There have been some touching little stories related to the Sichuan earthquake that wouldn't be covered by the mainstream media. Here I'd like to share a few (they are collected from media of Hong Kong and China).
Story 1: Panhandler
A disabled panhandling man, who walks on his hands rather than feet, staggered his way to a donation station on Yuexiu district in Guangzhou last Friday. Volunteers at the donation stand thought he was just passing by, therefore they were shocked when he said: "I want to donate."
With the help from a cop standing nearby, he scratched for a few coins in his panhandling bowl. A volunteer immediately brought the donation box to him. He then put the coins in, one by one.
When he finished that, he told the volunteers that he still got money. He emptied his pockets and pulled out some paper money and donated all of them. It was about $30-40. It was said that he came back again two days later and donated another $10.
A passerby who saw the whole thing took some pictures and reported the story online (Apple Daily).
Story 2: Breast feeding volunteer
Jiang Xiaojuan is a female cop with a local Sichuan county who just gave birth to a son less than 6 months ago. Recently, her story has moved hundreds of thousands of Chinese netizens.
After the quake, many babies lost their parents, and some moms were seriously injured and couldn't take care of their own babies. The life of many babies are at stake. The first and second floor of the Chengdu Huaxi Hospital are designated to look after these earthquake babies. Volunteer moms care for them 24 hours, talk to them, clean them and feed them.
Jiang Xiaojuan was one of the cops who worked in the relief effort. Saddened by the cryings of these lonesome babies, Jiang was determined to help more.
She said: "I'm going to breast feed these babies!"
The news that someone is providing breastfeeding spread around fast. Many people lined up for the "service“. In one picture posted online, Jiang was seen feeding two babies at the same time, while she gently talked to a baby: "Eat slowly, baby, good boy..."
Jiang has been named by Chinese netizens as "the most beautiful mom" (Apple Daily, Xinhua Net).
Story 3: Mom's last words
A mom in Beichuan gave up her life to protect her own baby. In her last moments of desperation, she managed to leave a message for her child: "Dear babe, if you could live on, you must remember I loved you."
The body of a woman was found trapped under the rubble of a building in Beichuan, one of the most hardest hit area. Her knees were on the ground and her hands pushed up her body. A rescuer checked her pulse through a crack and confirmed she was dead. He hit the rubbles and called out a few times and got no reply. When he was just about to move on, he suddenly realized something.
He quickly came back to the woman, checked again under her body and touched a baby. After much effort, rescuers found a 3 or 4-month old baby wrapped in a red and yellow blanket, laying unharmed under his mom's dead body. He was still sleeping quietly when he was found.
A doctor immediately checked up the boy. He then found a cell phone stuck inside the baby's blanket. There was a short message on the screen: "Dear babe, if you could live on, you must remember that I loved you." (Net Ease and others)