20150612人間菩提 ~ 令眾得益菩薩行 Inspiring More People in Nepal to Give with Love
Looking around the world, we often see disasters caused by the imbalance of Natures’ Four Elements of earth, air, fire and water. When a volcano erupts, it means that the element of fire is in disharmony. When Nature’s elements are out of equilibrium, disasters will occur, bringing devastation to the land and suffering to people. So, we must live with vigilant care and pray with a heart of sincerity every day.
People have accumulated much unwholesome karma. As their ignorance builds up, they keep creating unwholesome karma, bringing disharmony to people’s minds and our society. If they are not properly guided, their minds will become even more imbalanced, causing Nature’s elements to become even more imbalanced as well.
We see Nepal. There is a teenager there whose shoes were buried under the rubble when his house collapsed in the quake. It’s been over 40 days since the first quake struck and he still has no shoes to wear. When he has to come out of his tent, he has to walk barefoot or borrow slippers from others. See how much the locals suffer. They’ve lost everything to the quake.
As many schools were damaged, where are children to learn? So, a local NGO has helped to construct bamboo classrooms with tarp covering on top. They said these classrooms can last three to five months. But classrooms like this are not a proper place for children to stay in. So, to let children study without worry, we’ll build sturdier temporary classrooms for them.
Although they’re temporary they’ll be strong and safe. We’ll cover the roofs with corrugated metal sheets and PU foam panels to insulate heat. And the walls will be built with fiber cement boards, which can withstand wind, rain and fire. Each classroom will be around 350 square feet and equipped with lights and fans.
I’m very grateful to the ten Tzu Chi volunteers from Malaysia for going to Nepal to show the locals how to build our temporary classrooms. Yesterday, I saw that our Tzu Chi members were invited to a workshop, which was held by Nepal’s Ministry of Education, to introduce our temporary classrooms to them. They all liked it very much.
“They’ll need years to rebuild their schools. Seeing how our temporary classrooms can last over five years they think it’ll give them enough time to rebuild their schools.” Although the classrooms we’ll build for them are only temporary, the frames are very well assembled and the classrooms can also insulate heat. At first, I was worried that corrugated metal sheets will be very loud when it rains and children won’t be able to hear their teachers.
Later, our Tzu Chi members told me that apart from the metal sheets, they’ll also use PU foam panels for thermal and noise insulation. This is how they keep improving our temporary classrooms to better serve the local children. But as Nepal lacks some building materials, we’ll need to import them from India.
As they are very expensive, the cost for building temporary classrooms in Nepal will also be higher. But the local children are worth our efforts to build these classrooms for them because they’re really very good children.
Thanks to modern technology, our doctors and Tzu Chi members serving in Nepal are able to use their cell phones to share my teachings with the locals. See how everyone gathered to listen attentively. One of our local volunteers helped to interpret what I said. He did a very good job as he has brought out the key message of my teachings.
We also see how a high school girl brought our coin bank back to her old school to solicit donations from her teachers. They did so because they’ve learned that when coins collected from people with a loving heart are pooled together, they can be used to help many people in need.
Tomorrow is Saturday, and we’ll hold a large-scale aid distribution in Nepal. Before that, Tzu Chi members had compiled a list of our aid recipients and gave out notices to them. Having received our notices, many locals beamed with smiles and were very happy. Many of them were even dressed up just to receive the notices from us. They did this to show their courtesy to us. So, there’ll be a large-scale aid distribution tomorrow.
In Nepal, we’ve also held volunteer training sessions with dozens of locals attending. As the locals volunteer with us and attend our training sessions, they’ll learn more about Tzu Chi’s values. Many of them are young people. From that, we know that Nepal is truly full of hope.
In this world, there are indeed many people suffering, and that’s why we need more living bodhisattvas to help relieve suffering in the world.
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