Grandpa Hsieh and his wife have lived a total of 160 years. When they were young, they always shared their rice with the poor after each harvest. Now that they are old, they can no longer till the land to grow rice. They can only tie up bundles of green onions and sell them at NT$35 [about US$1.10] a bunch. However, they have a great hope...

Although Hsieh Hsin-yuan, 81, and his wife, Ling-hua, almost 80, have lots of descendants, most of their children make their living in places far away from home. Only the old folks still live in their traditional country house.

Green onions

A few days ago, I decided to go visit the old couple along with two of our volunteer cameramen, Ruan and Wu. I thought that since Ruan had visited them once before, it would be easy for us to find the way. However, we got lost.

It took us a long time, wandering right and left and asking directions from people we met on the way. Finally we saw the sign pointing to Hsishihtan.

From far off, we could see Mrs. Hsieh waiting for us by their front door. Wearing a bamboo hat and the clothes of an ordinary farming woman, she looked quite robust with her straight back and agile gait. She looked much younger than her eighty years. Not until she took off her hat to greet us did we see her gray hair and the wrinkles on her face.

Mrs. Hsieh guided us to the place where they used to work. Along the way we could smell the odor of pickles. The whole village is known for its pickles. After five or six minutes, we came upon Hsieh Hsin-yuan sitting on a stool under a big tree, busy bundling green onions.

"I'm afraid to rest, because once I rest I feel useless," said Hsieh, raising his head while continuing to work.

"It must be cool working in the shade of this tree," remarked Brother Ruan. "How old is it?"

"Nearly a hundred years," said the old woman.

"Not that old," added Hsieh. "I can still remember when it was planted. Now I'm only 81. It's not that old."

The old man seemed to have a special affection for the tree, which has been growing along with him. The tree meant as much to him as the whole village. He loved his hometown so much. It was no wonder that he wanted to donate a van to help country folks get to the hospital for medical care.

Cheap labor

"I often go to Peikang to see a doctor. I know the hospital there has four or five vehicles that pick up patients at each of their villages and drive them home after they see the doctor. It's a great help for patients living in remote villages. However, their vehicles don't come to this area." Hsieh pointed to the old women picking green onions. "These women don't know how to drive a car or ride a motorcycle. They're afraid to bother their neighbors to ask for a ride. And it's too expensive for them to take a taxi."

"You look very healthy. What kind of problem do you have?"

"A bone spur. It's a chronic problem. We often sit too long while bundling green onions. But if I don't do this, I get bored easily."

"How many bunches can you do each day and how much per bunch can you earn?"

"NT$35 [about US$1.10] a bunch. This morning I haven't even done four bunches."

"This way you can earn only about NT$300 a day."

Their monthly income is less than US$330. It is hard to imagine they can still save money for charity after deducting their living expenses. How frugal they must be!

"Our children subsidize our living expenses. Five or six years ago, we listened to a tape of a lecture by Master Cheng Yen. She told the story of thirty housewives each saving fifty cents from their grocery money every day to help the poor. We only recently found out that Tzu Chi has a hospital in Hualien..."

Hsieh narrated all the things he knew about Tzu Chi, which he had heard here and there. With the accumulation of impressions bit by bit, he has an indescribably good impression of Tzu Chi.

Commemorative plaques in the old house

"We rode the motorcycle to the Dalin Hospital twice and saw people there working very hard. They didn't even rest at lunchtime. I'm just a farmer. I don't know how to describe it. My intuition told me they were doing good deeds."

The two visits to the hospital reaffirmed their decision to donate their money to buy a van.

"Didn't you think of keeping some money for yourselves?"

"Someone asked us why we donated the money to Tzu Chi and didn't spend it on traveling instead," said the old man. He thinks that the landscape is the same everywhere. However beautiful it may be, he cannot take it home. He might as well spend the money on something more meaningful.

According to Hsieh, they used to grow rice on 1.5 acres of land. At the end of the year, they would set aside two or three bags of rice to help the poor. Now they are too old to till the land. They lease most of their land to another farmer and only keep a small part, just enough to feed themselves. They are no longer able to give rice to the poor.

Before we left, they cordially invited us to have some tea in their house. Inside and outside the house was very old, but hung on the mottled wall were many commemorative plaques inscribed "Model Father" or "Model Mother," etc.

Mrs. Hsieh pointed to an enlarged photo on one of the plaques. "The two children in the picture are our great-grandsons," she said with pleasure. "They are the oldest ones. Altogether we have twenty great-grandchildren."

Asked how many children they have, the old woman said, "Six--four sons and two daughters. They live all over Taiwan."

Unselfish but altruistic, this old couple want to do something for their hometown. Although they are illiterate and old, they have pure, simple minds, kind hearts, and a great desire to help the needy. They are truly marvelous!

Epilogue

The old couple finally found out that the price of a van was about NT$800,000, twice as much as they had donated. Frustrated, they did not know what to do to make their dream come true. Staff members in the Social Service Division of the Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital heard their story and decided to take action to help. They kicked off a fund-raising campaign among the hospital staff. Amazingly, after one month they had enough to purchase two vans for the patients.