Creating a brighter future

Shanghai - Raising her head slightly to scrutinize her drawing, Xia Fengting, a girl who lost her right hand in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, tries to capture her impressions of the Shanghai Expo.

Sponsored by the Dujiangyan Love and Education Fund, Xia and 49 other disabled students from Dujiangyan, aged between 10 and 14, who were also injured in the Wenchuan earthquake, toured Expo 2010 Shanghai from May 7 to 12.

"I am drawing a picture of the China Pavilion, which is my favorite, with other pavilions in the background, to show my classmates how beautiful the Expo is," said 11-year-old Xia, who loves to paint.

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She has already won several awards exhibiting her work and dreams of becoming an artist.

However, a week after the earthquake she woke in hospital to find that she had lost her right hand. For an 8-year-old child, the loss was hard to accept, especially since it was the hand she used for painting.

It was only after she learned to write, draw and use chopsticks with her left hand that she finally began to come to terms with her situation.

Xia won her first award for a painting she did with her left hand at the age of 10. It depicted black water flowing from a large tap, polluting the environment and people's lives.

The Wenchuan earthquake, which occurred in Sichuan and neighboring provinces just over two years ago, claimed more than 80,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands injured, more than 7,000 of whom are permanently disabled.

Reconstruction in Sichuan includes plans for 39 rehabilitation centers for the disabled, covering all 39 severely damaged areas of the province. Five hospitals will also be built in Ya'an and Mianyang, along with a rural medical facility.

In addition to helping the disabled with their physical impairments, mental health counselors from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been sent to assist grieving and traumatized victims.

Doctors at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, estimate it will take at least 10 years for people to mentally recover from the nightmare, China News Agency reported.

China has more than 83 million disabled people, about 6.4 percent of the total population.

One pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, the Life and Sunshine Pavilion, which is the first pavilion especially designed for the disabled in the 159 years of Expo history, is attempting to promote a greater awareness of the issues they confront.

Along with the themes of eliminating discrimination and alleviating poverty, the pavilion seeks to promote a fair society and a better urban life for the disabled.

CHINA DAILY