Free clinic in the Philippines

On January 18, Chinese General Hospital deputy superintendent Dr. Leh, who is also a Tzu Chi commissioner, led a medical team of 381 people to Dagupan City in Pangasinan and held a free clinic. The three-day clinic treated 5,283 local people.

On the second evening of the free clinic, several Tzu Chi members and local Chinese businesspeople visited patients in the East Avenue Medical Center. While chatting with a patient, they heard a cry from the boy in the next bed. The three-year-old was in need of a special, expensive formula, because his digestive system was unable to function properly. However, his family was too poor to afford the formula, so the boy was getting weaker every day.

Sister Lin Hsiao-cheng, head of the Philippine branch office, informed the hospital that Tzu Chi was willing to shoulder the medical expenses for the boy. The accompanying Chinese businesspeople, touched by Sister Lin's kindness, also agreed to pay for the boy's tuition fees until he finished his secondary school education. Noticing that his mother was also very slim, they decided to support her and the whole family too.

With so many poor patients coming to each free clinic, the Tzu Chi Philippine branch decided to set up a free clinic center in Manila, which will specialize in ophthalmology and dentistry.



Looking for her father


At the same free clinic, a fifteen-year-old girl named Christine Wang sat quietly in one corner, holding a photograph of her father. She had come to have two tumors removed from her left chest, but she had also come because she had heard that there were volunteers from Taiwan. She hoped they could help her find her father.

Christine's mother had died several years previously and her father had been working in Taiwan for many years. She and her two brothers depended on the money sent by their father and assistance from their aunt. But for the past two years, their father had been contacting them less and less, and then Christine suddenly discovered she had two tumors on her left chest.

At the free clinic site, Tzu Chi Brother Hung Chih-cheng phoned the number written on the photograph. "Excuse me, we are calling from the Tzu Chi Philippine free clinic. Does a Mr. Wang live or work there?"

Many pairs of eyes were locked on Brother Hung. Suddenly he smiled: "Good news!" There were cheers, and tears rolled down Christine's face.

Christine's father had left his first job, but the manager was kind enough to provide Wang's home phone number. However, he was out at work, so Christine wasn't able to talk to him. A Tzu Chi TV crew filmed Christine, so that she could express how much she missed her father.

On January 21, Tzu Chi volunteers returned to Taiwan and went straight to Wang's home, where they played Christine's video for him. Watching his own daughter in the video expressing her grief, Wang burst into tears. The volunteers phoned Christine in the Philippines and father and daughter were able to talk to each other at last.



Coming back again


The day before the Philippine free clinic was held, several Tzu Chi members went to the East Avenue Medical Center to visit patients, including fifteen-year-old Marianne.

This was the second Christmas she had spent in the hospital. On Christmas Eve 1999, she was cooking in her kitchen when a neighbor accidentally shot some firecrackers into her home and set off a huge fire. Marianne was able to escape from the burning house, but as soon as she discovered that her friend was still inside, she ran back to rescue her. Unfortunately her friend was killed in the fire, and Marianne was knocked down by a burning beam which caused burns to fifty percent of her body. Unable to afford the expensive medical treatments, Marianne's mother finally turned to Tzu Chi for help.

When volunteers reached the ward door, they smelled a foul odor. The odor came from Marianne's rotting wounds, which had not been treated since the accident. The Tzu Chi Philippine branch decided to cover her medical bills, so she could receive the necessary treatment immediately.



Real compassion during disaster


At the end of last year, Tzu Chi dispatched a team of volunteers to visit schools that the foundation had promised to rebuild in Xuanzhou City and Langxi County, Anhui Province, China. The classrooms in the old schools had no lights and the desks and chairs were all broken. The volunteers got along well with the students and teachers, and before they left many children asked for their signatures.

The team also distributed flour, comforters, coats and family first-aid kits to more than 30,000 people in Henan Province. After traveling such a long way, the team members realized that these refugees were extremely tough in fighting against the incredible forces of nature.



Tzu Chi volunteers help homicide victim


Chang Chih-chun, a Taiwanese student studying in Georgia, USA, was killed while phoning his family in Taiwan from a public phone booth on January 15. Local police still do not have any concrete evidence concerning the homicide.

Chang was a graduate student at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. He was studying computer arts and would have received his degree this year. He and five other friends were renting an off-campus apartment and didn't have a phone installed. Sometime after 10 pm on January 15, he drove to a nearby public phone booth to call home, but in the middle of his conversation with his father, the murderer approached and shot him.

Police said that Chang was shot at close range. He was taken to hospital at once, but died at 6:30 the following morning.

Chang's parents, two brothers and one sister-in-law flew to Atlanta. For a total of six days, Tzu Chi volunteers drove the grieving family to the school, the police station, their hotel, the morgue, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Atlanta. They also helped them to prepare for his funeral.

The funeral was held on January 21, and the school principal, Chang's classmates, several local Chinese and a church choir attended. They remembered Chang as a quiet, industrious person who loved to help others. On January 23, the family members brought Chang's ashes back to Taiwan. Tzu Chi volunteers accompanied them all the way.



Assistance to Indonesian flood victims


In February 2001, Serang County in west Java, Indonesia, was ravaged by the worst floods in twenty years. The floods covered 46 towns, killed 88 people, and damaged 5,100 homes. Because the water had not yet receded, more and more people were in urgent need of food.

From February 8 to 13, the Tzu Chi Indonesia branch office provided survivors with 10,963 boxed meals, mineral water, instant noodles, cookies and comforters, as well as free medical examinations. The free clinic treated 430 people.

After the floods receded, Tzu Chi members went back to the disaster areas and saw many dilapidated homes surrounded by mud. Tzu Chi will continue providing necessary assistance to survivors until they can stand on their own feet again.



A Gold Plate


Last October, Sister Chen Shu-li was in a taxi on her way to Hsinchu, in northern Taiwan. She was going to the United States to host a fund-raising bazaar for Tzu Chi's Project Hope, a project to rebuild schools damaged in the earthquake of September 21, 1999. In the taxi, she used her cell phone to call friends in the States to ask them to attend the bazaar.

Overhearing her conversation, taxi driver Wu Wei-che took out a small gold plate and told her that his son would soon be born, but due to the bad economy this was all he could afford to give him. However, he wanted Sister Chen to take it to the bazaar for Project Hope.

Therefore, the gold plate went with Sister Chen to the United States. After hearing Sister Chen tell the audience of Wu's kindness, Brother Kao Kuo-feng bought the plate for US$1,000 but then returned it to Sister Chen and asked her to take it back to Wu. Later on, backstage, another kind person who had heard the story also donated US$1,000.

When the bazaar was over, Sister Chen phoned Wu from the States and informed him that she would bring the plate back to him. Wu told her there was no need, but Sister Chen insisted on returning the plate, as well as everyone's blessings, to Wu and his son.

On the last day of the century, the Wus were busy preparing for the arrival of their son, Wu Chiu-yi. On January 3, Sister Chen and some Tzu Chi volunteers went to the hospital to visit them and the baby and to return the gold plate. Wu said to Sister Chen, "I never expected this little gold plate could help collect so much money, and that it would afterwards be returned to my son."

Sister Chen replied that a person like Wu had to work hard to buy this gold plate. However, he was kind enough to donate it to help others and she was touched by his kindness.

Sister Chen was thrilled at seeing the baby, who weighed more than 3.6 kilograms [7.9 lbs].



Grandma Weng's new home


Grandma Weng, 104 years old, is a long-term care recipient of the Tzu Chi Thailand branch office. Because her home had not been repaired in a long time, the boards had all become rotten and cracked and the house was being eaten away by termites. Grandma Weng didn't want to move, so local Tzu Chi members decided to build a new home for her on the same spot.

Construction began on December 20 last year, and one of Grandma Weng's neighbors agreed to take her in while the construction was underway. The landlord also agreed to pay for some of the construction costs.

With the help of many Tzu Chi volunteers, Grandma Weng's new home was completed by the evening of December 23.