinson arrived in Chengdu today (Friday, May 16) to bring support from home and review the options available to the students for the remainder of the semester. Their choices were to a) return to Canada, b) stay in China but move to a different city to the south, where UFV has a relationship established with another university, or c) stay in Chengdu.
“The choice was left to the students,” says Dr. Chris Bertram, the faculty member on site. “They were given time to go off on their own to discuss their options. Within 15 minutes, they told me that their unanimous decision was to stay in Chengdu. When I asked them why, they all said the same thing: they are connected to this place now. They feel connected to the people – to the friends we have made here, to the people that they lived through this with, and to the people who have tried so hard to make us comfortable when they clearly had so many other pressing issues in their own lives. The people here have given so very much in one short week, and our students want to give back. Even if it means just being here with the Chinese people, just standing here with them and dealing with the aftermath of all of this together. That is their choice, and I think it is a wonderful one.”
The students went back to class today at SNU, taking a Kung Fu class on the same badminton court where they spent the night after the initial massive earthquake.