BFF-29 Winnie the Pooh brings laughter to Indonesian quake kids

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BFF-29

INDONESIA-EARTHQUAKE-TSUNAMI

Winnie the Pooh brings laughter to Indonesian quake kids

PALU, Indonesia, Oct 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Shrieking with delight,
Indonesian kids in disaster-struck Palu rush to cuddle a giant Winnie the
Pooh, his horseplay and goofy smiles drawing big smiles in a park surrounded
with rubble.

Volunteers are cheering up children across Palu with songs and games as the
youngsters come to grips with a city hollowed out and twisted by nature.

An earthquake and tsunami on September 28 has killed close to 2,000 on
Sulawesi island and the carnage is still raw, with thousands more believed
buried underneath the rubble.

The confronting scene is especially grim for the estimated 180,000
youngsters affected by the disaster.

Erna wanted to offer a distraction from the misery.

She threw a Winnie the Pooh costume and other props in a car, gathered some
friends and drove three hours to Palu.

There, a volunteer sweated in the tropical heat inside the red and yellow
suit as kids giggled and embraced the loveable bear.

“I felt sorry for the children, and I didn’t want them to be traumatised,”
Erna told AFP.

Aid workers on the ground said many children were shocked and distressed by
the scale of the disaster.

Many were orphaned or separated from family in the terrifying aftermath as
buildings crumbled and a wall of water crashed over the city.

Across Palu, efforts are being thrown into getting smiles back on kids’
faces.

Some volunteers have brought toys to replace those lost in the chaos.

Others have organised badminton and football matches, or enraptured kids
with fun stories.

Save the Children has teamed up with local charities to run safe spaces for
kids to play while their parents gather food and other desperately-needed
supplies. “Play is an extremely important part of a child’s psychological
health and wellbeing,” said David Bloomer, a child protection technical
adviser with Save the Children.

“It gives them a chance to regain a sense of normalcy in a world that has
changed around them.”

BSS/AFP/MSY/1327 hrs