On May 12th, Zhang Wenwen, who tells me her English name is Linda, had gone to her mother’s jewelry shop near her school to have lunch. At 2:28 she was walking back to class and the earthquake caught her just down the street from her middle school. She watched as the shaking ground reduced it to a pile of rubble, with most of the friends trapped inside. Despite this trauma, she seems to remain a cheerful, outgoing girl who eagerly absorbs the English names of animals, translating them them into characters and patiently teaching me their Chinese pronunciation.
Lydia Wallace was interning at Danwei when the Sichuan earthquake struck. She is now working for a disaster relief organization in Sichuan and will be publishing stories and photographs about the people she meets. She is also blogging at www.fiferis.com.
