And some more good news from China. Suki Deng, our Dr Dog coordinator in Chengdu and Rainbow recently took some of our lovely canine doctors and their volunteer owners to visit more than 40 primary school children made homeless by the Sichuan earthquake.

The children from some of the worst-hit areas like Yingxiu and Beichuan, are now temporarily settled in an elderly home in Xin Fan, Longqiao but have obviously been through a sad and traumatic time. The dogs provided some perfect fun-filled therapy at a time when they needed it the most and Suki sent some lovely photos of the visit that I thought you’d like to see.

From the beaming smiles on their faces, the children obviously had a wonderful time and so did the little pug, Dr Bi Bi, who clearly enjoyed being the centre of attention and “sitting” while the children drew his portrait.

The girl above is 10-year-old Zhou Xiao Yan from Yinxiu. Her family home collapsed in the earthquake and she also lost her uncle in the disaster.

Two of our Dr Dog volunteers brought along two big boxes of stationery of all kinds, and some delicious cakes for the children. There was also enough stationery left over to distribute some to other children who weren’t able to make the visit.

The little girl below in the pink T-shirt (front row, far left) is 7-year-old Wu Yi from Dujiangyan. She was buried in the rubble for hours. She struggled to remove the bricks covering her body and finally made her way out, traumatised, but alive.

Rainbow says that at the end of the visit, when all the children shouted “Xie xie ni!” (Thank you!) at the top of their lungs, it felt like another aftershock had hit Sichuan!