Witnessing love from all over the world converging on this small, remote Indonesian village, I came to realize that as long as every member of our global village can reach out to help one another, the pain of the less fortunate will be greatly reduced.

ONE MONTH AFTER a massive tremor hit Taiwan on September 21, 1999, I went to Japan to attend a meeting. On my arrival there, I ran into some volunteers out on the streets who were soliciting donations for quake survivors in Taiwan. Later, at a countryside eatery in Saga, the owner expressed his concern about the earthquake as soon as he discovered that we were from Taiwan. These open displays of care and kindness shown to us by total strangers deeply affected me and made me realize that we do indeed live in a small and deeply interconnected world.

In the age that we live in now, information travels at lightning speed. This means that in a matter of minutes or hours, a natural disaster which strikes in a distant part of the world can become public knowledge around the globe, arousing the sympathy and compassion of millions of people. Having survived the September 21 earthquake and lived through the days when neither running water nor electricity was available, I could especially empathize with any disaster survivors' pain and discomfort. So when I learned that a Tzu Chi medical relief team was setting off to Indonesia to help victims of a quake that had ravaged Yogyakarta in May 2006, I promptly signed up for the trip, without a second thought.

In a hard-hit area that we visited was a village which had been almost completely razed to the ground. As far as we could see were piles upon piles of bricks, tiles, and broken furniture. The only house which was still standing was said to belong to the wealthiest man in the village. When we approached the owner and asked if we could set up a temporary medical station on his premises, he said yes without a moment's hesitation.

The majority of the villagers who came to our free clinic were suffering from external injuries, most of which had become infected and were festering due to a lack of proper treatment. There were also quite a few cases of people affected by diarrhea and the common cold owing to the severe temperature changes between day and night. Fortunately we had brought enough medicine to cater for a variety of needs, thanks to the splendid organizational skills of the people who had prepared the supplies for us.

A child with a fractured leg was sent to the medical station to have his broken plaster cast replaced. After I had treated him, his mother asked, with the help of an interpreter, if they could keep the plastic splint that was used to fix her child's leg. I wondered what on earth they could possibly want with a plastic splint. Our interpreter explained that the child wanted the splint as a toy. In an area which had been so ravaged by disaster, goods and supplies were scarce to come by, and toys were a luxury. I was struck with a sudden and powerful sadness for the small child, so I began to carefully wash the plaster off the splint. Then, from my bag, I retrieved some candy and a sachet which had been given to me by a Buddhist nun and, along with the splint, I handed them over to the mother and the son. A look of such simple joy flashed across the boy's face, and my heart was once again filled with a mixture of happiness and sorrow.

After we had provided services at the medical station for two days, the number of patients who were coming to receive treatment began to decrease. A large number of us decided to leave the station and explore the village further to look around for people who were in need of care. Only a few medical workers stayed behind to hold the fort.

Following the footpaths which had been cleared through the earthquake debris, we went deeper into the village, which was strewn with scattered tents and make-shift housing. Survivors built cooking fires outside of their tents. Their scanty meals mostly consisted of nothing more than porridge mixed with a few dried vegetables. Flies and mosquitoes blanketed the air, and overall the hygienic conditions were severely troubling.

Visiting one tent after another, we found many bedridden elderly patients desperately in need of care. Because it was difficult for them to move, they were unable to come to our free clinic for treatment. We attended to them and gave them advice on how to avoid bedsores. We came across several people who had already had their broken limbs put in casts, but who did not realize that they had to return to the hospital for follow-up checkups and treatment. We arranged to have them sent back to the hospital so that they might receive this vital treatment.

The language barrier between us and the survivors did not prevent them from conveying their gratitude to us. Through their warm handshakes and the enthusiastic kisses which they planted on the backs of our hands, we could see how much they appreciated what we had done for them.

There was one girl I remember especially well. She had lost the big toe of her left foot during the earthquake, and her wound had become seriously infected. Every day, her father would carry her to our medical station to have her wound cleaned and dressed. However, on the last day before we left Indonesia, she failed to show up. We were very worried and searched far and wide for her. Much to our relief, we found her in the end. For the last time, we carefully cleaned the injury and taught her how to take care of it, and we gave her some medicine and dressings so that from then on she could tend to the wound herself.

If her injury had not been treated then, there stood a high chance that it could have become so infected that her left foot would have had to be amputated. Sensing my concern, Huang Si-ying (黃泗英), a Tzu Chi volunteer who lived in Indonesia, promised to keep an eye on the girl. Her promise greatly reassured me, and I was able to head home with a much lighter heart.

Master Cheng Yen often tells us, "In walking, when we put the front foot down, we must lift the hind foot up. We have to let yesterday go and focus on today." I came to a deeper understanding of these words after joining the medical relief mission. We are able to let go because of the commitment and help of many kind-hearted people like Ms. Huang. Because of them, it was possible for us to leave Indonesia without having to worry about the survivors--we could continue forward to doing good elsewhere.

During our stay in Indonesia, we came across many relief organizations from Singapore, Iran, France, the United States, Australia, Japan, and the United Nations. Witnessing how Great Love from all over the world transcended racial and geographical borders and converged on this small, remote Indonesian village, I came to realize that as long as every member of our global village can reach out to help one another, the pain of the less fortunate will be greatly reduced.

Because of our help, the girl who lost her toe will not need to have her foot amputated. Saved from a fate of having to rely on a crutch, she can look to the future with a feeling of confidence. Thinking of this, I cannot help but exclaim with joy and pride, "The trip was really worth it!"