ENVELOPING THE WORLD WITH GREAT LOVE

Only a border away from America, in the dry mountain areas of Mexico, where there is no water or electricity, residents live a hard life. Early in 1994, the Tzu Chi branch in southern California started to conduct distribution and free clinics in the border city of Tijuana and the Pipila region.

In December 1995, the Tzu Chi Mexico liaison office was set up. It took over the work of giving aid to the poor living in Tijuana and Pipila, and also extended their reach to such places as the city of Mexicali, where long-term charity as well as emergency work was carried out.

Also in December 1995, members of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Free Clinic in Los Angeles began to make regular visits to Pipila, where they provided free medical care and physical examinations. In June 1999, forty medical personnel, together with over a hundred members of the Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association and volunteers from the United States and Canada traveled to Mexicali in the sweltering heat of forty degrees Celsius (104 F). They took along with them all kinds of medical equipment, with which they held a large-scale free clinic that served over a thousand people.

The Mexican Tzu Chi members also participated in the event by distributing one month's worth of food and necessities of life to 1,300 impoverished families. "The help we are able to provide is limited," a volunteer said. "Our main goal is to combine local resources and encourage locals to extend their love and care for their fellow countrymen."

Morita, a small shantytown in the barren hills south of Tijuana, is a settlement of immigrants who came from the southern parts of Mexico. The administration failed to keep up with the speed at which the population grew; and so the area remained underdeveloped and without water or electricity. School-age children did not go to school-because there was no school. Tzu Chi learned about the situation through their numerous missions there and decided to help the villagers build a school. After almost six months of running back and forth between different government departments, the building permit and land were finally obtained. The Morita Tzu Chi Elementary School was officially opened in November 1996. It was a place where children could receive proper education, as well as a venue where regular free clinics and distributions of daily necessities were held.

Since its inauguration, the Tzu Chi Mexican liaison office has been involved in many emergency relief operations. When the northernmost state of Baja California Norte experienced heavy rainfall incurred by El Nino, Tijuana was also seriously affected. Tzu Chi volunteers went twice to survey the situation and centered their relief on distribution of food and blankets to the local poor.

In September 1999, a temblor measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale shook Mexico. Shortly after that, in October, continuous rain gave rise to massive mudflows that killed over four thousand people and destroyed the homes of two hundred thousand. It was the worst flooding in Mexico in forty years.

Responding to these disasters, Tzu Chi members in Mexico and southern California formed a fact-finding team to survey the hard-hit state of Veracruz, where they distributed emergency medical supplies and relief cash. Following that, free medical services, food and mattress pads were provided in the disaster areas of Alamo, San Miguel Larica and Gutierrez Zamora.

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