| A Surge of Love in Time of Need | ||||||||||
| By Zhang Jing-mei Translated by Tang Yau-yang Photos by Chen Yu-yang | ||||||||||
Donated supplies began streaming into an emergency shelter set up by the government following the gas explosions that rocked Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on July 31. Volunteers from various organizations helped make the victims’ temporary stays as comfortable and as comforting as possible.
When I was 16, I left my hometown in Zhejiang, China, to flee the Communist regime. I never anticipated that I’d be forced to take flight again 60 years later,” said Zhou Xiang-mei (周香妹), 76, as she shook her head in resignation. Her eyes were moist and her lips trembled with a wry smile. The Tzu Chi volunteers by her side listened quietly while she spoke. They were temporarily at a loss for words to comfort her. The first escape Zhou was talking about was made in the midst of on-going battles between the Chinese Communist and Nationalist forces. The recent escape, on the other hand, was precipitated by a chain of explosions around midnight on July 31, caused by an underground gas leak. The shaking of the ground had frightened Zhou so much that her limbs went limp. But she was immediately roused to action when she heard her neighbors shouting, “Run! Run fast!” Zhou held her husband, Shen A-si (沈阿四), 84, by the arm as they staggered together out the door. Raising her head, she saw that flames from the explosions had turned the night sky a crimson red. The scene looked eerily similar to the one from which she had fled 60 years ago. The couple and their neighbors sought refuge in a park. Heavy rain began to fall. Both of Shen’s legs, which had just recovered from cellulitis, began to swell again. A few hours later, the government placed them and others at Guanghua Junior High School. Only thin sleeping bags shielded them from the hard floor, which made falling asleep that much harder for the frightened flock. At noon that day, the group was moved to Chung-Cheng Industrial High School, which took in nearly 300 people. Their eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep, they walked listlessly into the school only to find to their surprise that two rows of Tzu Chi volunteers were already standing near the front gate welcoming them. After the survivors had finished signing in at the service desk set up by the government Social Affairs Bureau, Tzu Chi volunteers ushered them into one of the 20 classrooms that had been meticulously cleaned and furnished with neatly arranged sleeping mats and sleeping bags, courtesy of the Red Cross. Recycling bins and garbage cans stood outside each classroom. The bathrooms, though somewhat old, were always kept clean, dry, and stocked by Tzu Chi volunteers.
Along with the other evacuees, Zhou and Shen were escorted to their temporary home by Tzu Chi volunteers. Shen’s swollen legs were giving him a hard time, so with a frown on his face he began rubbing them. Volunteer Huang Guan-zhong (黃冠中) fetched a rolled-up sleeping bag and put it under Shen’s feet to make him more comfortable. Shen gazed at the volunteer for quite a while, then he turned to his wife and said, “These Tzu Chi folks are nicer than our own family.” She felt like crying. Zhou had a heart condition, and it did not take much of a noise to wake her in the middle of the night. She needed rest, so Huang told her, “As soon as the Tzu Chi folding beds come in, I will set one up for you so you can sleep better.” She would not need to sleep on the hard floor this time.
Donations and beds Whistles outside directed the multitudes of people arriving at the school in their cars or motorcycles, bringing in supplies to the victims taking shelter at the school. A motorcyclist brought several large boxes of bottled water; another person arrived in a car full of biscuits and instant noodles. A small boy, weighed down with a dozen cans of tomato juice in his arms, went to the service desk, followed by his younger brother. The boy told a government worker there who was responsible for logging in donated goods that he wanted to donate the juice: “I think they must be very tired and need vitamin C. Mom told me that tomatoes had lots of vitamin C.” The boy’s kind-hearted gesture moved the government worker to tears. Holding his two-year-old daughter in one arm, Yang Shu-wei (楊書偉) waited patiently in the hot sun for his turn to donate. He had learned from the Internet that the disaster area was in need of daily supplies, so he brought 40 packs of tissue paper and wet wipes. Looking at his daughter, he said, “If my baby were a victim, I’d like to see her get help. People who are more fortunate should of course help the afflicted.” “Here come the folding beds from Tzu Chi!” someone shouted for all to hear. In just a few seconds, volunteers from various charities formed two relay lines to move the beds into the building. The volunteers in the lines were a motley crew: marines in camouflage fatigues, college students in shorts, high school boy scouts, Christian volunteers in yellow vests, and a tall foreigner. They quickly relayed the mobile plastic beds into the 20 classrooms where Tzu Chi volunteers in twos and threes quickly set them up. A total of 289 beds were made ready for use. The beds could be set up very easily. There was nothing to attach or assemble, and no tools whatsoever were required. All that was required was to open the folded bed and to gently press down on a few pressure points until the components of the bed snapped into place. Someone asked, “Is the bed sturdy enough? Can I really lie on it?” A volunteer answered, “Go ahead and try it. The bed won a Red Dot Award [a prestigious design award] in Germany.” With that, people began trying the beds out by sitting or lying on them. When they were sure that the beds were safe, they set to work putting mats on them. Couples linked their two beds together, while some families put four beds side by side so the four people in the family could sleep together. Soon the place looked more comfortable. People sitting on their beds began talking to each other more freely. They had rarely talked the night before when they had to sleep on the floor. Some shared their horror stories from the night of the explosions. Occasionally laughter found its way into the conversation. It seemed that they just might sleep better that night.
Individual attention Ke Qing-an (柯清安) lay alone in a bed, a walking stick leaning against it. A stroke had weakened the old man’s right side, but he lived alone so he was accustomed to doing things for himself. Now lying in the relative comfort of the portable bed, he felt a strong desire for someone to look after him and care for him. “I don’t feel very well,” he said to volunteer Sun Tai-ying (孫台英). It was the first time that he had spoken in the shelter. Sun notified the medical station that members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association (TIMA) had set up on site. Soon Dr. Wang Qing-feng (王慶楓), pharmacist Cai Qing-yuan (蔡清源), and nurse Guo Mei-shan (郭美善) showed up at his bedside.
Wang leaned in close to the old man so he could hear him better and make sense of his halting, jumbled words. Then the doctor pressed on an acupressure point to relieve the soreness and pain in the man’s right arm. “Does it feel better?” Wang asked. Ke did not reply, too surprised by the realization that he could now raise his right arm and bend his right fingers much more easily—two feats that he had been unable to pull off since the stroke. The school was the largest shelter in the aftermath of the gas explosions, and many non-governmental groups had rushed in to offer services. Compared to the people hustling and bustling outside, some of the evacuees in the classrooms looked spiritless and forlorn. To cheer them up, Tzu Chi volunteers summoned Cai Xiu-ying (蔡秀英), a hairdresser and also a Tzu Chi volunteer herself, to the school. Cai hurried over with her barbering and manicuring gear to serve people who needed service. Lu Yong-rui (盧永瑞), 75, was the first to come to Cai. She cut his hair and trimmed his fingernails and toenails. His wife, Xu Yong-zhu (許永珠), asked Cai to also shave her husband’s face, which was covered with stubble. After the careful makeover, Lu looked completely refreshed and rejuvenated, his old dispiritedness gone without a trace. He cheerfully strolled over to the mirror for a good look at himself and was pleased with what he saw. Previously, he had suffered from insomnia and hypertension, but those conditions had also improved thanks to prescriptions from a TIMA physician. Shortly after, the couple’s son came into the classroom to take them home. The son could not keep his tears from rolling down when he saw his parents so cheerful and well groomed. He was very grateful to the volunteers for taking such good care of his parents. Cai’s next customer, Ke Qing-an, staggered up to her with the help of his walking stick and asked her for a haircut and a shave. He specifically asked for a crew cut. When Cai was done, volunteers discovered how handsome Ke was. He was delighted when they told him so. He told them about the night of the explosions. Though he did so haltingly, it was nice to hear him talk—up to that moment he had been largely quiet in the shelter. He told the volunteers that at first he thought it was a massive earthquake. When he heard a neighbor yell, “Run quickly,” he pushed his wheelchair to the door of his home and gave the door a big shove. Through the open door, he saw fires blazing. His neighbors caught sight of him, put him in his wheelchair, and pushed him to a park. But about an hour later, it began to rain heavily, forcing him to return to his home. His home was still in danger, but under the circumstances it was the best he could manage. When he was placed in the shelter, he intended to just ignore everybody. He had always lived alone and was something of a loner. He only opened up after he sensed the Tzu Chi volunteers’ sincere care. Later, he even told the volunteers who had been caring for him, “I’ll go home once the electricity is restored. Be sure to come visit me when you guys have time.”
Hot meals Hot rice porridge prepared by Tzu Chi volunteers seemed to relax the temporary residents at the school, and they opened up, talking about what they had experienced in the terrible disaster. Xu Chen Ying-jiao (許陳英嬌) never ate much, but at the shelter she finished two whole bowls of hot rice porridge one morning. She said, “It’s so good to have hot porridge.” Her good appetite really surprised and cheered her son, Xu Hui-qiang (許惠強). He went on to share his story about the explosions. “The walls in our house were all darkened by the smoke from the explosions and fires. The walls were still hot a day later.”
Outside the school, a woman came to the Tzu Chi service station and said to the volunteers there, “We aren’t residents of this shelter, but we wonder if we could also…” She seemed embarrassed to finish what she wanted to say. Eventually the volunteers found out that the woman, Lin Yue-ying (林月英), was there on behalf of her neighbors to ask for boxed meals from Tzu Chi. Those people lived in a building behind the school. They could not cook because the natural gas lines had been shut off. Eateries in the neighborhood were also all closed, so they could not easily buy food to eat. In addition, they wanted to eat vegetarian meals to pray for blessings for the disaster victims. When they found out that Tzu Chi was giving out vegetarian meals, they had Lin represent them to ask for assistance. In response to her story, volunteers began to deliver boxed meals to them, 42 at each lunch and dinner. Lin and a few of her neighbors were always waiting for them on the first floor of their building to receive the meals and distribute them to the residents. “The meals are delicious, and the portions are just right,” they told the volunteers. Once as volunteers were about to leave after a delivery, a man shouted out to them, “Thank you, Tzu Chi people. Thank you for responding to our calls for help.”
Ready or not By August 3, water and electricity had been partially restored to the affected areas. That ought to have been welcome news, but the high school seemed to be filled with uneasiness instead. The shelter was scheduled to close that day, and those who could not return home yet would have to be transferred to Puxian Temple or the Labor Education Center. The news prompted Tzu Chi volunteers to say goodbye to the people with whom they had spent much time in the previous few days. One of them, Zhou Xiang-mei, held the hand of a volunteer and cried. “Actually, going home scares me because I feel lonely there,” Zhou said. “I was planning on staying here a couple more days. With you people around, I feel better. Though I’ve been picky about where I sleep because I can’t fall asleep in an unfamiliar bed, I’ve had no problem with your folding bed—I can go to sleep very quickly. But now I have to leave….” Her house was not totally ready yet: Unstable water and power supply and a lingering strong odor from the explosions had made it uncomfortable to live in. But unwilling to go to another shelter, she chose to go home. In the final hours at the school, people, some in tears, chatted with their acquaintances. Much work and many uncertainties awaited them at home. Ke Qing-an knew that his home still did not have water and power, but he chose to go home anyway. He got on his electric scooter, but he did not turn it on, not until he saw the volunteers who had been caring for him the last couple of days. The air was thick with the sadness of departure. A volunteer put several bottles of water and packs of tissue paper on his vehicle and asked him to take good care of himself. They also promised him they would visit him. With that, he went home. The darkness of the night descended on the classrooms that had been temporary quarters for those victims. Volunteers folded the beds and got them ready to be shipped back to the local Tzu Chi office. After that, the original students’ desks and chairs were put back in the classrooms, ready for the students to return. From August 1 to 3, Tzu Chi volunteers put in more than 4,000 person-times at the school to help those taking shelter there. Many more volunteers from around Taiwan followed up with the tasks of caring for the victims and helping return their lives to normal. |
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