For Sichuan people, they will never forget 2008. Many cities were destroyed and many people passed away on 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake. Du Li, a teacher at New Dingxin Primary School in Dujiangyan, can't help sobbing when she recalls that day. "I am the head teacher. There are altogether 60 students in our class, and 55 of them passed away on that day," Mr. Du said. The school and herself were destroyed by the earthquake. After Wenchuan earthquake, she became irritable whenever she disagreed with others. She could not normally undertake teaching tasks.

As the saying goes, "When God closes a door, he opens a window for you." Shortly after Wenchuan earthquake, APEPCY came to the disaster area and launched the “post-disaster youth psychological assistance” public good activity to help children with their psychological reconstruction and lead them out of the shadow of the disaster. At the same time, APEPCY donated “Heart to Heart Huts” (Changier Huts for disaster areas) to schools in the disaster area, trained professional teachers in mental health education and sexual health education. It was then that Ms. Du became acquainted with APEPCY. “At that time, the principal saw that I was not in good condition, so he gave me the opportunity to receive training as a APEPCY teacher. With a deeper understanding of mental health education and sexual health education, Du not only got herself out of the past, but also began to help students with traumatic psychological disorder caused by earthquake.

"What impressed my most was an 18-year-old child who became close after the earthquake and did not communicate with the outside world. It became even worse after Lushan earthquake in 2013. At that time, he acted like a three-year-old child who had to sleep with his parents at night to feel safe. Ms. Du and APEPCY provided the boy with sand game therapy for more than 2 years and now he has gradually recovered and can live independently.

Now the shadow of earthquake has gradually faded away. APEPCY not only continue to use Heart to Heart Huts to provide mental health education for students, but also to promote drug control, AIDS prevention and sexual health education. When Ms. Du introducing knowledge about sexual education during APEPCY Parents Seminar at New Dingxin Primary School in Dujiangyan, one of the parents said that they did not know how to answer their children’s question about where they came from. After the lecture, parents learned the right way to communicate such topics with their children. “Although one or two lectures are not enough, at least we can transform some of their perceptions”, said Ms. Du.

Since 2008, there has been a total of 194 Changier Huts (including Heart to Heart Huts) were donated by APEPCY in Chengdu, Mianzhu, Dujiangyan, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Dazhou, Ya’an, Zigong and many other places in Sichuan Province. They have been providing long-term support for teenagers’ mental health, sexual health, drug control and AIDS prevention education.

This article was originally published on the Overseas edition of People's Daily

(27th June, 2016. Section No.5)  reporter: Wangying