Dragon boat race on the Angke River

November 4 was a special day in Kapuk Murua Village, Indonesia. Flags of the Tzu Chi Foundation flew over crowds of around 6,000 people on both sides of the Kali Angke River. A dragon boat race was being held on that once smelly, black river.

The city of Jakarta suffered a huge flood in January 2002. Millions of people were affected by the flood and thousands of people became homeless. Tzu Chi chose to provide assistance to a poor village, Kapuk Murua, north of Jakarta, by providing free medical clinics and new homes, and cleaning up the Kali Angke River, which runs next to the village.

The river used to be filthy and smelly. After the floods had receded, the villagers, the military and local Tzu Chi volunteers carried out several huge cleanup campaigns. In late September 2002, the Jakarta government sent out five excavators and dug out all kinds of garbage from the river and the riverbanks. Although the river was still black, one could no longer see mounds of garbage on the river, and the river has been flowing more smoothly.

Six dragon boats dashed out from the starting line at the stroke of a gong. Although the river water was still black, the racers on the dragon boats no longer had to fear any garbage in the water. They simply held the oars tight and concentrated on their paddling, hoping that their boats could reach the finish line before all the others.

Dr. Sutiyoso, Governor of Jakarta, remarked in a speech before the race that the January floods had made him realize the river had various serious problems. But with help from Tzu Chi volunteers, Kali Angke River was flowing again. The government would do its best to clean up the river, so they could hold dragon boat races on the river every year. One day every person in the world would respect Indonesians and every Indonesian would be able to live with dignity.

Stephen Huang from Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan observed that 16 rivers in Jakarta were in need of cleanup. Tzu Chi hoped that by first cleaning up the Kali Angke, the dirtiest of the rivers, local residents would be motivated to clean up all the rivers in the city. When the rivers were cleaned and beautiful again, the residents could enjoy the scenery by the rivers.

Tzu Chi Great Love Houses in Indonesia

Tzu Chi Cengkarang Village, north of Jakarta, Indonesia, occupies 5.1 hectares of land. The village consists of 55 five-story buildings, including 1,100 family units. The Indonesian government provided the land, only two kilometers away from Kapuk Murua Village, the residents' former homes. All the construction costs were raised by Tzu Chi Indonesian volunteers.

The first phase of construction, consisting of 17 buildings with 340 units, started on July 8 and will be completed in April 2003. The second phase consists of three buildings with 60 units; the construction company is currently working on the second floor. The third phase consists of 35 buildings or 700 units, and the first floor is already under construction.

The pillars of these buildings are much thicker and larger than those in other buildings in Indonesia because Tzu Chi wants these buildings to be earthquake-proof. Also, the walls use special bricks that are lighter but strong enough to reduce burden on the foundation. Fireproof ceilings were imported from Germany to protect the residents from fire.

Liu Su-mei, CEO of the Tzu Chi Indonesia branch, remarked that Tzu Chi volunteers constantly go to the construction site to check if everything, right down to the installation of electric wires, meets the required standards, so that these buildings will be comfortable and safe for the residents once they move in.

Great Love village completed in India

On January 26, 2001, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the northwestern region of India, killing more than 20,000 people. In April 2001, Tzu Chi members went to investigate the situation in Gujarat Province with help from CARE, a charity organization that has been working in India for fifty years. After the evaluation, Tzu Chi provided money to help build 227 houses in Kotda for earthquake survivors who did not receive any government subsidies. CARE and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) were in charge of carrying out the construction work.

All the houses were completed in May 2002. Each house is about 285 square feet in area and has two bedrooms and a kitchen.

FICCI indicated that these Tzu Chi houses were 30 times stronger than regular houses in India. The Gujarat provincial government even guarantees the quality of each house for ten years. If there is anything wrong in a house or if it does not meet earthquake or typhoon standards, the government will fix the problem free of charge.

Tzu Chi volunteers Liu Chi-yu and Yeh Yen-hsing and staff member Wang Yun-ching went to visit these villagers on October 23 and 24. When they reached the village, close to 200 elegantly dressed residents welcomed them at the village entrance. They even held a "diika" ceremony in which a young girl picked up few grains of rice painted in red and used them to mark a red dot between the eyebrows of each Tzu Chi visitor. Through translation, the volunteers learned that the ceremony and the elegant dresses were only used when important people came to the village. The red rice showed that some blessed event was happening in the village.

Tzu Chi members were led to unveil a stone plaque which had been erected to commemorate the construction of 227 houses by Tzu Chi and CARE for earthquake survivors.

Liu Chi-yu told the villagers that during the construction period, Malaysian and Singaporean Tzu Chi volunteers had held all kinds of fundraising activities day and night, wherever they could, to solicit money for the construction. He was glad to see the smiles on villagers' faces when he came to their new homes.

Caption: Vasuben and his family move into their new home. After the suffering caused by the horrible earthquake, the survivors really love their new houses.

A "diika" ceremony expresses the gratitude of the villagers to visiting Tzu Chi members. Gujarat Province suffered a major earthquake in early 2001, and the Tzu Chi houses were finished last May.

Extension of love

On October 5 and 6, Tzu Chi members in Miami, Florida, set up booths in a Taiwanese food and culture fair to sell books published by Tzu Chi's Still Thoughts Publications and to hold blood tests for prospective bone marrow donors.

This was the second blood test drive in Miami. About 25 percent more people came than expected. Many people came on the first day to have their blood tested, and many even brought family members or friends on the second day.

Building the future of education

The first annual conference for American Tzu Chi humanities schools was held at the Tzu Chi Los Angeles headquarters from October 18 to 20. Participants included principals and volunteers from the Tzu Chi humanities schools and volunteers from 28 Tzu Chi offices around the country. A total of 118 people gathered to draw up the future of the Tzu Chi humanities schools in the United States.

The conference included seminars on topics such as classroom management, teaching methods and plans, the teaching of Still Thoughts, and Project Hope in Taiwan. Two volunteers, Tzu Chih and Tzu Miao, shared their experiences in classroom management. They observed that in some schools there were Chinese students who didn't understand Chinese, or students who were not Chinese, so it was important for instructors to find ways of using both Chinese and English in the classroom. Sometimes teachers had to apply both Chinese and American culture so that students who didn’t speak Chinese could understand the lessons.

Caption: Students race at a sports event at the Tzu Chi School in New Jersey on October 12, 2002. Volunteers, teachers and parents help to build Tzu Chi humanities schools into cradles of love.

New hope

On October 13, the Tzu Chi liaison office in Guatemala held the groundbreaking ceremony for the new San Augustin community nursery. With the temperature at more than 30 degrees Celsius (86 F) on that day, volunteers handed out to each child a bottle of juice and some candy. Many children couldn't hide their enthusiasm at receiving these gifts. Some children looked so adorable that several female Tzu Chi volunteers couldn't help kissing them on the cheeks. The Tzu Chi members all wished the best for these children. Among the guests of honor at the groundbreaking were Huang Lung-yuan, Taiwan's ambassador to Guatemala, the premier of El Progreso province, and the mayor of San Augustin. The nursery was completed in one month.

To help build the nursery, the Tzu Chi liaison office held a fundraising campaign in July so that foundation members could repay their communities.

Honduran president visits Tzu Chi

Honduran President Ricardo Maduro and First Lady Aguas Ocana came to visit Taiwan in late October. During their stay, they visited Tzu Chi headquarters on October 22 to express their gratitude for Tzu Chi's assistance to Honduras after Hurricane Mitch swept through Central America several years ago.

This was the fifth visit by President Maduro to Taiwan. He said that he was touched by the compassion of the Taiwanese people who helped Honduras survive through a difficult time.

President Maduro remarked that he felt like he was coming to the founding place of public service. The accomplishments of Tzu Chi people around the world were an inspiration to public servants like himself to serve the public with the utmost sincerity.

Volunteers transformed into waiters

The Singapore branch held a fundraising dinner on October 12 and a fundraising buffet on October 13 to help raise money for needy families and the construction of a new branch office. Around 100 volunteers were there to act as waiters, waitresses and cooks. In all, they raised $14,000 (US$7,907).

Many volunteers arrived well before the meals started to help get everything ready. Some set up tables, some spread tablecloths, some placed vases of flowers on the tables, and some started cooking. One by one, delicious meals were brought out from the kitchen to the tables. The volunteers served at the tables, cleaned up after the meals, threw out the leftovers, brought the dishes back to the kitchen and washed them. The meals were over by 8 p.m., and with help from all the volunteers the site was clean again in a very short time.　

The wonderful world inside a dictionary

Second and third grade students at Gulf Elementary School in Los Angeles, California, received a wonderful gift of new dictionaries from local Tzu Chi members in August 2002.

In the past, the school had only ten dictionaries, all of which were more than 20 years old. The school had applied for funds to purchase new dictionaries, but the budget shortfall prevented the school from completing its dream. On August 28, Tzu Chi volunteers came to the school and presented 200 new dictionaries.

The students were delighted to receive the new dictionaries. One Tzu Chi volunteer asked them to find the meaning of the word, "volunteer," and asked the student who found it to read its definition out loud. The volunteers also encouraged students to become volunteers in their own homes. One young student asked volunteer Lu Chen where she came from. When they found the word "Taiwan," they asked her how long it would take her to fly from Taiwan to the United States. When they found out that the flight would take her around 13 hours, some even asked her if she was very tired and wanted to sleep, since they thought she had just arrived.

Nobel prize winner Hartwell joins Tzu Chi

Nobel prize winner Dr. Lee Hartwell visited Tzu Chi headquarters in Hualien on October 25. Dr. Hartwell told Master Cheng Yen that he would like to offer his medical knowledge to Tzu Chi, so he was accepted as an advisor to Tzu Chi Hospital.

Dr. Hartwell is the president of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Here it was discovered that bone marrow transplants could be used to cure leukemia. Dr. Hartwell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2001 for his insights into mechanisms leading to the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells.

Dr. Hartwell and his wife visited the Tzu Chi bone marrow and stem cell laboratory. He remarked that the research into gene therapy carried out at Tzu Chi Hospital had a great impact on medicine, and that this huge work required great effort. He expressed his willingness to become an advisor for this project.

Caption: Dr. Lee Hartwell, 2001 Nobel prize winner, receives his appointment as advisor to Tzu Chi Hospital from Master Cheng Yen.