Like small birds trying to put out a forest fire with the water in their beaks, Tzu Chi people in South Africa are repaying their communities little by little with love. Local black people may not yet be aware of how much the overseas Chinese have given, but only if the Chinese take action now can they expect peace in the future.

At the end of May, I was in South Africa with Stephen Huang, director of the Tzu Chi Department of Religious Affairs, and several other Tzu Chi members. For one week, we visited Tzu Chi offices in Durban, Ladysmith, Ladybrand, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Local Tzu Chi members received us with great hospitality and escorted us to see vocational training centers, wells and elementary schools constructed by the foundation. We also participated in the winter relief distributions at Ladysmith, Ladybrand and Bloemfontein.

Zealous response

Anna and Gladys, local friends who had just come back from the celebration of Tzu Chi's thirty-third anniversary in Taiwan, shared their thoughts. Gladys kept telling us how she was spreading the idea of Tzu Chi's great love among the tribes in South Africa. She always remembers the kind greetings and the gentle looks from Master Cheng Yen, and she keeps reminding herself that she should take action to spread that love among her own people.

In Johannesburg there have been many cases of blacks robbing Chinese, so many Chinese have taken action to protest and have even doubted the appropriateness of Tzu Chi's help to black people. Stephen Huang told a story of a small bird trying to put out a forest fire with the water in its beak, and he encouraged the Chinese to repay their local communities with love. He said that the black people might not yet be aware of how much the Chinese have given, but only if the Chinese take action to make friends now can they expect peace in the future.

"The Voice of the Overseas Chinese," a local radio station, has broadcast a series on Tzu Chi events five times. Many Chinese have requested the station to continue broadcasting that program. Two local Chinese newspapers also devoted a great deal of space to reporting the events. Brother Shih Hung-chi, in charge of the Tzu Chi liaison office in Johannesburg, observed that all this was a great affirmation and encouragement for Tzu Chi people in South Africa.

Vocational training

When Brother Pan Ming-shui appeared at a meeting wearing a garment made by a sewing class, everybody's eyes sparkled.

There are fifty-three sewing classes in Durban, all within a distance of a hundred kilometers. Because of the mountainous terrain, it takes more than two hours to reach some of the classes. Brother Pan leaves home early in the morning and does not return until seven or eight in the evening.

On our way to the sewing classes, someone joked that Brother Pan drove his nine-seat van like a tank. Driving on mud or fording rivers, he is unshaken in his determination to help his black friends.

We started out on a six-lane highway, but once we entered a Zulu tribal area the road became narrow and winding. Even before we got out of the car at the first class, we could hear the pleasant sound of singing. Dancing and singing, all the women carried clothes in their arms. Gladys said it was a song of gratitude and blessing--gratitude for the love from Taiwan and from Master Cheng Yen.

Several women showed us the bridal gowns they had made. They were all up to high standard both in style and workmanship. All the classes were busy now making winter clothing, and the women hoped their people could be warm through the severe winter. When they saw that the facilities were still woefully insufficient, the Tzu Chi visitors committed themselves right on the spot to raise funds for another thousand sewing machines. Everyone in the sewing class was quite excited at this promise.

Although Tzu Chi people only provide fabric and machines, they receive love from the South Africans.

A great convenience

For several years, Tzu Chi members in Ladysmith have been devoted to local education and the digging of wells. They have assisted in the establishment of three elementary schools and day care centers and have dug thirty wells. In the wilderness, we saw many primitive, cone-shaped houses scattered around. Under the bright sunshine, the land was very dry. Even the tree leaves were like needles to reduce the evaporation of moisture.

We visited a couple of wells. About 500 meters [1,650 ft] from the first well we saw a pond. If we had not looked hard for it, we would have missed it because it was hidden by tall grasses. Several children with shyly smiling faces were washing clothes at the endge of the pond. Two women, each with a bucket on her head, went to the water. They used a small ladle to fill their buckets with water. Of course, soap bubbles were taken up as well into the bucket, but the water they took away was for drinking.

From time immemorial, that was the way local people fetched water for family use. That situation has improved since wells were bored by Tzu Chi. A few women and children lined up at the well, waiting their turn to pump water. The pump worked rather slowly, but they waited patiently because they knew the quality of the water from the well was much better than that from the lake.

Because there are too many families in that area that depend on that well, the water supply has become strained. In order to solve the problem, Tzu Chi people are planning to dig a few more wells or to dig the existing one deeper.

Working together

Excited school children in uniforms stood along both sides of the road to greet us. It was the first Tzu Chi elementary school built in Ladysmith with the assistance of Tzu Chi people.

The number of students has increased from 200 to 600. Sister Chao Shu-hui said that as long as there was a chance for their children to receive an education, parents were even willing to borrow money to send their children to school.

About a fifty-minute drive away, another school was under construction. More than twenty students were having class under a tree with a blackboard propped up against the trunk. Far off on the playground, a lot of children were lined up. A dozen small girls with buckets on their heads were walking towards us, while boys were working the water pump with all their strength. Almost half of all the students were pumping and carrying water. A teacher told us that two new classrooms were being constructed, but they didn't have enough water for the cement.

In order to give the children a feeling of participation in the work and love for their classrooms, all the teachers and students were mobilized to mix cement. The children were very pleased. After all, the new classrooms would be much better than the old tin-roofed ones that were scorching hot in the summer.

In the third Tzu Chi school, five classrooms had been finished and another five were being built. Because of the lack of water, one third of the students had to take turns walking for more than a kilometer [over half a mile] with a small bucket on his or her head to fetch water. Our hearts really went out to them.

Not far from that school, a kindergarten was nearing completion. About sixty children were currently having classes in a dilapidated room with no roof.

"When given a fair chance to receive an education, these children will certainly have a bright future," said Brother Shih Hung-chi. The road to building a school may be difficult, but it is not too long--as long as there is love in the heart.