ENVELOPING THE WORLD WITH GREAT LOVE

In 1993, Tzu Chi volunteers in Jakarta started to carry out medical assistance and charity relief. They made regular visits to orphanages, nursing homes and leprosariums, provided education subsidies to impoverished children, and helped schools build lavatories. When natural disasters occurred, they also responded swiftly to the needs of the victims.

Tuberculosis is the second largest cause of death in Indonesia. Residents in poor rural areas lack the means and knowledge to cure this contagious disease, which requires long-term treatment. Starting from November 1995, Tzu Chi worked with the health bureaus in Tangerang and Serang provinces to eradicate TB by regularly distributing six-month supplies of medicine and nutritional dietary supplements to TB patients. The long-term program achieved remarkable results: in Serang, eighty-eight percent of the patients enrolled in the program were cured.

In addition, because there is no national health insurance policy in Indonesia and medical fees are high, Tzu Chi has since 1997 cooperated with the health bureau of Serang to conduct free monthly clinics around the region.

Financial Crisis

Project time: November 1995-present
Aid provided: Daily necessities, free clinics



Indonesia was hit by the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Many factories shut down and laborers were laid off, giving rise to a sharp increase in the unemployment rate. The number of people living under the poverty line rose from the original twenty million to one hundred million out of the country's population of two hundred million. Anti-Chinese riots that erupted in May 1998 worsened the already ailing economy. Prices skyrocketed and medical charges rose steadily. The poor faced even harder living conditions.

Ethnic unrest is like a bomb that constantly threatens the safety of overseas Chinese in Indonesia. After the anti-Chinese riots exploded, most Chinese avoided going outdoors. However, the program to cure TB had to continue, and Tzu Chi people in Indonesia believed that love could resolve hatred. Therefore they not only continued to carry out charity operations and get the medicine to the patients within the scheduled time, they also tried to improve the lives of the poor through large-scale free clinics and distribution of daily supplies.

In 1998 and 1999, volunteers donated rice to the armed forces and police and the poor living in the slums around Jakarta. Through this gesture of genuine appreciation and concern, they hoped to contribute to the restoration of peace to society. In these two years, Tzu Chi also cooperated with local organizations such as the Paramitas Foundation and the King Kuang group to hold five large-scale free clinics in Padang (on Sumatra Island) and Yogyakarta (on Java Island). Both Chinese and Indonesian volunteers were present at each clinic. A free clinic held in March 1999 in Tangerang alone served almost twenty thousand people. From the smiles of the patients who received treatment at the free clinics, Tzu Chi people saw hope for mutual accommodation and help between different ethnic groups. Their conviction is: "As long as the work of love is carried on, peace will come one day."

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