20131218長情大愛注人間 Bringing Love and Warmth to Those in Need
In Central African Republic, the months-long sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians has displaced many people. Life is truly hard for those displaced. With no end in sight for the conflict, when can they return to their homes? Feeling hopeless and helpless and struggling between life and death, can the y live to see tomorrow? See how the children there suffer from malnutrition.
They’ve suffered greatly. Seeing that, my heart truly goes out to them. Sometimes even though we see people suffering, we can’t reach them to help. Their suffering is truly unspeakable. It pains me to see people suffer.
What can we do to help them? In cases of natural disasters, we can overcome difficulties to provide aid by going to the disaster areas to give those affected love and aid and help them rebuild their homes. But manmade disasters are a different story. In places where there are conflicts and wars, it’s hard for us to extend our love to people.
Not being able to give them our love is truly heartrending. However, we also see places where we can help and have been providing aid On March 11, 2011, earthquake-induced tsunami caused serve devastation in Japan. At that time, many foreign residents left the country, but Tzu Chi volunteers went there instead to survey the disaster areas and open their arms to embrace disaster survivors.
They cooked hot meals and personally placed them in the hands of the elderly; they wrapped shawls around people and then held them in their arms to offer them comfort. They did all this so those in shock and fear could feel love in the world. Since that, Tzu Chi volunteers have gone back and forth to bring love and care to those affected, forming a close bond with them.
Every winter, before the New Year, our volunteers will also go back to hold Year-end Blessings Ceremonies to give them well-wishes, especially the elderly who live all by themselves and all the more need others to bring them love and warmth. So, the locals are all very familiar with our volunteers. It’s like how parents look forward to seeing their children return.
That’s how close they’ve with our volunteers. This was in Japan. We also see Australia. In October, New South Wales was affected by a series of wildfires, which also raged the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. So, Tzu Chi volunteers there immediately mobilized to provide aid.
However, they were told that there were enough supplies already. Learning of that, the mayor of Ipswich, a city which Tzu Chi had helped before, contacted the mayor of Blue mountains on behalf of Tzu Chi and shared with him how Tzu Chi volunteers had provided aid to Ipswich when it was hit by flooding two years ago.
So, the mayor of Blue Mountains agreed to let our volunteers hold an aid distribution and the mayor of Ipswich also said he’d go. Coincidentally, Ipswich was hit by a storm the day before the aid distribution. So, the mayor became very busy. But he thought it important to keep his word.
Besides, he had bought the plane ticket and he didn’t want to give up the chance. So, he stayed up all night, quickly coordinating relief work, organizing aid teams, etc. He put everything in order, including his interview with the media. When he arrived in Blue Mountains he was always on his three phones, handing relief work for his city as it is very urgent.
He was in close touch with his staff by phone to ensure that those affected by the storm were helped. At the distribution site, he shared: While he attended our distribution in Blue Mountains, he often called to ask about the disaster relief in his city. What a caring mayor he is. I’m sure that the people of Ipswich all respect him very much. See how he handled so many things perfectly.
He is truly very remarkable. This was in Australia. We also see the Philippines. Yesterday, the weather was very unstable, but our volunteers continued to hold an aid distribution. They even paved the wet ground with cardboard boxes for our aid recipients.
Seeing how thoughtful and respectful they were, everyone was very moved. At the aid distribution, an elderly man who has difficulty walking asking to say a few words: He was very sincere and grateful. So, our volunteer doctor from Malaysia who was helping him stand up was moved to tears.
In a word, such love in life is truly beautiful. We should love everyone, even those unrelated to us, and feel others’ suffering as our own. Such love is shared by people all around the world. See how moved our volunteers serving in the Philippines are. Although they’re very tired, they’re deeply moved.
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