20131012 大愛遍灑膚苦難Relieving Suffering with Great Love
In Zhejiang, China, floodwaters are slowly receding. Our volunteers have started to help. Yesterday, volunteers from seven locations: Shanghai, Wenzhou, Haining, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing, and Suzhou gathered together and arrived at the most severe disaster area for an assessment.
This time, the local government is not able to spare any personnel to accompany our volunteers into the disaster zone. This is understandable as they are already overstretched in dealing with the situation at hand.
At this point, we pretty much know that besides local residents, there are non-local workers from other provinces who are really in need of help. These workers came from other provinces to work and the places they live tend to be more rudimentary or at lower levels in buildings so they most likely sustained heavier damages.
Although we really would like to help them now, we also have to work with the local government so they can guide us and provide us with a list of families or areas in urgent need. Then, we’ll be able to send our volunteers to do relief work.
However, I also heard that even though our volunteers can’t obtain a list of families and areas in urgent need, they had heartwarming interactions with disaster survivors wherever they went.
In fact, when local authorities saw what our volunteers did, they also felt that these disaster survivors who’ve suffered from flooding for so many days really need such warm tender care and encouragement. The local leaders also said that they can see that our volunteers give of themselves with sincerity and tender loving care.
We also saw our Zulu volunteers from South Africa. This large group of bodhisattvas not only do a good job with Tzu Chi’s work in South Africa. They also go to neighboring countries to spread the spirit of love and goodness and inspire people to become rich in heart so that they have the power to help the people in their own community.
So our volunteers have been going to Mozambique and Swaziland to start Tzu Chi’s work there. We should know that it’s no easy thing for our South African volunteers to go to Swaziland. Since March of last year, they’ve made 22 trips to Swaziland.
In the beginning, they were met with many challenges and difficulties. When they first entered the local community, they were not welcomed. Indeed, gaining people’s trust is no easy thing.
Since last year, they have distributed aid and have been going to Swaziland many times. Such was their perseverance and love. Since they were travelling to another country, they needed to have a visa to enter Swaziland. Having crossed the border so many times, the customs officers came to know that these volunteers from South Africa were going to Swaziland to do charity work.
So, they had no problems passing the customs. Now, there is a new customs officer. Back in July, seeing how our volunteers cross the border so frequently, this customs officer confiscated their passports to investigate why they were entering Swaziland so frequently. At that time, one of our local volunteers learned about their dilemma and sought help from the Philani Maswati Charity organization.
This incident was reported to the wife of the chairman of this organization. This wife then told her husband about our South Africa volunteers’ problem. So, with the help of the Philani Maswati Charity organization, our volunteers were able to get their passports back. Since then, our volunteers have been working with this charity organization.
Also, there is a textile company called Tex-Ray whose chairman is someone our Tzu Chi volunteer, Walter Huang, knows Mr. Huang helped us contact this chairman who asked his staff in Swaziland to help Tzu Chi and also let Tzu Chi volunteers stay overnight in their office building when our Tzu Chi volunteers from South Africa are in Swaziland.
Sometimes, when the group from South Africa is bigger, they will stay overnight at the office of Taiwan’s farming association in Swaziland. They bring sleeping bags and just sleep on the floor. I really see how carefree and at peace these South Africa volunteers are with whatever conditions they encounter. And, they are so active and dedicated.
Though their own life circumstances are hard, they still willingly give of themselves, not only serving in South Africa but even travelling to other countries. They also composed their own song which they sing when they are out doing Tzu Chi work.
It’s a new song in Zulu. Since Master can’t travel abroad, we have to take up the mission to go to other countries to spread her teachings and mission and sow Great Love in the hearts of all people in suffering.
They have this sense of mission. While walking, they sing this song while swinging to the beat. They’re so joyful and feel no hardship despite the hard work. The power of their love is truly moving.
On their latest trip to Swaziland, they’d already recruited 11 local teams composed entirely of Swazi volunteers. That is quite an accomplishment. With members of Tex-Ray and the Philani Maswati Charity organization joining the distribution, there was much more manpower and also more supplies for material aid.
In conclusion, there are now local Tzu Chi volunteers in Swaziland. The distribution they held was able to be very orderly. The locals had the skill to carry the rice sack on their heads while carrying supplies in both arms. We see that they received abundant supplies. In conclusion, this is the Bodhisattva Way: so long as we are willing to give of ourselves, we can overcome all difficulties to help people.
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