On June 14, more than 2,000 residents of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, gathered to welcome some 40 Tzu Chi members who came with food, cooking oil and corn powder to help them live through the winter. At noon, Tzu Chi members from Lesotho and South Africa arrived in 19 vehicles loaded with 4,000 bundles of relief goods. A retired judge explained the purpose of this relief and introduced Tzu Chi's philosophy to the crowd. The whole distribution was finished by four o'clock that afternoon.

Lesotho is a monarchy wholly surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Taiwanese businesspeople there set up a Tzu Chi liaison office in October 1995 and have been carrying out the Tzu Chi missions in that country ever since.

Listen to Them Sing

On June 21, Tzu Chi members in Durban, South Africa, gathered in front of the Durban liaison office, ready to ride to Umgababa village for a winter relief distribution. Suddenly they received a phone call from the local police, saying that they could not provide protection as previously promised. The Tzu Chi members went anyway since they had promised to help these needy people.

Passing from large, modern buildings to broken-down shantytowns, they finally reached the village. The villagers, already lined up waiting for them, started singing in Zulu to welcome them. The distribution went very well, with the villagers receiving their goods in orderly fashion. Tzu Chi members also sang Zulu songs to lighten the atmosphere.

After the distribution was over, a local volunteer made a speech in which he encouraged his people not to wait for Tzu Chi people to help them, but to use the relief goods well to improve their lives. That way, Tzu Chi people could help other poor people.

Singapore Book Fair Successful

At the 1998 Singapore International Book Fair, which ended on June 21, the Tzu Chi Singapore Cultural Center attracted a huge number of book lovers to its booth. The center also held discussions with book distributors from Malaysia, mainland China and Singapore over distribution in those countries. It hopes to circulate Tzu Chi publications in other countries in the near future.

Supporting Alternative Medicine

Every year since 1996, the Tzu Chi Canada branch in Vancouver has donated CDN$100,000 (around US$90,000) to the alternative and complementary medical research plan at the Vancouver Children's Hospital. On June 9, hospital director Elisabeth J. Riley accepted this year's gift on behalf of the hospital.

Dr. Riley indicated that the hospital has sent researchers to Taiwan and China to study the usage of traditional Chinese medicine for treating cerebral palsy and for anesthesia. The hospital has also drafted guidelines for applying alternative medicines for pain reduction, children with cancer and children with learning disabilities. If the guidelines are passed by the hospital ethics committee, then alternative medicines, including traditional Chinese medicines, will be tested later this year or the beginning of next year.

Dr. Riley related that some time ago, a child with a serious head injury was sent to the hospital. Western medicine could not bring him back to consciousness, but the child woke up with the help of traditional Chinese medicine. This was, to be sure, an individual case and could not be used to prove the power of alternative medicine. Hard scientific data still has to come from a research plan conducted by Dr. Hsieh Hua-cheng of the University of British Columbia.

Dr. Riley noted that research at the hospital required the support of the local community, so she really appreciated Tzu Chi's continuous support of studies on alternative medicines.

The Canada branch has listed the Children's Hospital as one of the places where Tzu Chi volunteers will provide help with translation, counseling, and even funerals for patients and their families.

Relief Distribution in Paraguay

Heavy rain at the beginning of this year flooded many areas of Paraguay. Chaco, an Indian village 450 kilometers from Asuncion, was completely cut off from the outside world and residents faced the prospect of severe food shortages.

On April 23, Tzu Chi members in Paraguay flew to the village in military planes provided by the government and delivered relief supplies.

Again on July 8, after the floods had receded, twenty Tzu Chi members and several government officials went back for a second relief distribution. This time, 2,000 kg of noodles, 600 kg of bread, 1,500 articles of clothing, 936 cans of food and 600 pairs of socks were delivered into the hands of the victims.

Love to Wat Pao Orphanage

On June 21, 50 Tzu Chi members from Bangkok and two vans loaded with relief goods went to an orphanage in An Thong, 180 kilometers north of Bangkok. This was the first time that the distribution was held in the orphanage's newly built activity center, which the Tzu Chi Thailand branch had helped to build. Although the electricity had not been connected yet, the children finally had a place of their own to hold various activities.

Accompanying the Tzu Chi members were about twenty trainee beauticians, who rolled up their sleeves and gave each child a new hairstyle. Members from the Pak Num Thai-Taiwan Women's Association brought used clothes, and they also took measurements so that they could tailor new clothes for the children.

Charity Showing of "Mulan"

The Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association at the Philippines branch showed the Hollywood film "Mulan" at the Greenhill Theater in Manila on July 5. Proceeds went towards assistance for drought victims in the southern Philippines, and towards a free clinic to be held at the end of July. It took the young people three months to decorate the theater, design posters and sell tickets.

An hour before show time, a huge crowd was already waiting to enter the theater. The performance brought in a total of 624,450 pesos (US$14,506).

Medicine to Senegal

The Republic of Senegal in western Africa has lacked proper medical supplies for a long time. In addition, the country has been involved in the civil war in Guinea-Bissau, on its southern border, and the southern region has been heavily mined by guerillas.

The Tzu Chi US branch has prepared US$18,500 worth of medicines. However, summertime in Senegal is a dangerous period when contagious diseases are rampant. Thus, it has been decided that it is not appropriate for Tzu Chi members to personally deliver the medicines. The US branch will airlift the supplies to Senegal, and the Senegalese government will then distribute them where they are most needed, especially in the regions of Kaulack, Fatick and Tambacounda.

Blankets in the Southern Hemisphere

May in South Africa was a very cold month, with a freezing wind that could pierce winter coats like a sharp knife. However, Tzu Chi members in Johannesburg still went out every Saturday morning to deliver hot meals and blankets to homeless people at a Catholic church.

On May 30, fifteen Tzu Chi members went to the site with 150 blankets. When they arrived, there were already a number of homeless people waiting outside in the bitterly cold wind. The door had been opened twenty minutes early to let them in.

Tzu Chi members provide the homeless with a hot meal once a week and relief goods each winter, but this is not a permanent solution to their problems. As long as the unemployment rate in South Africa is up, there will still be homeless people and the crime rate will not go down. However, the food distributions will not stop. Tzu Chi people still care about these people and want them to know that other people still care about them.

Free Medical Services for Immigrants

August 2 was a very hot day, but the Tzu Chi US free clinic still went to provide free medical services to Mexican immigrants in San Bernardino, California, some seventy miles east of Los Angeles. It was the largest such operation for the clinic so far: 20 doctors, 30 nurses and 208 volunteers assisted 836 patients.

This time, the free clinic also provided traditional Chinese acupuncture treatments, which many interested visitors tried out. James David, a truck driver, injured his back while moving heavy items seven months ago, and he had difficulty walking around. After an acupuncture treatment, he was delighted to be able to walk around freely.

Free Clinics in Sabah, Malaysia

On July 26, Tzu Chi members in Sabah, Malaysia, provided free medical services in Kampang Lampada, a village in northern Sabah.

The state of Sabah is located in the northeastern part of the island of Borneo. Months of drought at the beginning of this year caused many crops to fail. Because of the resulting reduction in tax revenues, the government was forced to cut its medical expenditures. The reduction of farmers' income in turn pushed people to visit public hospitals that were already suffering greatly from the government cutbacks.

The environmentally sensitive area of Sabah is protected, but because Tzu Chi members in Malaysia have long promoted charity work and maintained their political neutrality, the Sabah government still invited Tzu Chi to carry out free medical services again this year.

According to doctors, the villagers were basically healthy, but due to nutritional imbalance, most of them suffered from high blood pressure, malnutrition and decayed teeth. One dentist remarked that all he did was pull out decayed teeth-around 300 of them.

Before the clinic was held, Sabah government officials went to local villages to inform residents of the free medical services. The government improved roads and provided vehicles to transport villagers to and from the site. The government also provided tents and water trucks for the services. In the future, the government will assist the local Tzu Chi branch to conduct follow-up health checks for the villagers.

New Tzu Chi Netherlands Liaison Office

The Tzu Chi Netherlands liaison office was officially established on August 8. Ku Chun-lien, director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Netherlands, local Chinese representatives, and Tzu Chi members from Britain, Germany and France gathered at the office to celebrate its establishment. Mr. Ku remarked that helping other people was Tzu Chi's purpose and also the foundation's greatest accomplishment.

Currently, the Netherlands liaison office has sixty members from Taiwan, mainland China and Hong Kong. They visit old people in nursing homes to bring them joy, and they also help local Chinese schools to hold various activities.

Tzu Chi now has three liaison offices in Europe: in Britain, Austria and the Netherlands. There are also Tzu Chi members in Germany, Spain and France.

Relief Efforts in Peru

A Tzu Chi disaster relief team of 30 people to Peru completed its mission on August 22. Relief efforts this time focused on Lambayeque, Chiclayo, Ferrenafe, and other hard-hit towns.

Torrential rains poured down in Peru from the end of last year to the beginning of this year, destroying roads, houses and farms. Residents also suffered greatly from food shortages. Victims of floods in Puerto Eten said they had to live in grass huts. The food that the government provided was only enough for one meal a day.