| Revisiting Sri Lanka | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Zhang Li-yun Translated by Tang Yau-yang | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tzu Chi volunteers helped in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami, which hit the country very hard. After emergency aid and a reconstruction project for survivors, volunteers continued to help local needy people.
On December 26, 2004, a 9.1-9.3 magnitude undersea earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggered massive tsunami waves. Many countries were devastated, with over 227,000 people dead or missing. Sri Lanka lost more than 35,000 people, second only to Indonesia’s 167,000. The first Tzu Chi medical team arrived in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, on the evening of December 30 to provide free medical services to survivors. They began to treat patients the next morning. Teams of Tzu Chi medical volunteers would arrive in turn, each to relieve the previous team. Dr. Lin Shinn-zong (林欣榮), superintendent of Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, eastern Taiwan, was one of the physicians to volunteer in Sri Lanka. In addition to organizing the free medical services and other aid work, Tzu Chi built a 649-residential-unit Great Love Village for survivors and a new school called Tzu Chi National School in Hambantota. Many locals joined Tzu Chi as volunteers after the disaster. Now volunteers carry out Tzu Chi work in Hambantota and Colombo.
The village and the school In July 2018, Taiwanese and Singaporean members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association joined forces and conducted a large free clinic in Sri Lanka. This was the 11th large-scale clinic Tzu Chi had offered for local needy people there. The Taiwanese medical team was led by Dr. Lin Shinn-zong. Before he and his team set out for Sri Lanka this time, Master Cheng Yen suggested that they visit the Great Love Village and Tzu Chi National School to check how the residents and students were doing. Dr. Lin couldn’t have been happier upon hearing her suggestion. Having visited Sri Lanka after the great tsunami 14 years before, he really wanted to find out how the survivors were doing. As the Master suggested, the team visited the village and the school during their trip to Sri Lanka. Despite being more than ten years old, both the village and school had been well maintained. The school currently enrolls over 1,300 students from grades 6 to 13. Principal W.K. Lalitha had started on the job just five months earlier. Before coming on board, she had heard that the school was well equipped, almost like a college. She warmly received the visitors. “Our school is very different from other national schools, thanks to the mercy of Master Cheng Yen,” the principal said. “We have soccer and basketball teams, and we offer classes in dance, music, and art. Just today, one of our students placed in an art competition.” Sri Lanka is divided into nine provinces, which are further divided into 25 districts. Of those 25 districts, Hambantota boasts the highest level of education among its residents. The district has seven national schools. Tzu Chi National School ranks second in terms of the percentage of students who win admission into colleges.
As the principal talked with Dr. Lin and others, other members on the medical team mingled with students. Xu Xiu-ting (許秀婷) of Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, southern Taiwan, took out her cell phone and took selfies with the kids. The children then passed the phone around to show the photos to others, and more kids joined the throng. They laughed and cheered in high spirits. Some students took Xu to see their classrooms. “We can’t really talk to each other due to the language barrier,” Xu said, “so we use gestures.” The kids could feel that Xu, though coming from a far-away place, loved them, so they enthusiastically showed her their blackboards, desks, chairs, shoe racks, and other things in their classrooms. The students at Tzu Chi National School were cheerful, energetic, and courteous, and they looked good in their uniforms. Dr. Lin was glad to see them so well-mannered and well-groomed. “Education brings hope. It impacts not just one generation, but generations to come too,” Lin said. “This is why the Master made education one of the four missions of Tzu Chi.” After a cheerful tour around the school, the team from Taiwan visited the Great Love Village. They first came to the home of Anoja. Though not very big, the house was spacious enough for Anoja, her husband, and their five children. The family had kept their place very tidy. Potted plants adorned their small courtyard. The couple’s four daughters busily cut fruit and offered it to the visitors. “Our two-story home was washed away in the tsunami,” Anoja recalled. “We lost everything in the blink of an eye. Afterwards, Tzu Chi volunteers gave us rice, daily necessities, beds, and blankets.” The memory of the disaster and its aftermath brought tears to her eyes. Anoja asked one of her daughters to show the visitors a blue blanket that they had received from Tzu Chi years earlier. Though it had worn through, the family still kept it as a memento. They were very thankful for Tzu Chi’s assistance, which had helped keep their family together. A devout Buddhist, Anoja had raised funds and built a shrine in the village where fellow villagers could worship. Anoja’s husband is an electrician. Every day he rides ten minutes to work on a bike. He pointed at his knee and said to the visitors, “It hurts. I’ll go to the free clinic tomorrow to see a doctor.” Hearing that, Cai San-lang (蔡三郎), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctor, took some needles from his bag and gave him an acupuncture treatment right there. Cheng I-che (鄭宜哲), also a TCM doctor, from Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, central Taiwan, gave Anoja some medicated patches and showed her how to apply them to her husband’s knee. For this trip, Cheng had brought 2,000 acupuncture needles and Cai had brought 800. “We at the TCM department at Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital often conduct home visits to needy patients,” Cheng said. “It would be burdensome to carry Chinese medicine on such visits, so we often use acupuncture or electrotherapy to temporarily relieve pains for our patients.” The volunteers then visited Rinosah’s home, which was very clean and tidy. Her husband works in Saudi Arabia, and he makes decent money there. Therefore, they had been able to remodel their home with a European-style outer wall and front door. The interior of the house and the floor tiles had also been redone. This Muslim family apparently had done well for themselves. Dr. Lin was thrilled, as if he were seeing his own children doing well. “Master Cheng Yen’s decision to help tsunami survivors in Sri Lanka really made a difference,” he observed. “In the short span of a dozen years, many families here have become quite prosperous. This is a place full of hope.”
A bustling event A team from Singapore started this latest free clinic on July 13 at Baduraliya Divisional Hospital in Baduraliya, Kalutara, Western Province. The Taiwan team joined the Singapore team on July 14. Staff from the hospital also volunteered at the event. At an altitude of 27 meters (89 feet) above sea level, Baduraliya is surrounded by tea and rubber plantations. Most residents work at the plantations and earn a small wage with which they manage to get by. But heavy rains in May 2017 led to floods and landslides in the area, making the lives of local underprivileged people even more difficult. Unable to afford medical treatment, many just toughed it out when they fell ill, which sometimes caused their illnesses to become worse. This explained the massive throng of people who waited in long queues at the Tzu Chi free clinic. Nonetheless, the place was not unruly. People waited patiently and uttered no word of complaint. Instead they gave shy smiles to the volunteers they saw. Many physicians were amazed to witness such a quiet and orderly gathering of more than a thousand people. They wondered if it was Buddhist teachings that made them behave in such an orderly manner, since the majority of the population in Sri Lanka are Buddhists. Patients were able to receive minor surgeries, as well as services in internal medicine, TCM, dentistry, and ophthalmology. Every service was in great demand. Lines of patients extended from the indoor clinical areas to outdoor hallways, and still more people continued to arrive and sign in. S Munipeme, 67, had a fibroma ten centimeters (four inches) across on his back, which prevented him from sleeping while lying flat. He had suffered with it for 20 years. He came to the free clinic to have this benign tumor removed, and then he came back for a nurse to change his dressing. Ong Qiu Feng (王秋鳳), a nurse from Singapore, sat S Munipeme in a chair near the stairwell so she could remove, bit by bit, the gauze that had stuck to his bony back. Dr. Lin removed a grape-shaped wart from the face of a 61-year-old woman. “Warts are troublesome in that, even after being removed, they grow back,” Lin explained. “So I took out this wart by the root. Now she won’t feel self-conscious when her husband, her children, or her friends look at her.” Lin operated on patient after patient. Even when it was near noon, he still said “No problem” to the nurses who continued to bring in new patients. Lin is a renowned physician in Taiwan, and he was repeatedly sought out to help solve difficult or complex medical problems during the three-day clinic. When a Singaporean volunteer brought an old woman to Lin, the doctor asked the woman to raise her right leg, then her left leg, followed by her right and left arms. Each limb seemed just fine, but when she stood up, she could not stop shaking, to the point of being unable to stand. Lin believed that the woman’s brain might have degenerated and that she was deficient in dopamine. This would cause the uncontrollable trembling of her body when she was on her feet. Lin prescribed medications to lessen her shaking, but he knew that would be just a temporary solution. It was at such times that the medical workers at the free clinic felt frustrated. The doctors knew that the problems they were unable to fix for patients during the three-day clinic would most likely continue to bother the patients down the line. They were upset by their own inability to do more for the patients before they had to return home. Fu Chin-hua (傅進華), a neurologist at Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, told a patient that his hernia could only be treated with an operation. The patient appeared helpless because he was unable to afford the surgery. Fu felt bad for the patient, and he was further frustrated by the knowledge that this patient was not the only one caught in such a bind. Patients had come from all over the place, some walking eight miles to get there, some riding on vehicles for three hours. They had all come in the hope that the doctors would relieve their pains and discomfort. But the more patients Dr. Fu saw, the more discouraged he felt. A lack of large medical equipment on the scene had curtailed the doctors’ ability to treat more serious disorders and conditions. As a result, they could only help temporarily relieve a patient’s symptoms. “All of a sudden, I feel awfully small,” Fu said. “I can only do the best I can. We all live on the same Earth, but our lives are so different. I’m reminded to count my blessings. One person can do only so much. We need to get more people to join our efforts to reduce suffering in the world.”
A united effort Dentistry and ophthalmology clinics were also packed with patients. Manel, a 58-year-old woman, lived in Midalana village, two kilometers (1.2 miles) away. She had heard public announcements about the free clinic two days earlier. Despite being poor, she spent 150 rupees (US$1) to hire a motorized tricycle to take her to the clinic venue. She suffered from high cholesterol and diabetes, but she came to the clinic to have her gums checked. For five years her swollen gums had greatly bothered her, causing her pain and making it difficult for her to eat. Dentist Xu Zhi-liang (許智亮) found pathological changes in Manel’s gums and advised her to be further examined at a large hospital. He then offered to clean her teeth. Manel was at first reluctant to accept the offer for fear of pain, but some local volunteers convinced her it would be worth it. Two of the volunteers even held her hands to put her at ease while Xu worked on her. Kasumawathi, 68, lived in the village of Molkawa, 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away. She and her six-year-old granddaughter, Kivindi, arrived at the clinic very early in the morning. Kasumawathi’s daughter had separated from her husband, and she supported the family by working on a tea farm for a small income. Kasumawathi had been severely far-sighted for 15 years. Even though she had been educated through middle school, she couldn’t read because of this eye condition. She was ecstatic when she received a pair of reading glasses at the free clinic. Kivindi, the granddaughter, was treated at the dental clinic. She was quite a darling. After receiving treatment, she knelt down, folded her palms, and bowed to thank every medical worker who had helped her and her grandmother. Her endearing behavior melted the hearts of the volunteers from Taiwan and Singapore. There were so many patients to serve that the medical professionals at the event hardly had time to eat lunch. This was the first time pharmacist Zhang Tian-teng (張天騰) had participated in an international free clinic. “Never in my life have I filled so many prescriptions in a single day—I made over 1,800 packs of medicine,” he said. “But even though I was kept so busy, this won’t be the last time I take part in a free clinic.” Sri Lanka was once a British colony, so English is commonly used in the nation. Even so, Sinhala is more prevalent in the countryside, so local medical students volunteered at the free clinic as interpreters. Alexander, a student in the department of nursing at the University of Colombo, said, “I’ve learned a lot by seeing how doctors at the free clinic asked questions and examined and diagnosed patients. This experience will help me a great deal when I become a practicing nurse in the future.” Sri Lanka has its own indigenous scheme of traditional medicine. Ten students from the University of Colombo Institute of Indigenous Medicine served all three days at the free clinic as interpreters. They were also great helpers for the traditional Chinese medicine doctors at the event. They assisted the doctors as the latter used treatment methods such as cupping therapy, moxibustion, and acupuncture on patients. “At first, I took [acupuncture] needles straight out of the patients, which made them uncomfortable,” said Nadeesha, one of the students. “But now I gently twist a needle as I extract it so the patient feels less pain.” At the free clinic, Nadeesha got her first exposure to traditional Chinese medicine and witnessed how the doctors humbly and lovingly cared for their patients. “I’ve learned from them that in addition to treating illness, it is also important for a doctor to care for the emotional needs of a patient,” she declared.
More than medical care Though volunteers had anticipated a turnout of about 3,800 patients, they ended up serving 4,103 during the event. Everyone was happy that they had served such a large number of people. “Seeing you selflessly helping very poor people in Baduraliya, I’ve learned much from you,” said Dr. Udaya Isaac Rathnayake, Kalutara District health services director, “and I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the spirit of Buddhism and Tzu Chi. I pledge to Master Cheng Yen that from now on I’ll follow a vegetarian diet.” His enthusiastic vow was followed by thunderous applause from people at the event. A father-and-daughter pair and two mother-and-daughter pairs were among the people who volunteered at the free clinic. Dr. Loh Poey Ling (羅佩玲) of the Singapore Tzu Chi Free Clinic said that her medical work had kept her busy and therefore she had not been able to spend as much time with her daughter as she would have liked. This time she took her along to the free clinic. She said that this was a great opportunity for her daughter to see what had kept her mother so busy. TCM doctor Cheng I-che admitted that he had once doubted the value of his services to the local people. “How much can we help people here when we visit from Taiwan just once a year?” he asked himself. But then he found an answer at the clinic. Working with local medical students at the clinic, he realized that they would soon be among the most capable people in the nation. He believed that if they were given the opportunity or responsibility, they could become agents of change in Sri Lanka. “We can instill a sense of responsibility in the students to inspire them to help their own countrymen after they graduate,” Zheng said to his fellow delegates from Taiwan. “Why do we come here? It is to pass on our love.” He entreated student translators to learn more about Tzu Chi from online resources. He also posted his belief on social media that every person can be an agent of change. Everyone can plant seeds of love, and those seeds will sprout and grow. If local people in turn are inspired to pass on their love to people around them, the ripples of positive influences will spread, and Tzu Chi’s love and care will reach and touch the lives of many more Sri Lankans.
The More Treatments, the Merrier By Huang Bin-yang Translated by Tang Yau-yang We hustled as hard as we could and treated 48 patients in seven hours. We knew that if any patients missed their chance to see a dentist that day, there was no telling when they would ever be able to see one next.
In July 2018, members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association from Taiwan and Singapore joined forces and offered a free clinic in Sri Lanka. I was a member of the group from Taiwan. Before the trip, I read about the December 2004 tsunami and the subsequent assistance Tzu Chi had provided to survivors in Sri Lanka. I found the stories of the devastation that people experienced very sad, but at the same time very distant to me. After all, I didn’t personally know the people impacted by the disaster, and the terrible events happened so far away. However, when I was on the ground in Hambantota, visiting the Great Love Village that Tzu Chi built for survivors, those sad stories became much more real. This was especially true when I met Anoja and her family. I had read the story of their loss in the tsunami, but their experience didn’t hit home until I met them directly. As we talked face to face, they told me and the other medical volunteers from Taiwan how their family had lost everything in the tsunami. Though the story was the same as what I had read in Taiwan, hearing them tell it felt so different. I was deeply affected. Happily, their life has returned to normal over the ten years that they have lived in the village. Anoja has even become a Tzu Chi volunteer. Once an aid recipient, she has become a help giver. Residents waved enthusiastically to us when they saw us in the village. They recognized us by our volunteer uniforms and knew that we were from Tzu Chi. Their heartwarming response brought home to me the power of selfless love. I felt happy and grateful that I could come to this country to give my love and do something for needy people here.
Final day It was still dark at 5:30 in the morning, but everyone in the medical delegation had already gotten up. After breakfast, we were ready to work the last day of the free clinic. In addition to medical professionals, our support volunteers were essential for a clinic like ours to succeed. For example, line maintenance volunteers were necessary to keep electric and water lines in working order. These volunteers were always the first to arrive at the venue and the last to leave. They were truly unsung heroes. There were also volunteers doing other important jobs behind the scenes, such as getting dental instruments ready. Like the line maintenance volunteers, they helped prepare for the larger crowd expected during the final day of the free clinic. Among the support volunteers at the venue were many local volunteers. Like the volunteers from Taiwan and Singapore, they were all doing their best to help out. Some of them had even slept next to the dental equipment and instruments to safeguard these very expensive items through the night. All medical workers and support volunteers geared up for the final day. Those of us at the dental clinic expected to serve more patients on this day. For one thing, we were now more familiar with the flow than when we had first begun. We were also acutely aware of how much the villagers desired our services. The more people we treated, the better they would feel…and the better we would feel. I had the honor again today of working with Zi-ning (紫寧). She was in my mind the best dental assistant around. We asked our first patient that day when he had arrived at the venue, and he told us he had arrived before five in the morning. So by the time we saw him, he had waited for four hours. Since this would be our final day, I really wanted to see as many patients as possible. As soon as I finished one patient, I hurried to call the next one. As a result, the time between each patient began to get shorter and shorter. After a while, Zi-ning couldn’t help reminding me to allow more time between patients so that she could adequately sterilize the work station for the next patient. She brought me back to reality. She was already working very fast just to keep up with things before I dialed up the speed. Now that I was speeding up, I was making her work even harder. I felt I was being inconsiderate. Then the old maxim occurred to me: “Many hands make light work.” “Would you teach me how to sterilize?” I asked her. “Then we can do it together to save time.” “That would be wonderful!” she replied. That’s how I began assisting her to disinfect the work area between patients. We were wonderful partners, and we were able to speed up our patient flow as a result.
Three more patients, please “Dr. Huang, time for lunch,” volunteer Xu Xue-zhi (許學智) said to me as he walked to my station. We all had had a very early breakfast, so I was really hungry now that he had reminded me. I looked around and saw that the waiting lines were moving more slowly now. Apparently, some medical workers had taken off for their lunch break. Though the sun was bright and hot, the waiting crowd did not complain. “Zi-ning, are you hungry?” I asked my partner. “Not too bad,” she answered. “Would it be okay with you if we worked some more, until those who are on lunch break return, before we go eat?” I asked her. “Okay with me,” Zi-ning said. “Let me join you then,” volunteer Xu said. “Show me what I can do to help and then we’ll have lunch together.” “Wonderful! Let’s do it!” I said. The day quickly drew to a close. At 3:30, support volunteers began to remind medical workers to wrap things up. It was about time to call it a day. As the minutes ticked away, more dental stations around me became empty. I began to feel anxious. “Dr. Huang, are you ready to close?” a volunteer asked me. “May I see three more patients?” I pleaded. “Okay, but you have to make it quick. Our shuttle bus leaves at four,” the volunteer replied. I hurried to see more patients. If they missed this opportunity to see a dentist, there was no telling when they would be able to see one next. I had heard earlier today that a patient had left his home at six in the morning and walked eight miles to the clinic to be operated on in the surgery department. It took him five hours to get here. I wondered whether there were similar patients at the dental clinic. The thought made me want to see one more patient, and then one more…and then one more. Zi-ning and I ended up serving 48 patients that day. In three days, the dental clinic served 886 patients. This clinical service was possible only with the hard work of many people. We were good at different things. Divided, none of us could have pulled it off; but united, we provided medical service to people who badly needed it.
What did I get out of it? I began to realize on the flight back to Taiwan that my back was aching and my eyes were bloodshot. The symptoms might have started during the free clinic, but I had been too focused on what I was doing to notice. As the owner of a private dental practice, I must attend to many administrative and medical duties. As busy as I am, why on earth did I spend my own money, use my own time, take a long, redeye flight, and then take a four-hour bus ride only to work three overloaded days at the free clinic? As I pondered the answer, a story jumped out at me. Once there was a man who had worked hard all through his life, but it was a life cut short by overwork. In his afterlife, he asked the Buddha, “I worked hard all my life. What can I claim as my own?” “I’m sorry,” the Buddha replied, “but your money belongs to the bank, your body belongs to dust, and your mind belongs to time.” The man began to cry hearing this. “You mean I have nothing at all to show for my busy life?” The Buddha smiled and said, “You do. Every moment you lived was completely yours.” I once read something to this effect: “Embrace with gratitude the gift of each day, and make the most of every moment by filling it with purpose and appreciation.” That is indeed sound advice. All of our moments combined is our life story—that is something no one can take away. Working at the free clinic may seem to be doing others a favor, but as the saying goes: It’s impossible for you to give somebody a flower without its fragrance lingering on yourself. Likewise, when you light a lamp to shine a path for someone, your path forward is also lit. After I had thought this through, my mind began to settle down on the airplane. Despite the noise around me, despite my aching back and sore eyes, I immediately drifted off to sleep, feeling fulfilled and peaceful inside. |
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