| Tzu Chi Events Around the World | ||||||||||||
Thailand It often floods during the rainy season in Thailand, and this year was no exception. Torrential rains throughout September brought floods to 47 provinces, impacting more than three million people. The Bang Pakong River in Prachin Buri Province, about a hundred miles northeast of Bangkok, overflowed its banks. A typhoon in late September only exacerbated the situation. Floodwater flowed through Prachin Buri, resulting in more severe damage than in years past. Aid was rushed in, but it took time to reach remote areas, including Ban Tham in Si Maha Phot district, where 500 families were affected. Starting on September 27, 2013, Tzu Chi volunteers shopped, cooked, and prepared box meals for the victims. They provided two hot meals for the villagers each day. The volunteers operated a kitchen at a local temple, Wat Prathum Boocha, to cook the food. Satapong Suopa, an old villager, showed up at the kitchen early one morning. “Two days ago I heard that some kind-hearted people had come here to cook for our own people, but they were shorthanded,” she said. “So, I started coming yesterday to help.” Close to 20 women were working in the kitchen then. One of them, Jangling Tawuloong, said: “Tzu Chi volunteers came here from different places to help us, so it’s only fitting that we contribute our bit of strength. Seeing kind people showing care for us victims makes me warm inside. I’m more than happy to join their ranks.” Volunteers delivered hot food to fixed locations in various villages. Villagers could also visit the temple for food. Many people did this, as evidenced by the long line there. “We’ve been eating Tzu Chi food for three days,” villager Nila BoonNa said. “We’re out of food at home, and we’re really grateful to the volunteers for coming here to help.” Her home was in chest-high water, and the seven people in her family had rowed a boat to the food kitchen. As of mid-October, 22 provinces were still flooded. By October 21, Tzu Chi volunteers had given out 17,155 boxed meals.
Myanmar In late October, heavy rains pounded Taungoo in the Bago Region, causing the area to suffer the worst floods in 30 years. After inspecting the situation in the disaster area, Tzu Chi volunteers from Yangon decided to offer help in three remote and badly hit villages in Taungoo: Ba Dae, Doe Im, and Kyun Thar Yar. The volunteers left Yangon the evening of November 3, covered 240 kilometers (150 miles) in four hours of night driving, and arrived in Taungoo at 1:00 a.m. the next morning. At the crack of dawn, they set out for the disaster area. At one point, the floodwater was too deep for the cars to drive through, so the volunteers had to get out and wade across. When they reached a river, they took a boat the rest of the way to their destination. The floods had destroyed or submerged most crops and houses, so many people not only lost their livelihood but were also forced to shelter in schools or temples on higher ground. A village head informed the volunteers that soldiers had distributed hot food, but that villagers now needed daily necessities the most, including clothes, rice, and medicine. Volunteers promised that they would help them out. The volunteers went back to their hotel to purchase the needed supplies, which turned out to be rather difficult as the volunteers were not familiar with the area. Luckily, many local people came forward to help. The hotel owner helped purchase rice, the owner of the rice shop put the rice into smaller bags for distribution, and teachers and students helped pack other supplies. Very quickly, items including rice, soybeans, cooking oil, blankets, soap, and mosquito nets were ready to be taken to the riverside. Soldiers loaded the goods onto boats to be transported to the disaster area. On November 7, the supplies were handed out to delighted villagers. A total of 1,001 families benefited from the distribution. One villager said that she was so happy to get the goods she forgot that she was hungry.
Taiwan The Tzu Chi Foundation held a ceremony on November 2 at its Tainan branch office in southern Taiwan, where scholarships were awarded to 155 disadvantaged children. Yang Pei-yu (楊培妤), 13 years old and in the eighth grade, was one of the recipients. Her parents divorced when she was young. She now lives with her father, who suffers from a spinal injury. She has practiced weightlifting since elementary school. She plans to use the sport as her ticket to a brighter future. She has been injured many times, but persists in training. She knows that her hard work will pay off one day. Her diligence has already paid dividends this year. She won a silver medal in the 44-kilogram (97-pound) category at a national competition. Despite her young age, she is determined to win a slot on the national team someday so she can compete on behalf of the nation. She wants to win prizes for her father and for Taiwan. You Guan-ren (游冠任) and his younger brother, Guan-jun (冠鈞), also received scholarships. A few years ago, their father, a police officer, suddenly lost consciousness and passed away. Their mother couldn’t come to terms with the loss, and she started drinking excessively. Eventually she developed liver cirrhosis. Although Guan-ren and Guan-jun wanted to donate their livers to save their mother, they were not good matches. Fortunately they found a compatible donor, and the mother had a successful liver transplant in June this year. While she recuperated, the boys took turns staying in the hospital and looking after her. With help from Tzu Chi, their lives have gradually returned to normal. The Tzu Chi Foundation provides financial aid to disadvantaged students so they can attend school without financial worries, and to encourage them to study hard in school. Twenty-four award ceremonies will be held across Taiwan this year for 5,800 recipients.
The Dominican Republic Tzu Chi volunteers held a distribution of uniforms and school supplies at La Romana Tzu Chi School in Villa Hermosa, La Romana Province, on November 1. On behalf of the Taiwanese government, Ambassador Hou Ping-fu (侯平福) donated US$5,000 to help defray the cost of the distribution. He commended Tzu Chi volunteers for their selfless spirit of Great Love during the distribution ceremony. Rolesa Jimenez is in the sixth grade. Her mother had visited a Tzu Chi free clinic a few years before for her breast cancer, and the family subsequently began receiving care from Tzu Chi. Unfortunately, the mother later succumbed to the disease. Rolesa received a uniform and school supplies at the November 1 distribution, and the volunteers took the opportunity to visit her home to see how her father and other family members were doing. Dilesyi Cannon Pagol, an eighth grader, didn’t go to school this day because she was very ill. Tzu Chi volunteers and her teacher visited her at home and gave her a uniform and school supplies. They also wished her a speedy recovery so she could return to school soon. Marilyn Garcia, a 27-year-old mother of three, said that her family had just moved here because of her job. She was delighted today because two of her children, a kindergartener and a first grader, had received items such as school bags, notebooks, pencils, and pencil sharpeners. She said she had hoped to enroll her oldest child, a fifth grader, in the school too, but the school didn’t have space for him. She sincerely hoped that the situation could be remedied soon, because the other schools didn’t have the same support for students as this one did.The fifth-grade or younger students received uniforms and school supplies including notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners and erasers. Children in higher grades also received long rulers, compasses and pens. Twenty-five Tzu Chi volunteers worked the day’s distribution, which benefitted 1,288 students.
Indonesia On June 22, a magnitude 5.4 earthquake damaged more than 100 houses in Kabupaten Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat Province, Indonesia. Many organizations had visited the disaster areas after the quake and promised aid, but they then left and were never seen again. It was therefore no surprise that when Tzu Chi volunteers arrived and offered to help rebuild, nobody believed them. It wasn’t until the volunteers began delivering construction materials that the villagers began to take them seriously. After assessing the damage, Tzu Chi volunteers decided to help rebuild 23 houses in Montong and six in Kalipucak. Two construction workers were hired for each house. The house of Dewi Riwanti and her husband, Suryansyah, had been so severely damaged that only one kitchen wall and one grass hut remained standing. The family was forced to live in a tent provided by the government. Dewi and Suryansyah are both farm helpers, so they earn only enough to put food on the table for themselves and their children. They had not dared to dream of building a new home for themselves—not until the volunteers came along. A handover ceremony for the completed houses was held on November 8. Local government officials thanked Tzu Chi volunteers for easing the earthquake victims’ burdens by building houses for them.
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