20150313 水多用‧分割手術Cherishing Water and Caring for Conjoined Twins from the Philippines
Taiwan is now short of water. As we are anticipating rain, we should also use water cautiously and moderately and not be wasteful. We often see how Tzu Chi volunteers reuse water for many purposes. Some collect water for rinsing rice to clean vegetables, etc. before reusing to mop the floor. After they mop the floor, the dirty water can still be used to flush the toilet. This is how they save water.
Should we use a lot or a little water? A little Why? Because we have to protect Mother Earth. What mustn’t you do when washing dishes?
Play with water. If we waste water, Mother Earth will fall ill. When washing hands, we should collect the water with a bucket so we won’t waste any water. See how the children at our kindergartens in Malaysia are taught to cherish water and guided to experience how inconvenient it is when there’s no water to use. The children were paired up to fetch water and carry a bucket of water together. Some kept saying, “It hurts”.
By now, they’d learned that carrying water hurt their shoulders. Then, the teachers asked them: “We use a lot of water a day. Do we need to use water sparingly?” “Yes” replied the children. How did they save water? They reused water for several purposes. Of course, before the teachers could do this, they had to inform the parents about it so they would understand that this was to teach their children to save water.
I must be careful. That’s right.
Don’t spill the water again. There is no water to be wasted. How do you use water so it can last you until you go home? If we use too much, the water will run out. Did you use a lot of water just now? No, only moderately. We also see that a drought in southern Madagascar has caused over 200,000 people there to suffer from hunger because all the crops there have been destroyed by the drought. I’m truly very worried for them.
For things that occur in the world, we should reflect upon them deeply. After we were born to this world, will we grow up safe and well? Not necessarily. Look at how the people in Madagascar were born there and now suffer from drought and starvation. There are also people born to poor families---Take for example this pair of conjoined twins from a poor family in the Philippines. The twins are second-born in the family. Since they were born, they’ve been conjoined at the bottom and shared a liver.
About 12 years ago, a pair of conjoined twins also from the Philippines came to our hospital in Hualien for surgery. They were the first conjoined twins we helped separated at our hospital. When they were recovering at our hospital and after they returned home, Tzu Chi volunteers were there to care for them. Now they are 13 years old. See how beautiful they are.
The second conjoined twins coming to our hospital were also from Philippines. Before the surgery, it took us several months to help them grow extra skin to be used to cover their wounds after surgery. We also gave them enough nutrition to help them gain more weight. It was a big undertaking and the separation surgery went very well.
They live in the mountains in the Philippines. After they returned home, our volunteers went to visit them. The twins had learned to walk and have now started kindergarten. When they came to our hospital, they were just five months old, but now they are in kindergarten. The third conjoined twins have come to our hospital for over two months now. They’ve now grown extra skin and gained over three kilograms. Yesterday, they were brought to the Abode. They are truly adorable.
They gained over three kilograms? You’ve grown bigger. May you be safe and well. My best wished to you. The twins have very different personalities. One is very active and keeps kicking. Seeing that, I truly feel that they are very desperate to be freed from each other soon. They are not free now. But after the operation, they’ll become two independent individuals. They are very adorable. One of them gives anything she gets to her mother. Whatever we gave her, she handed it to her mother.
Before leaving, they were brought to me again and they kept pointing at a Buddha statue on a side table and wanted to touch it. How adorable they are. They seemed very interested in the Buddha statue. They’re truly a pair of lovely twin sisters. After the operation, may they be as safe and healthy as the other two conjoined twins we’d helped. Let us give them our best wishes. They’re scheduled to have a surgery today. A 30-member medical team will perform the separation surgery for them.
Indeed, not everyone was born to this world in healthy conditions and enjoys a smooth life. Take the twins for example. They’ve been conjoined or over a year. What suffering it is. See how one of our doctors mindfully designed a special stroller for them. And worrying that their newly grown skin on their bellies would be scraped, they made a splint for them to wear as a protection. This is how our doctors care for them. For a long period of time, so many people have given much love and care to all conjoined twins.
Yesterday, two more volunteers from the Philippines arrived in Taiwan. Altogether three volunteers from the Philippines are here to look after the conjoined twins from this poor family. With so many people giving with love, our world is truly filled with much hope and light.
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