| Tzu Chi Events Around the World | ||||||||
Bosnia Heavy rainstorms hit the Balkans in May and caused severe flooding in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia. Tzu Chi volunteers from Germany traveled to Croatia and Bosnia in June and July to assess the damage. Because winter was approaching, Tzu Chi volunteers in Europe, despite their small number, decided to work together and hold an aid distribution in October for flood victims in the Bosnian towns of Srebrenik and Šamac. Volunteers from Germany, Britain, France, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Malaysia and Taiwan gathered at the Tzu Chi liaison office in Munich on October 16 to prepare for the distribution. Items to be distributed included cash vouchers, blankets, pamphlets about Tzu Chi written in the Bosnian language, and copies of Jing Si Aphorisms by Master Cheng Yen. Fifty volunteers left Munich on a bus early in the morning of the 17th, destined for the distribution site in Srebrenik. Twelve hours later, at 5:30 p.m., after a journey of more than 800 kilometers (497 miles) through Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, they finally arrived.
The distribution took place on the following day, October 18. The municipal government of Šamac had arranged for two buses to take recipients from that town to the venue in Srebrenik. Police were on hand to maintain order. Many young people and social workers also volunteered to help. Many flood victims took time to read Jing Si Aphorisms and information about Tzu Chi while waiting for the event to start. The event began with volunteers leading the crowd in singing the English version of “Love and Care,” a popular Tzu Chi song. Then President Živko Budimir of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed his gratitude to Tzu Chi. He thanked the volunteers who had traveled from different parts of the world to help the flood victims. The president urged his countrymen to follow the example of Tzu Chi, whose volunteers always give help without regard to race, skin color, or religion, to help create a peaceful and harmonious society. He said he looked forward to working with the foundation in the future. Alessandro Milic, an Italian, had previously participated in Tzu Chi events in Italy. When he heard about the planned distribution in Bosnia, he and his son, both Bosnian speakers, signed up to volunteer. Many people in the crowd were visibly moved when Milic read Master Cheng Yen’s letter to the gathering. Jelena Vidakovic, a Bosnian studying at a university in Germany, said that she was touched to see Tzu Chi volunteers helping her people with respect and love. She said she hoped to visit Master Cheng Yen one day. Flood victims responded with broad smiles and words of gratitude when volunteers handed over the relief goods. A thousand blankets and 332 cash vouchers were distributed on this day, benefiting 332 families, or 1,170 people. Families of one or two persons, three or four persons, or five or more persons received a cash voucher worth 300, 500, or 700 Euros (US$373, 622, 870) respectively. Taiwan Tzu Chi held a joint ground-breaking ceremony at Kong Cheng Junior High School on October 27, 2014. The foundation will rebuild some buildings at five schools in Pingdong County, southern Taiwan: 50 classrooms at Kong Cheng Junior High School, one dormitory building and 25 classrooms at Gao Tai Junior High School, 28 classrooms at Nei Pu Junior High School, 21 classrooms and one martial arts stadium at Li Kang Junior High School, and 15 dorm rooms at Fang Liao High School. The total cost will be 800 million NT dollars (US$26 million).
County Magistrate Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) told the audience during the ceremony that he had informed Master Cheng Yen at the end of last year that five schools in the county were very old and badly needed repair or reconstruction. The county government had estimated that it would need around 500 million NT dollars (US$16 million) for the required work, but the Ministry of Education could only appropriate 160 million NT dollars (US$5 million) a year for the improvement of old school buildings in Pingdong. At that rate, the improvement of the five schools would take several years to complete. Master Cheng Yen asked a team of experts to inspect the schools. Based on their findings, Tzu Chi quickly set the reconstruction process in motion. Lin Pi-yu (林碧玉), a vice president of the Tzu Chi Foundation, said that the first time she went to Kong Cheng Junior High School, she was shocked to see rebar sticking out from one building and swaying in the air. It indicated how old and dangerous the building was. Old buildings like this should be upgraded at once to ensure the safety of the students. Huang Chi-teng (黃子騰), from the Ministry of Education, was also present at the ceremony. He said that with its limited budget, the central government couldn’t meet the need to repair or reconstruct old buildings in more than 3,400 schools all over Taiwan. He extended gratitude to Tzu Chi for its help on behalf of the Ministry of Education. The reconstruction is slated to be completed by the end of 2015.
Malaysia Tzu Chi Melaka held its annual scholarship presentation ceremony at its office on November 2. Of the 993 students selected to receive scholarships this year, 902 were present and accompanied by their parents, principals, or teachers. The ceremony was conducted in two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, to accommodate the nearly 2,000 attendees.
Primary school scholarship recipients received 250 ringgits (US$74), those in secondary schools received RM300 (US$89), and high school seniors and students in pre-university education were awarded RM500 (US$150) each. Each recipient also received a Jing Si bookstore coupon worth RM50 (US$14). Fifth grader Yu Jin Xin (余錦信) was very glad when he learned that he had won a scholarship this year. His worst subject had been English, with grades hovering around the passing mark. To improve, he started spending one to two hours every evening studying English, and he never hesitated to ask his teacher for help when he needed it. His positive attitude spilled over to his sister, and they often studied together. His hard work paid off: His English grades improved, as did his class ranking. He was awarded a scholarship for his progress. Zhang Ke Xin (張可欣), a third–time recipient of the Tzu Chi scholarship, is also a fifth grader. Like Yu Jin Xin, she received a scholarship in the “Academic Progress” category this year. She said that she would donate part of her scholarship to Tzu Chi and part of it to her school to build an auditorium, and then she would use the rest to buy books for her studies. She also received a coin bank from Tzu Chi because she wanted to save her spare change to help needy people. Liu Shu Fen (劉淑芬), a teacher at SMK Nyalas, had driven two students and their parents to the venue. One of the students, Sathiasilan a/l Ramesh, came with his mother, Santhy a/p Thooraisamy. He won a scholarship in the “Morality” category. He thanked Ms. Liu for recommending him for the scholarship, and Tzu Chi for granting it to him. He promised that he would study harder to get better grades. His mother said with tears in her eyes that her son was a very good child. She said that when she was out working, he always looked after his younger siblings and helped them with their homework. She indicated that she would use the scholarship to buy school supplies and pay tuition fees. Liu Rong Xi (劉榮禧), a school inspector from the Melaka Education Department, also attended the ceremony. He observed that the Tzu Chi scholarship program was different from others in that it did not consider ethnicity in the selection process. As evidence, 47 percent of the recipients this year were Indians, 44 percent Chinese, 8 percent Malays, and 1 percent other races. The main benchmark was apparently whether a student was in need of help, not ethnicity. Tzu Chi volunteers hoped that the scholarships and the love of Tzu Chi would be an encouragement to the students, and that when they grew up they would give back to society.
Canada On October 17, Tzu Chi volunteers participated in a tree-planting event held by the city government of Coquitlam, British Columbia. It was the fifth year volunteers have taken part in such an event.
Despite the windy, rainy weather that morning, You De-kun (尤德坤) led a group of 29 fellow volunteers to attend the activity. Jagoda Kozikowska, a city employee, greeted the volunteers and thanked Tzu Chi for its participation year after year. Kozikowska demonstrated how to plant trees. She taught the volunteers to gently tap a sapling to loosen the soil around the roots before they placed the sapling into a hole in the soil. The hole had to be the right size, and the dirt all around the hole had to be loosened to make it easier for the roots to spread. Every step had to be done with care and attention. Volunteer Xu Shui-sheng (徐水生) said that this was the first time that he had taken part in an event like this. He wouldn’t say the event was fun because it was really hard work to dig into soil that was very hard and full of rocks. However, he did think that the event was very meaningful and fulfilling, since the trees he planted on this day could become part of a forest in the future. The area where the event was held was originally a small hill. However, a housing development project nearby had caused extensive excavation, and a marsh had developed as a result. Due to lack of care, the environment had become dirty and many wild animals had disappeared. Volunteer Lin Jian-cheng (林建成) said that he was happy to plant trees to help improve the habitat around the marsh and make it more friendly to wildlife. The event began at 10 in the morning and ended at 2:45 in the afternoon, with a short break for lunch. Volunteers planted a total of 715 saplings and expressed hope that the saplings would grow into big trees to help the environment. s |
|
