Tzu Chi volunteers in Paraguay held a free clinic on April 24 for the poor in Banado Sur, about a 20-minute drive from downtown Asuncion, capital of Paraguay.

Houses in the village are flimsy shacks built with plastic bags and cardboard boxes. Being so close to each other, these houses are very small, but the families who live inside tend to be very big, with at least six or seven people living together. In such terrible conditions, diseases often break out.

It started raining at 6:50 a.m., and the volunteers were very concerned that the area would flood if it rained continuously for an hour. However, people were waiting for the medical staff and the volunteers to give them medical examinations, which they would never be able to get anywhere else. Thus, the volunteers pressed forward.

Twenty minutes later, the roads ahead of them had turned into creeks. Not knowing if there were any large holes in the water that would damage their cars, they decided to give up their cars and wade through the water to the free clinic site.

Perhaps because of the rain, not many people were at the free clinic when the medical team arrived. However, the doctors and volunteers still carried out their duties as usual and got everything ready as quickly as possible. As the rain dwindled, more people showed up and the clinic site was soon crowded with patients.

The five doctors at the clinic treated 314 people. The majority of patients were children. Local residents know nothing about contraception, so the local birth rate is very high. In addition, the village had very poor sanitation, so many children suffered all kinds of diseases. The Tzu Chi people felt that their top priority should be to teach people about contraception and to look out for their children's health.

Mother's Day Distribution

Tzu Chi volunteers in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, have extended their assistance to nearby vicinities. They held a Mother's Day lunch with needy families served by the Parents and Children Together program (PACT) of the Delta Youth Services. Tzu Chi also presented shopping carts, children's backpacks, and toys to members of the organization.

PACT is a charity group assisting single mothers or large families with low incomes. The goals of the organization are to provide nutritional supplements to pregnant mothers and baby food to single mothers or families with babies, to visit client homes, and to give counseling or assistance. Recipients either apply in person to PACT for assistance or they are referred by hospitals or other charity groups, so PACT has become the major support, both psychological and financial, for these single mothers and families. One of the recipients received a shopping cart from Tzu Chi during this year's Chinese New Year party. Other recipients who saw it also hoped to receive the same kind of cart, so PACT contacted Tzu Chi and invited volunteers to join their Mother's Day lunch in May.

The lunch was held in a Salvation Army community church in Surrey. Before it began, volunteer Chang Hsiao-ching introduced the Tzu Chi Foundation to everyone present. Afterwards, female volunteers sang and danced while the needy families enjoyed their lunch.

After lunch, the needy families came to the front hall to pick up their gifts from Tzu Chi and bread and cakes prepared by PACT. All the Tzu Chi volunteers were happy and grateful for the chance to serve.

Regular visit to nursing home

Members of the Tzu Chi Brazil office visit Casa Do Anciao nursing home in Sao Paulo twice a year. This time, the volunteers brought over a large quantity of food and some cleaning detergents donated by a local person who, despite his physical disability, always donates generously to Tzu Chi.

The nursing home is run by a Chinese, Li Tao-chung. There are 67 residents, only three of whom are Chinese.

A team of 18 volunteers, including two doctors and two barbers, traveled for an hour to reach the place. They took a cardiograph machine to measure the heart functions of the elderly residents. The information would be passed on to a nearby health bureau. One of the team members, Dr. Wen, was a qi-gong master, and he used qi-gong to help alleviate various symptoms of the residents. The two barbers gave free haircuts. Some female volunteers also put on performances to cheer up the residents.

Scholarships for poor children in Thailand

At two in the afternoon, May 22, the Tzu Chi Thailand branch held a scholarship presentation ceremony for needy families in Suan Pu. Volunteer Liu Tzu-shou, the executive officer of the month, said in her speech that Master Cheng Yen had been very concerned about the lives of people after a fire in 2004 had destroyed many homes there. The Master also reminded all local volunteers to pay back to their residential communities because they trod on other people's land and lived under other people's sky. The volunteers should give their love to those who needed it most.

The grants-in-aid were US$12.35 for an elementary school student, $37 for a junior high school student, $50 for a high school student, and $74 for a university student. Altogether, this year's recipients included 63 elementary school students, 23 junior high school students, 13 senior high school students, and seven college students, and the grants given out totaled US$2,776.

caption: After the ceremony, Tzu Chi volunteers fold their hands as a sign of respect and see the participants off at the front door. The volunteers hope the scholarships will help students continue their studies.

Free clinic on Batam Island

The eighth free clinic on Batam Island, Malaysia, was held in Batu Aji Hospital from April 1 to 3. The hospital had cooperated with the Tzu Chi Singapore branch for the past two years on other free clinics. To meet the demands of the free clinics, the hospital had even expanded its equipment and improved its environment.

A total of 231 volunteers from Singapore, Malaysia, and Australia and 115 medical professionals arrived to bring relief to 3,620 people suffering from all kinds of illnesses.

The free clinic this time provided free eyeglasses to 200 people. People with problem eyes were first checked by optometrists; then volunteers would bring out eyeglasses with the proper prescription. The 200 eyeglass frames were donated by people in Singapore, and the lenses were sold at extremely low prices by the owner of an eyeglass store on the island. Their compassion brought a clearer world to these 200 people.

There were nine special cases requiring special help. These cases included patients with tumors on their hearts or necks, a baby born without an anus, and a patient whose jaw couldn't open or close because it had been disjointed a few years before and had never been treated. These patients were sent to larger hospitals with better equipment.

On the last day of the free clinic, two-year-old Richard was brought back by his mother, Tiara, to see Dr. Feng Pao-hsing, who had operated on him the day before. A year ago, Richard's sister was playing with candles in the house and accidentally set the house on fire. She escaped from the house and their father was able to return in time and put out the fire, but Richard received burns on his head, hands and hips. The boy was sent to the hospital immediately, but the middle and little fingers of his left hand were treated improperly and became stuck to the palm.

Richard's parents took the boy to the Tzu Chi clinic, and Dr. Feng operated on his fingers. Dr. Feng later explained to Richard's mother that after the anaesthetic wore off, the wound would surely be painful and cause Richard to cry, but there was no need to worry. The bandage could be removed two weeks later, but the wounds would be completely healed in a month.

Sisters of Mary Girlstown Complex

Tzu Chi people in the Philippines held a free clinic in Cavite on April 24. The free clinic was held for students from the Girlstown complex, an all-girl school run by the Sisters of Mary. The free clinic focused on pulling bad teeth, making eye examinations and providing eyeglasses. Altogether, 55 volunteers and 22 doctors assisted 568 students.

Before the free clinic was held, the school first surveyed whose teeth needed to be pulled and whose eyes required examinations or new eyeglasses.

The students at the school are poor girls from all over the Philippines. To continue their studies after elementary school, they must pass an entrance examination, an interview, and a physical exam to be admitted to Girlstown. The students pay no tuition; the school provides them with room and board, a regular secondary school education, and some vocational skills such as sewing. Therefore, if the students do not go to college after graduation, they can still make a living with skills learned at the school.

Some students whose teeth had to be pulled out cried with fear when they approached the dentists. Volunteers tried to console them so their wails would not affect other students. The dentists would tell them jokes or ask them to take a deep breath first, also hoping to ease their worries. After the first few students had their teeth pulled out, they in turn told other waiting students not to worry because the procedure wasn't painful. All faces turned to smiles, and 342 students had their bad teeth pulled.

Another 226 students had eye examinations. Most of them were nearsighted and were given eyeglasses, although 11 of them required eye surgeries at a major hospital in Manila.

A book each for student

On May 2, 12 Tzu Chi volunteers carried out the regular book distribution for 2005 at Bret Harte Elementary School in Hunter's Point, San Francisco. At 9:20 in the morning, 280 students filed into the auditorium. They were all surprised when the principal informed them that Tzu Chi people were there to give each of them a free book.

Chen Hsueh-ling, head of the Tzu Chi San Francisco office, introduced Tzu Chi to the students. She told them that "tzu" meant "love, kindness," and "chi" referred to "giving, helping." She encouraged all the students to be like Tzu Chi volunteers and lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it.

Then volunteer Teng Ling-fei told the students that Tzu Chi came to their school to present a book to each one of them. She hoped they would share their books with their siblings and friends after reading them. The students were thrilled to learn that they could write their names in their own books.

When Clifford, the Big Red Dog, appeared before them, a lot of students ran up to hug him or touch him. Then, the teachers led the students from their classes to receive their books from Clifford.

In 2005, 1,800 students at eight schools in San Francisco received books from Tzu Chi. The book-giving ceremonies were held from May 2 to 4, so volunteers had to rush to an average of three schools a day. In order to reach a school on time, volunteers often neglected their lunches, but in exchange they received joyful laughter from the students.

Distribution to fire victims in Malaysia

When a fire suddenly broke out in workers' dormitories in Kota Warisan, a new town about 10 minutes from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Tzu Chi people immediately went to inspect the area.

The dormitories were actually freight containers that had been outfitted with sleeping spaces for workers. At about 3 in the afternoon that day, the fire suddenly broke out from four rows of dormitories. Because wooden boards were used inside the containers to create rooms for workers, the fire spread very quickly.

The employers arranged for the victims to stay in nearby offices without any beds or comforters. Some victims couldn't sleep through the night.

Most of the fire victims were workers from Nepal who have worked in Malaysia between two and seven years, earning between 20 and 30 ringgit (US$5-7) a day. One victim had saved 17,000 ringgit (about US$4,500) over the past three years and was planning to send the money home, but the fire consumed all his savings. He could only stare at the ashes without uttering a word.

To assist the fire victims, Tzu Chi gave them US$52 each and some clothes. Tzu Chi presented a total of US$4,000 of emergency cash and clothes to 70 victims to help tide them over for the time being.