20150804用愛鋪路‧戒慎防颱Paving a Path of Love in Haiti and Nepal
This school is important to us. Without it, kids could only sit there all day and never get an education. With education, they’ll be able to learn new things. That’s the only way for them to grow and develop. This is a beautiful school and it will change the community and its people. After the quake, our kids could only study in a church. Now, we feel so happy and proud that, they can study at the new school.
孩子們：感謝上帝、感謝慈濟、感謝女童軍協會，下次見。
The kindergarten we helped rebuild in Haiti has been inaugurated. For this construction project, Tzu Chi volunteers in the U.S. had worked for years t overcome many obstacles. Undaunted by the difficulties they encountered, they patiently communicated with parties involved in the project time and again. Now, the kindergarten has been rebuilt and inaugurated. All this is made possible through time.
See how children from the kindergarten showed their gratitude to Tzu Chi. Indeed, when Tzu Chi volunteers go to other countries to serve, they’ll always share with people the origin of Tzu Chi. So, I’m very grateful to Tzu Chi volunteers worldwide for giving their money and effort to help Haiti, as well as to our U.S. volunteers for going to Haiti again and again to help rebuild this kindergarten and then giving all the credit to Taiwan, the birthplace of Tzu Chi. For that, I’m really very grateful.
We also see Nepal. Yesterday, Tzu Chi members serving in Nepal shared with me via videoconferencing the large-scale free clinic they held in a tent area on Aug. 1. At first, they expected that over 1,000 people would come for the medical attention they needed. Many local doctors also came to help.
But it was raining that day. When everyone was going to the tent area early that morning, it was raining already. Despite the rain, the local doctors and nurses, Dr. Horng, our volunteer doctor from Taiwan, and other Tzu Chi volunteers from Malaysia still went to the clinic site as scheduled on time.
A group of our volunteers quickly set up a tent at the site of the free clinic. They also paved bricks on the path and placed bamboo poles that were tied together on top of the bricks for people to walk on. So, while some were setting up the tent, others worked to pave a path on the muddy ground so it’d be easier to walk for those who came to our free clinic. This is literally paving a path with love.
Over the last few decades, I’ve often said how we should pave a path with love. We even have a song called “Pave a Path with Love.” Now, I’ve seen how everyone has put it into practice. It’s not rhetorical. Tzu Chi members have really paved a path in Nepal. They’ve not only brought the Buddha’s teachings back to Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, but also paved a path with love there.
Our documenting volunteers from Taiwan also shared with our local volunteers how to record and report the event, and several of our young local volunteers were very interested. Apart from documenting the event, our local volunteers were divided into five groups in charge of different tasks. They’ve truly lived out the Buddha’s teachings in action.
On this land devastated by a major quake, Tzu Chi members have paved a path there, inspiring love in many locals. When people’s love is inspired, they’ll have greater strength to serve others. Apart from our medical volunteers, our volunteers in change of miscellaneous work and those in our construction team, as well as our documenting volunteers and members from our teachers’ assn., etc. were all there to serve this time.
The images of Nepal are truly very touching to see. Our Tzu Chi members also encouraged the locals to save spare change in coin banks to help others. Back in the Buddha’s time, the Buddha also encouraged an impoverished woman to give. Likewise, apart from sharing the Buddha’s teachings with the locals, Tzu Chi members also inspired them, some of whom were poor and ill, to give whatever they could as a way to sow blessings for themselves.
With blessings come peace and safety. Over the last few months, the locals have learned that all the aid they received was made possible with the little donations that Tzu Chi has collected from many people. So, they were inspired to give as well. This is really very touching to see. We also see disasters in many parts of the world. In Syria, wildfires are threatening thousands of acres of farmland. In China, heavy rain has triggered mudslides in Shaanxi Province. This could be the result of poor soil and water conservation.
In life, if we indulge in comfort and pleasure, there’ll be consequences for us to bear later. If it weren’t for people who keep felling trees and excavating mountains to overly acquire resources from our land, and if it weren’t for people who lead an extravagant lifestyle, not so much of our resources would have been depleted. With more people pursing a comfortable life, more of the Earth’s resources will be depleted causing more harm to our environment.
Then, when it rains, mudslides will be triggered to cause disasters. This is because when trees are felled, the soil cannot be conserved. This is truly very sad to see. We need to be on high alert and pray sincerely now as a super typhoon is approaching Taiwan. Please be on guard and take all necessary precautions. Let us pray sincerely for there to be no disasters.
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