GREAT LOVE ACROSS THE TAIWAN STRAITS

#586 houses, 148 nursing homes, and 9 schools were built in Xinghua County. Free clinics were conducted in four towns in the county.

#One Tzu Chi childcare clinic was built.

#Scholarships were provided for students of the Nanjing University of Medicine.

In the floods of 1991, Jiangsu Province was no less devastated than Anhui Province. At the request of the Xinghua Countrymen's Association in Taipei, Tzu Chi sent a team in September the same year to make a survey in Xinghua County. After evaluation, the foundation decided to help county residents with their reconstruction.

After the floods, it was a desolate mess everywhere. According to the director of the local Civil Service Bureau, the items most urgently needed were food, heavy clothes and comforters, as well as new schools. In early December 1991, Tzu Chi distributed thermal underwear and comforters. the foundation also built houses and nursing homes, hoping that survivors could pass the winter in warmth.

In order to help students, Tzu Chi built nine elementary schools and junior high schools in Xinghua. The construction was completed and the schools started to operate in September 1993. In the past, the county had always been graded second from the bottom of the list in quality of education. Since then it has been upgraded to second from the top. In her letter of consolation to Xinghua County residents, Master Cheng Yen wrote that Tzu Chi does not expect anything in return from them. "We only hope that the lamp of love we passed on to you can kindle those in your hearts, so that you can let them shine forth for other people. Thus, the cycle of goodness will have come full circle."

Touched by the great love demonstrated by Tzu Chi people, medical staff from Chengchien Hospital in Yangzhou conducted a free clinic in the name of Tzu Chi at the Tzu Chi village in Xinghua County at the end of July 1993. In September, they cooperated with Tzu Chi medical personnel to give joint free clinics in four towns in Xinghua. These clinics set a good example for medical cooperation between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits and also fulfilled the cycle of goodness that Tzu Chi people hope for.

| Back | Forward | Contents |