Sichuan Trip: Day One

While attending a birthday party in the morning, we learned that our trip was a go. We didn’t know exactly how we would help or how long we would be there, but our flight left at 2:00 PM for Chengdu in Sichuan Province, China.

We would arrive seven days after the disastrous 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit, killing 80,000 people and leaving 5 million homeless. I packed in less than an hour and headed to the airport where I would meet the rest of our group. My stomach was heavy and my mind racing. I thought, “In the face of such overwhelming destruction, how can one person make a difference?” I was also uncertain about the amount of danger we would encounter.

After a minor passport hiccup, we went through security (where I lost a bottle of contact lenses solution, a bottle of sunscreen, and had my football deflated) and then boarded the plane. From the Chengdu airport, we took a taxi to the distribution center of Heart to Heart International, a non-profit group based out of Olathe, KS. They told us to come back in the morning and they would arrange transportation and an interpreter for us, as well as give us our marching orders.
We had brought backpacks and hiking shoes, and so we fully expected that that first night in the hotel would be our last.

After checking in, a few of us followed a rumor of a Papa John’s Pizza in the area. To our delight, Chengdu has not only a Papa John’s but a Dairy Queen as well. Though the pizza was not quite the same (only the garlic-butter sauce was an exact match), it was fun and momentarily took our minds off of the grim task ahead.


At the airport, preparing to depart ...

After arriving in Chengdu, loading into a taxi ...

Heart to Heart International Distribution center (picture top center, is of the founder of H2H and Chinese Premier Wen Jiaobao) ...