As the construction progressed from the first wall to three hundred houses and four classrooms, and from looking for a piece of land to erecting two hundred large tents, the temperatures in Turkey dropped from fifteen or sixteen degrees Celsius (59–61 F) to below zero (-32 F) during our 120-day stay. However, our spirits soared as the construction project took shape. When the foundation's Turkey liaison office was inaugurated, we all knew that the love of Tzu Chi has been gradually taking root in Turkey.

After more than two months of continuous work and just before the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, on January 8, three hundred Tzu Chi "Great Love" prefabricated houses, two hundred large insulated tents, and four temporary elementary school classrooms built for Turkish earthquake survivors were finally completed. Donation ceremonies and distributions of daily living necessities to five hundred households were held on January 13 and 14.

The Great Love houses in Goluck were designed with consideration for the local weather, Turkish customs and available space, and are situated at easily accessible locations. Each house contains a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchenette, and is equipped with an electric heater, bedding, curtains and a hot water heater. Therefore, instead of moving into prefabricated houses provided by the government, many quake survivors chose to wait for the completion of the Tzu Chi houses and tents, resulting in a shortage of supply.

The construction of the Great Love houses in Goluck and the setting up of the Great Love tents in Duzce were carried out with no help from the elements--rain, snow, windstorms, and even another major earthquake on November 12 hampered the work. However, there was plenty of help from volunteer workers and from both charity and business organizations. Tzu Chi member Hsieh Ching-kui, who had been stationed in Turkey since August 19, put it best: "The love and blessings of countless people are amassed at this construction site. Every iron bar welded and every rope tightened is the accomplishment of hands that bear frostbite or cuts, but that are the most beautiful in the world."

In this issue, we present to our readers excerpts from journals kept by three Tzu Chi members from Taiwan who were there from beginning to end.

September 23, 1999
Two nations mourn

We arrived in Turkey last night. We left only a few days ago, but nothing was the same anymore. Our plane flew across the placid sea, and a brightly lit thousand-year-old castle could be seen through the night skies. But in the quietude of the night, our hearts were disquieted at the thought of our fellow countrymen trapped under the rubble and of survivors who had lost loved ones to the September 21 earthquake in Taiwan. We could only take solace in turning our concern for our compatriots to our friends in this foreign land.

We went to the Pasiad Foundation this morning to talk to the IPT construction company about the construction of Great Love prefabricated houses for Turkish earthquake victims. The president of IPT, Sadettin Dagli, first expressed his condolences for the Taiwanese earthquake victims. He also thanked us for returning to help the Turkish refugees despite the disaster our homeland had suffered. He hoped he would be able to do something for Taiwanese victims in the future.

September 27, 1999
Searching for land in Goluck

At the refugee camp in front of the Goluck government office, crowds of people waited in lines to apply for all sorts of documents. In this small town of 77,000 people, consisting mostly of veterans and families, as many as six thousand people had died, ten thousand had been injured and about eighty per cent of the houses had been damaged in the earthquake. Almost the entire town needed to be rebuilt.

A government worker, Fikri Sen, learned that we were trying to locate land to construct houses for refugees. He immediately told us that he might be able to provide us a piece of land that he had lent to the government. Over fifty years old himself, he had lost two sons to the earthquake and his residence in a five-story building had become too dangerous to live in, so he was forced to stay in a tent. Looking at his thinning hair and aged visage, we were at the same time sorry for the death of his sons and grateful that he was generous enough to lend us the land.

November 13, 1999
Another strong quake

We felt the quake in Goluck yesterday, but never imagined the heavy toll it took in Bolu.

Bolu is a famous vacation spot 280 kilometers east of Istanbul. Taiwanese tourists in Istanbul always spend a night there before going back home. Bolu had not been much affected by the massive earthquake of August 17, but this time it was less fortunate.

At present, the death toll is 290. Most of the deaths are attributable to fallen buildings, some to quake-induced fires. The highway connecting Ankara, the national capital, and Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, was made impassable by the quake, but transportation was restored within twenty-four hours.

When Aladdin, our head engineer in Goluck, heard about the latest disaster, he immediately delivered generators and dispatched a team of workers to Bolu. In the evening, we were informed that the same team had already rescued five people.

We decided to hand out five thousand blankets in the city of Duzce, the hardest-hit city in Bolu, in order to keep the refugees warm as they slept out in the open at three degrees Celsius (37 F).

December 6, 1999
A thoughtful arrangement

In order to help the refugees in Duzce get through the winter, we have been searching for over two weeks for a suitable campsite to erect tents. We first found a piece of land in a beautiful park with a soccer field nearby. The grass grew green and the land was surrounded by large trees that were protected by the government.

However, the government suddenly announced today that the nearly 1,500 tents donated by the military, the UN, Greece, Tzu Chi, and the Red Crescent Association should be collectively planned and managed, and that an expansive piece of land had been selected as the new campsite.

The land had been leveled and some public utilities, such as water, electricity and sewage, had been comprehensively planned. Compared to the previous land that had not yet been leveled, the new lot was an arrangement that showed more thoughtfulness and made one feel more secure.

December 8, 1999
Ramadan

Tonight is a special night for Moslems around the world because tomorrow they enter Ramadan, the month of fasting.

Ramadan falls in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. Fasting begins each day at dawn and ends immediately at sunset. Every day during this month, Moslems eat and drink a lot of water before dawn, after which they refrain from eating and drinking until the sun sets completely. The purpose of fasting is for Moslems to understand destitution and poverty and to remind themselves to assist the poor whenever they can.

Local Chinese told us that during the month of fasting, people all become languid and move about as little as they can. We couldn't help worrying whether this would affect the construction schedule.

December 13, 1999
A brick for a piece of jade

There was a shortage of manpower at the refugee camp in Duzce, so two days ago Hu Kuang-chung, a Taiwanese businessman in Turkey, brought his family and four Chinese students to help set up the tents. More than ten district directors of the Pasiad Foundation and some teachers also drove from Istanbul to pitch in.

The Chinese students went back to school in Istanbul today. Only Sun Chien-wei, a graduate student from mainland China, stayed behind because he had only his thesis to complete. Besides translating for us, he also did whatever there was to do at the campsite.

There were still not enough workers to go around, so Hu drove around calling for local villagers to volunteer. After a few days, he successfully enlisted the help of people from all walks of life, including company owners, civil servants, students, laborers, teachers and military officers.

The Pasiad Foundation raised more than US$20,000 to furnish the Great Love houses. After some persuasive lobbying, the foundation was able to purchase three hundred electric heaters and water heaters and forty mattresses at bargain prices. Three hundred curtains were bought with the leftover US$2,000.

Hu jokingly remarked that this illustrated the Chinese proverb, "Toss out a brick and draw out pieces of jade," which means to stimulate work or effort of superior quality by coming up first with one's own work or effort.

December 18, 1999
Turkish college students

The construction site bustled with youthful energy and vitality this morning. Hu brought with him forty-five Turkish students from Istanbul to participate in the construction. After simple delegation of responsibilities, they immediately began to install doors and windows and lay down floors.

I had grown accustomed to the sound of the five daily prayers, but today the two prayers in the early and late afternoon took on a special meaning. The students congregated and, under the guidance of the imam (the person who leads prayer services), started praying and sincerely prostrating themselves, facing east. The atmosphere of the construction site became solemn and serene, invoking an inner tranquillity that, despite the noises of machines in operation, blended effortlessly with the sounds of the earth.

January 7, 2000
Keys to their new homes

From January 8 to 10, the Moslems celebrate the Fast-Breaking festival and Turkish New Year. To help the refugees settle down as early as possible and to give them a great New Year present, we decided to give refugees the keys of the Great Love houses that have already been completed.

Today, thirty-six families came to pick up their keys. One grandmother came with her son, her daughter-in-law and her two grandchildren to look at their new house. She embraced us and thanked us repeatedly through joyful tears. "I have lived to be so old and never have I encountered such a terrible disaster before. We have been living in a tent for four months now. The washroom is a long walk away and there are nights when it is so cold I dare not leave the tent. It is so inconvenient." Crying and laughing at the same time, the grandmother added, "But now we have this nice house to live in, and we won't have to worry about the cold nights anymore."

January 13, 2000
White roses

Last night, twenty-five Tzu Chi members arrived from Taiwan in the bitter, freezing cold.

This morning, everywhere in the streets of Goluck we could see signs and banners welcoming residents to attend the donation ceremony for the Great Love houses. The Chinese students there told us that it was incredible, because one ordinarily saw such pageantry only on the national day. They had not expected the Turkish government to make such considerate arrangements for Tzu Chi's donation ceremony.

Bathed in sunlight, we arrived at our first stop, Tersane Elementary School. "In appreciation, we will use 'Taiwan' and 'Tzu Chi' to name the four new classrooms," said Ms. Nehir, the acting principal. "The earthquake took the lives of more than forty teachers and students, including our principal, and badly damaged the school buildings. When we requested help, Tzu Chi promptly agreed to build four classrooms for us."

Then we went to the Tzu Chi Great Love village in east Goluck. Strung along the main street downtown was a large banner, on which was a quotation from Master Cheng Yen's Still Thoughts: "Volunteers work as hard as they can to help refugees, and at the same time they are grateful to the refugees for allowing them to help."

In this Great Love village, there are three hundred houses and public facilities such as a guard room, a playground and a small park. The alleys were filled with people enjoying the festive spirit of a carnival. Tzu Chi members led the refugees in singing in chorus, creating a lively, friendly atmosphere that was refreshingly new to the Turkish residents.

One of the residents of the village held a poster, on which written in Turkish was "Many thanks to Taiwan," and to which were attached the national flags of both Turkey and the Republic of China.

Stephen Huang, director of the Tzu Chi Department of Religious Affairs, spoke on behalf of the foundation and recounted why and how Tzu Chi came to help in the relief efforts. He also sincerely prayed to Allah to protect the people of Turkey and Taiwan from earthquakes and to grant them peace and good health. An old woman sitting next to me started weeping softly as others present gave him thunderous applause.

Just then, a woman emerged with a pot of white roses and said that they were for Master Cheng Yen. She said she had been trapped in a collapsed house for over three hours after the quake. When she opened her eyes again, she was surrounded by complete darkness and couldn't see a thing. In the midst of her despair, she suddenly saw through a crevice the pot of white roses she now held in her hands, and it gave her hope and courage. She wanted to give the roses to the Master, because the Great Love houses built by Tzu Chi have, like the roses, given her new hope and the courage to face the future.

January 15, 2000
Bringing new hope

We invited the students and companies that had helped us, altogether around sixty people, to attend the inauguration of the Tzu Chi Turkey liaison office.

Hu Kuang-chung, the Taiwanese businessman who had assisted us from beginning to end, decided to set up a Tzu Chi liaison office in Istanbul. The office is the foundation's 109th overseas site. It will carry out long-term charity work in cooperation with local residents. Right now, the priority of the Turkey liaison office will be to continue assisting local earthquake survivors.

Hu also shared his thoughts on the past four months. He wanted to thank Allah for giving him strength and pride and the opportunity to help others. Hu is a devoted Moslem, but he is willing to head the Turkey liaison office of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. This shows his broad-mindedness and the power of great love to surpass all.

When we were leaving Turkey, all the friends we had made there saw us off at the airport. They pinned a rose to each one of us, a token of their appreciation for the refreshing spirit and hope of new life that we brought to Turkey.