Tag Archives: Child-Friendly Spaces

The breadth of devastation: Sichuan earthquakes, 2008 and 2013

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Matthew Brennan in Disaster Relief

The breadth of devastation: Earthquakes in Sichuan, China | World Vision Blog

On May 12, 2008, I had plane tickets that less than three weeks later were to take me from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, and then on to Chengdu, China, the capital of Sichuan province in the southwestern region of the country. But that day, a massive earthquake struck Sichuan. And just this past Saturday, another one hit....

Crisis in Syria, part 3: Video and FAQs

Posted on April 4, 2013 by James Addis in Disaster Relief

The civil war in Syria has entered its third year, and the number of refugees fleeing the country has doubled in the past three months. Today’s post — the third in our series about the crisis — offers a list of the most frequently asked questions to offer our readers some background to the growing humanitarian needs....

Haiti will never be a lost cause

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Meg Sattler in Disaster Relief

Haiti, two years later: Never a lost cause | World Vision blog

Last time I flew into Haiti, I was reading Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” I finished it just as the plane hit the tarmac of the broken-down Port-au-Prince airport. As I closed the book, I looked up and realized why it had resonated. The protagonist and his struggles at sea reminded me of this fascinating and broken place I’d come to call home — a country where work happens, struggles continue, and yet “success” or any kind of respite seem so often out of reach. It’s now been two years since the largest earthquake to hit the country in 200 years shook the life out of Port-au-Prince, causing chaos, destruction, death, and leaving more people homeless than...

Child-Friendly Space opens in Japan

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Guest blogger in Disaster Relief

World Vision's Maikba Yamano leads children's activities at the CFS. (Itoh Kei/WV/2011)

Editor’s note: In the aftermath of tragedy and disaster, World Vision uses Child-Friendly Spaces (CFS) to care for children by providing them with a safe place to learn, play and emotionally recover from the trauma they’ve faced. (For more on how we use CFS, read Freedom of imagination) The following was shared with us by Nanako Otsuki, communications officer with World Vision Japan. Zenin syugo, meaning “everyone gathering together”, is the name children in Tome City have come up with for their new playing ground, a World Vision CFS. The name fits perfectly for its purpose, providing children with a venue to come together and share their experiences as they begin the road to recovery. All the children come from...

Freedom of imagination

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Lindsey Talerico-Hedren in Disaster Relief

At a Child-Friendly Space in Haiti, children draw and paint pictures themed 'My hope for Haiti' on the anniversary of the 2010 earthquake. (Meg Sattler/WV/2011)

One of the many measures being planned by World Vision to care for the needs of children after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are Child-Friendly Spaces — safe, supervised learning and playing places where kids can be kids in a post-traumatic environment. They receive psycho-social "first aid" through counseling and structured activities like playtime, music, and art........