Expressions of people caring help assure children of their safety and provide them hope about a good future. When a tragic event like an earthquake shakes their life attitudes, corresponding healing responses are in order.
The province of Sichuan, China was hit by an earthquake in May of last year, which measured a surface wave magnitude of 8, the strongest since the Chayu earthquake in 1950. More than 69,000 lives were lost, over 370,000 injured and a lot are still missing.
Deeply moved by the gravity of what happened, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took the initiative to invite some 100 Sichuan children to the Philippines through Chinese President Hu Jintao while she was there last August for the Beijing Olympics.
The visit was intended to make the road to healing shorter and help bring back the vigor of the once-radiant kids. And not only did it provide a change of scenery, it more importantly granted the children their needed time to shift focus away from all the trauma brought about by the calamity.
The whole trip was facilitated by Special Envoy to China Carlos Chan and his staff at Liwayway Marketing Corporation, along with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Office of the Press Secretary (OPS), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Department of Tourism (DOT).
One of the places the kids visited during their 6-day stay in the Philippines was the SM Science Discovery Center, the premiere science and technology learning hub which allowed the kids to enjoy virtual sports games and gather interesting information about astronomy, new technologies like robotics and the internet, and the earth and its environment all in one day.
The SM Science Discovery Center is also home to the only state-of-the-art Digistar Planetarium in the Philippines, where the Sichuan children watched an entertaining yet very informative clip in 360-degree dome screen technology and in full surround sound.
Deputy Director-General of the China Ministry of Education, Du Ku Wei said:" The main goal of this project is to help the children overcome trauma. Many of these kids have either lost a parent, a relative or a friend, and some were also very courageous heroes of their batch who helped save their classmates when the earthquake transpired. They, most of all, needed this break."
"The SM Science Discovery Center believes in the power of education and wants to impart the gift of science to every child, especially those coming from unfortunate times, so that someday they can all come together as one and help the whole world advance in the field, and find ways to prevent and overcome natural occuring calamities like the Sichuan earthquake," shares A.R. Riparip, Marketing Manager of the SM Science Discovery Center.
The Center knows that it is its Corporate Social Responsibility to educate the youth and even the grownups about matters like these. This project is only one of the CSR efforts the SM Science Discovery Center aims for. A future that is safer and brighter is what the Center envisions for everyone, that is why it is always willing and ready to extend a helping hand to whoever is in need.
The SM Science Discovery Center houses over 400 exhibits in 10 exciting galleries to explore. All these exhibits are presented in highly interactive manner, making learning easier and so much more fun. The SM Science Discovery Center is located at the Southside Entertainment Mall, SM Mall of Asia. Operating hours are from 10am to 10pm daily. For more information about the Center, please visit www.smsciencediscovery.com or call (02) 556-2153.
back
