In January 2002, homes in Tzu Chi's first village in El Salvador were completed in the city of Sacacoyo, accommodating 340 households for 1,700 residents. One year ago, these residents suffered a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that destroyed their homes and lives. Today, these new homeowners in Tzu Chi Village One, once homeless victims of the earthquake, have refined their village into a beautiful community abounding with flowers, bushes and lawns.

Residents at the village have formed a committee under the guidance of Hou Jung-chao of the Tzu Chi El Salvador office. Hou often visits residents on weekends to discuss community event planning and problem solving.

Auxiliary facilities in the village such as schools, medical clinics, a community center, an activity center, and a soccer field were completed in August. In addition to providing large-scale free medical clinics, Tzu Chi volunteers will develop educational outreach programs pertaining to environmental sanitation and vocational skills training courses. Aphorisms from Master Cheng Yen's Still Thoughts will also be shared throughout the village at these centers.

Tzu Chi Village Two in Chanmigo will accommodate 910 families, nearly 4,000 people. Construction of the first 264 homes was completed the end of July 2002. The next 300 homes, including a clinic and community center, are estimated for completion at the end of the year. The remaining 346 homes and a community school are currently under planning.

Tzu Chi School in Chiangmai

On June 28, 2002, nearly fifty members of Tzu Chi Thailand traveled 95 miles outside of Chiangmai to Ampur Fang to visit the site of the future Tzu Chi school. Construction started last April. During their two-day visit, volunteers held free medical clinics and also brought daily necessities to the Ban Mai Nong Bua Nursing Home and the Panlung Chinese School.

The Ban Mai Nong Bua Nursing Home houses veterans of the Chinese Nationalist army. These veterans sought refuge in northern Thailand when the Peoples Republic of China took over mainland China from the Nationalist Government in 1949 (see "No Way Home," in the Summer 2000 issue).

Inside the Panlung Chinese school are only a few broken tables and chairs. Although the school's furniture is completely worn out, local Chinese students who frequent the dilapidated school until dark carry the earnest hope and desire to learn Chinese. The students attend their Chinese classes from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., after their regular Thai school. The future Tzu Chi school will give these students a new facility in which to continue their studies.

The future Tzu Chi school in Ampur Fang, occupying 47.9 acres of land, will combine both elementary and secondary divisions. It should be open to local Thai and Chinese students in May 2003. Classes will be taught in both Thai and Chinese.

Relief with magic needles

On July 6, 2002, the Tzu Chi Thailand branch held its first charity event at its new office in Bangkok. At the event, volunteers distributed subsidy money to underserved families and offered free medical examinations and haircuts. Two large tents were pitched in the office parking lot to serve as the registration center; the office bookstore became the free clinic center, and the recycling room became the barbershop. Five barbers labored from nine until noon to donate their services to twenty-one families. Other volunteers cooked lunch for everyone.

Doctors specializing in traditional Chinese medicine treated all thirty-seven patients with acupuncture. The patients, unfamiliar with this treatment, were uneasy about having long, thin needles placed beneath their skin. The volunteers tried to comfort their anxiety, informing them that the therapy would be more effective if they were relaxed. Following the procedures, many patients discovered that their limbs, previously stiff and immovable, were suddenly agile again.

A comfortable free clinic

On July 28, 2002, Tzu Chi members in Northern California hosted a free clinic in the city of Modesto. A total of 130 medical professionals, city officials and volunteers, including volunteers from the Tzu Chi US Free Clinic, arrived to help over 450 people seeking medical attention. Medical professionals donated services in traditional Chinese medicine, dentistry, ophthalmology, and pediatrics. The clinic also offered testing of blood pressure, blood sugar, hemoglobin, and cholesterol levels.

The Modesto Tzu Chi liaison office stated that the free clinic was targeted at the migrant farming community. Most of California's migrant farming population originates from Mexico, Portugal and Laos. They have trouble getting used to the language and culture and often find it hard to make ends meet. They cannot afford basic medical coverage for themselves or their families. The Tzu Chi Foundation has found people in similar situations around the world, and has operated free clinics in many countries to address this need.

Partnership between Guatemala and Tzu Chi

Major rains on June 13, 2002, in the cities of Ciudad Vieja and Antigua in Guatemala caused flooding and landslides that crushed 14 homes and damaged 24 others. On the morning of July 6, Tzu Chi Guatemala volunteers drove two hours to these disaster areas to deliver much-needed supplies to 34 families. Each individual received 10 pounds of rice, 10 pounds of black beans, 20 pounds of corn and a large blanket. That evening, three hundred guests (80 percent of them local residents) attended the first anniversary celebration of the Tzu Chi office in Guatemala's tourism bureau lobby.

The next day, volunteers held a fundraising bazaar in front of the culture center at the president's office to raise money for a community orphanage. The bazaar was held at the request of Guatemala's First Lady, Evelyn de Portillo. Nearly 30,000 people attended the bazaar.

A dream of helping others

Tzu Chi collegiate members with dental and medical skills from Brisbane, Australia, formed a medical team to provide free clinics for local farmers in remote areas of Queensland. The mission took place from July 25 to 28, 2002.

On July 25, eight members flew from Brisbane to Longreach, Queensland. Following the 2.5-hour flight, the team drove to Barcaldeine Hospital to pick up medicine and equipment for the mission. The Brisbane team then split into two smaller teams: one heading to Alpha and the other to Aramac, each town some two hundred kilometers away. Medical facilities in these two areas are very scarce, so not many doctors are willing to be stationed in these areas.

The Alpha team held their free clinics at a local hospital and elementary school. One man came for the clinic's dental services. When he came out, he told his wife, "I want to have chicken for supper!" The treatment had cured his dental problems and he no longer had concerns about eating.

In Aramac, there was an urgent need for medical care among the local farming community. Dental care takes a low priority in the lives of the farmers as they lead a demanding life, absorbed by raising crops and animals. By addressing the community's dental problems, the Tzu Chi team showed that someone still cared about them.

The Brisbane team members were physically tired from their missions, but full of delight at successfully providing medical services to patients in these outback towns. Team members, engrossed in their duties without breaks or meals, only snacked during the day and often did not eat a full meal until 11 at night.

The Brisbane collegiate members plan to carry out another free clinic in Toowoomba in December 2002 to assist the town's only dentist, who is seventy-eight years old.

Help for overseas workers in Malaysia

A lumber factory in the city of Kluang, located in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, went out of business. The company had to lay off all seventy-one employees, who were mostly from Bangladesh and Nepal. Yet the company owed these now unemployed workers seven months of back pay. A concerned neighbor gave them some change to phone a local paper about their plight in hopes that someone would be willing to help them.

On July 13, local Tzu Chi members in Kluang read about the workers and went in search of more details. The workers said that they had no money and had been depending on their neighbors for food. The electricity to their dormitory was also being cut due to the company's shutdown.

The volunteers held an emergency meeting that evening and decided to allot each individual 100 Rinngits (about US$26) and provide rice, cooking oil, sugar, biscuits, and vegetables by the following evening. The volunteers will continue to assist the workers.

Nine hundred kilograms of medicine to remote islands

Chuuk, an island about 1,000 kilometers southeast of Guam, suffered a hurricane in July, 2002, which killed 47 people and made more than a thousand people homeless. On August 21, two Tzu Chi volunteers from Hawaii, Dr. Fan Chi-jung, a kidney transplant specialist, and Wu Ching-cheng flew to Chuuk with 900 kilograms (1,984 pounds) of medicine to be distributed to residents in Chuuk and the offshore islands of Tonoas and Fefan.

On August 22, Wu and Fan, accompanied by the minister of health and another doctor, pharmacist and two nurses from the Chuuk State Hospital, took a speedboat to Tonoas to provide free medical service for two days. The hurricane had killed 20 people and destroyed 40 houses on that island.

The population of Tonoas is a fishing community of nearly 7,000 residents. On the island, there is only one car and there are no telephone lines. The island has no hospitals, and so residents have to endure the discomfort of their illnesses or travel to the Chuuk State Hospital for medical attention. However, the hospital lacks considerable amounts of equipment and medicines. Under these conditions, there is not much that one can do, except pray, if in desperate need of medical assistance.

The Tonoas free clinic treated 180 residents. Each individual received a family-sized first aid kit to take home. Most individuals came with influenza, festering wounds, and parasites. Many children, lacking proper amounts of Vitamin A in their diet, had very poor eyesight and would soon become blind if not properly treated. The Chuuk State Hospital doctor said that the residents basically lacked everything. When hungry they would simply catch fish or eat coconuts, but if they fell ill there was literally nothing they could do to cure their condition. The life expectancy of Tonoas residents is less than sixty years, mainly due to the lack of proper medical care.

The free clinic in Fefan was held on August 23. The volunteers distributed 50 first aid kits to local residents. Because the residents did not understand English, a local doctor wrote a translation of the usage of each medicine on a blackboard for patients to copy down.

Love after a typhoon

The Philippines suffered three major typhoons during the summer of 2002. Pangasinan Province received the most damage from wind and rain. In mid-July, local Tzu Chi members from Manila drove five hours to the province to assess the needs of typhoon victims. Within three days, volunteers returned to deliver rice, noodles, coffee, sugar, soap, and detergent to nearly 2,000 survivors.