| A Small Paradise in Zimbabwe | ||||||||||||||
| By Precious Dzuty With information from Ho Qi-lin and Tino Chu | ||||||||||||||
Giving will reap the greatest harvest. Rusununguko Primary School, near Harare, Zimbabwe, is now a school for our future ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers…. Master Cheng Yen says, “Blessings flow from our ability to love and be loved by others.” However, we never expected the love which God sent us from Taiwan. Love is what we have for girls and boys who are orphans or who are from single-parent families. Yes, seeing these kids roaming the streets was a bitter taste to swallow. This school of ours started in January 2000. Mrs Elina Mazhandu and Mr Sylvester Mahure-vana, filled with love, had this plan. Others also gave their views, but those two had the children at heart. They never gave up. At that time, I was still in secondary school. When Rusununguko Primary School started, there was nothing to protect the teachers and students from the sun or rain. Yes, some helpers came and promised to help. But Master Cheng Yen says, “To begin is easy, to persist difficult. Talking about truth without practicing it leads neither to enlightenment nor to realizing the Dharma.” Only one group among many persisted with the help. In 2006 they gave the school some large pieces of cloth to protect us from the sun. But they could not protect us from the wind, rain and cold.
Summer came. Rain and the bitter sun beat on the children mercilessly, but they strove to learn. They had nowhere else to go. This was the only place where they could get an education. Many schools rejected these children because they did not have birth certificates to prove their eligibility or money to pay school fees. Teachers also came and went because of the harsh conditions. They could not stay for even a term. So, when I had taken my O-level exams, I thought of my community. I came back to be a teacher at Rusununguko Primary School. It’s true it was difficult to teach in a bare place without shelter. In summertime—October, November, December and January—children suffered from severe headaches and sore eyes. These were the worst days. As the earth orbited round the sun, the winter season came. Ballpoints could not write. Children could not even hold their pens and pencils because they shivered so badly. Diseases like fever and influenza attacked both teachers and children. I remember one morning, I shivered to the extent that I was not able to write on the chalkboard. At around 10 am, after the sun had warmed me, I finally started to write. Weather was not the only problem which we faced. Dust from the ground affected us also. Books and clothes always looked untidy. Even teachers went home looking like people from the fields, not from school. The noise from passersby disturbed our school. Children could not concentrate on what the teacher said. In addition, the children and we teachers suffered discrimination from members of the community and other schools. People would bully our students on their way home, and they would call our school bad names. This discouraged the children and made them feel like outcasts. This pained us, but we could not do anything about it.
We were suffering, but God did not sit aside and watch. He sent brothers and sisters from Taiwan to rescue us. Master Cheng Yen heard our cries from afar, and she looked into the distance and saw us. Her loving heart ached for our safety. She sent members of the Tzu Chi Foundation to our aid. At first we could not believe that shelter would truly come. When Mr Tino Chu came and told us about the plans made by the Tzu Chi Foundation, we could not believe our ears. But it was true because in Tzu Chi it is said: “Make great vows to benefit all sentient beings, then carry them out in action.” Mr Chu came in October 2011 and bought us bricks to build toilets. This was the first step of a journey. Master Cheng Yen says, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one first step. Even a saint was once an ordinary human being.” The second step which the Tzu Chi Foundation took was a big one. In July 2012, brothers and sisters came from Taiwan, from America (including Brother Joe and Brother Jiren), and from South Africa (Brother Michael). When these brothers and sisters came, it was a miracle. The building started on a Sunday. On Monday when I came to school, I could not believe my eyes. I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. I felt pain and saw that I was awake and that it was really happening. I was overjoyed. I thanked Master Cheng Yen for the Great Love for our outcast community. I felt the warmth of the tears rolling down my cheeks. It was not because I was hurt, but it was because of the unexplainable joy and thankfulness filling me. In one week and a half, the new shelters were complete. I also thank parents from the community who helped the engineers from Taiwan.
In August we used the shelters for only a short period because the schools were closing. When the third term began in September, we were very happy to go back to school. Now that we have shelters, many things have changed. There are no complaints about headaches or about the sun and harsh winds which used to beat on us. The rains no longer distract us from our lessons and make us go home before break time. We can study until the proper dismissal time, because now we have a roof over our heads. Now I am proud of being a teacher at Rusununguko Primary. I even boast of being a teacher on my way home. The bad names have disappeared. Parents have transferred their children to our beautiful Rusununguko school, improved by the Tzu Chi Foundation, and we now have 1,400 students. The shelters are warm inside and have good ventilation. Master Cheng Yen says, “When we have something, let us cherish it. When we do not, let us be content.” Thank God for giving us Master Cheng Yen. Now we are cherishing what we have. Because of the improved condition of our school, the children have gained the respect of children from other schools. Teachers have gained respect from the community and from other school teachers. Those who once laughed at us now admire us. With the addition of flowers and other greenery, hey, Rusununguko is now a small paradise on earth!
God did not ignore our pleas and cries, and indeed he sent help. How fortunate we are at Rusununguko to have friends even from abroad with unlimited love. Master Cheng Yen says, “Remain soft-spoken and forgiving even when reason is on your side.” We did that even when people called us bad names. We remained focused. Now the Master of love and mercy has rewarded us with Great Love. Master Cheng Yen, although we cannot be together every day, I know and believe we are always and will always be together in spirit.
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