South Africa in December should appear verdant with the arrival of the rainy season. But last December when I visited Ladysmith to report on the schools that Tzu Chi volunteers had built there, all I saw was a withered prairie that seemed to stretch to the horizon. Our red van stirred up a long trail of dust on the road.

Our first stop was the Tzu Chi First Elementary School in Vukuzakhe, Ezakheni. Volunteer Lin Hai-yang recalled that seven years ago when they first visited the village, only a few houses stood on the vast prairie. Now houses could be seen everywhere. How fast the population had grown!

"In 1996, the government sent me here to teach. It promised to build a school in one year, but the promise has not been realized yet," said Jabulani Buthelezi, principal of the school. Back then, six teachers appointed by the government had no classrooms to teach in. Although most of the villagers were financially strapped, they still wanted their children to have classrooms that could shelter them from the blazing sun and rain. Thus they scraped up enough money to build a school on this wild land.

But the villagers only had enough money to build classrooms and not enough to buy doors and windows. The wind would rush through the empty windows and doors, sometimes so strong that it would blow off the thatched roof. Downpours also eroded bits and pieces of the mud wall. With time, the roof eventually collapsed and only two walls remained standing.

In hopes of getting funds to rebuild the ramshackle school, Buthelezi spent an entire year contacting and visiting related governmental and private agencies. None of them responded. Buthelezi, overwhelmed by disappointment, wanted to be transferred to another school.

Tzu Chi volunteers found out about the school and decided to renovate the building. "Please stay for the children's sake. We will be here with you!" volunteers encouraged Buthelezi.

Since Tzu Chi began helping the school in April 1997, six years have passed by quickly. During that time period, Tzu Chi First Elementary School has been renovated several times to provide students with a better learning environment. Currently there are 16 classrooms, 17 teachers, and 800 students, five times the amount from the first year in 1997. Some teachers who weren't living in the vicinity of the school even asked to move there. Fifteen teachers devote their time after work to teach community residents. Some have even helped Tzu Chi raise funds to build a community library in order to benefit more villagers.

"Tzu Chi First Elementary School is my home. I have encouraged all teachers and villagers to treat and care for the school as their home," said the principal.

"Home is a place full of warmth and love," the children cheerfully sang the famous Tzu Chi song in Chinese. "Although the students do not know Chinese, they enjoy singing Tzu Chi songs to express their gratitude to Tzu Chi," said Mrs. Siphensihle, a music teacher. The children sang so beautifully and rhythmically that we couldn't help but sing along with them.

Amitabha means "thank you"

Our van shuttled through the countryside around Ladysmith. The whole way, Li frequently waved back to middle school students walking on the side of the road. These teenagers were graduates of Tzu Chi First Elementary School. Whenever they saw the red van, they would enthusiastically greet the volunteers.

We stopped at Mthandi Pieter to visit Tzu Chi Second Elementary School. This mini-school only has four buildings, but the campus is beautiful. Plants and flowers of different colors and shapes are planted outside every classroom. I felt like I was walking in a garden.

Principal Hlongwane walked out of his office to welcome us. The office building was crudely made of dried mud. Mud flakes falling off the walls had accumulated into a small mound. The roof, made of corrugated steel, had quite a few holes in it. His office desk was assembled from several wooden boards. Newspaper clippings of Tzu Chi's charitable events decorated the walls.

"I must save the good things for the children," explained the principal. "Since Tzu Chi helped us build classrooms with good ventilation and lighting, our students have increased by 30 percent this semester. So how can I try to keep for myself rooms that the students can use?" A part of his office was even allocated as a student kitchen.

Hlongwane's hometown is a 20-minute drive from Tzu Chi Second Elementary School. In 1998 when he heard that the foundation would build a school for the village, he applied to be transferred there.

The principal works hard to bring community members to school. It was summer vacation, but some students still went to school. Some stayed in the classrooms and quietly read books donated by Tzu Chi people; others took care of the plants outside the classrooms. It was lunchtime. Students from the higher grades carried a huge pot of rice into the classrooms and helped the lower-grade students pour curry sauce over their plates of rice. The school looked like a free daycare center.

Children ran to us when they saw us coming. The volunteers folded their palms and greeted them with "Amitabha [The Buddha of Infinite Light and Boundless Age]." The children repeated, "Amitabha." I asked the children if they knew the meaning of the word. They looked at each other, whispered in each other's ears, and started shoving one another. Finally a child was chosen to answer my question, "It means... thank you."

In Taiwan, Buddhists greet and bless each other with "Amitabha." In Ladysmith, Zulu children also welcome Tzu Chi volunteers with "Amitabha." Oftentimes when children see Tzu Chi people driving to their schools, they start shouting "Amitabha." As volunteers come closer, their voices become louder.

The students of Tzu Chi Third Elementary School were no exception. Our van was still far away, but it didn't matter to the students, who started loudly singing "Amitabha." As if they already knew the volunteers were bringing them backpacks and school supplies as Christmas presents, they jumped happily like dancing butterflies.

Ayamda's dream

The students at Tzu Chi Third Elementary School had been waiting in the playground for the volunteers and their presents. The volunteers helped each student, altogether 453 of them, put on the backpacks. Some of the students in the higher grades were too big for the backpacks, which drew hearty laughs from the other students.

First graders happily ran back to their classrooms and took off their backpacks to have a good look. In one minute, they carefully took out the pencils from their pencil cases and wrote with them. Not long afterwards, they quickly put the pencil cases back into their cherished packs. Their faces beamed with happiness.

Seeing how excited they were, I suddenly wanted to be their teacher. I asked the "real" teacher to be my translator. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I asked. "I want to be a cop!" "I want to be a teacher!" "I want to be a doctor!" Students replied with excitement. A little girl named Ayamda said, "I want to be a Chinese!" Her answer surprised us all. "Why do you want to be a Chinese?" I asked. "Because your uniform looks so pretty. I want to wear one as well," she said without any hesitation. She looked very serious. Behind her simple wish was most likely her desire to help other people, like the Tzu Chi volunteers did.

The sun was setting. It dyed the "land of opportunity" red. The dusty air became cleaner from the afternoon rain.

I rolled down the window and breathed in the fresh air along with the scent of grass. Looking into the distance, I saw some students in uniform waving to me. Some folded their palms and said "Amitabha." Ho immediately recognized them as graduates of First Elementary School. He waved back enthusiastically. His big smile pushed his eyes into two thin lines.

"It seems like it was just yesterday when we were going door to door to solicit donations for constructing the First Elementary School," said Ho with great contentment. "But in a blink of an eye, these children are already high school students. How polite and disciplined they are. When I look at them, I know our efforts have really paid off."

Our van had almost reached the end of the road. I looked back and saw that the children were still waving to us. An ancient Chinese saying goes, "It takes ten years to grow a tree, and a hundred years to form a person." But before my very eyes, these students had grown into well-behaved people in just a few years. Now I understand why Ho stated that no matter how many difficulties still lie ahead, Tzu Chi volunteers will continue to build schools for these young people. "If we educate students properly, they will become the future pillars of society!"