The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.115).

TZU CHI 115 11 Distribution in Taitung When the aid recipient rosters had been duly finalized, brand-new comforters and neatly sorted second-hand clothing were transported on 15 cargo coaches in December from Hualien to Taitung. The items were then loaded onto trucks and delivered to the disaster areas, ready to be distributed. Master Cheng Yen and the commissioners once again headed down south to Taitung for a two-day relief distribution mission, scheduled for December 25 and 26. This was the largest disaster relief operation in the seven years since Tzu Chi’s founding. Aid was distributed to 554 households totalling 2,631 individuals across towns and villages in Taitung, including Chishang, Luye, Beinan, Taimali, DongheandGuanshan. Inaddition to freemedical services, shuttle bus services were available to ferry aid recipients living in remote areas to and from the distribution venue. Families travelling from certain regions, such as Guanshan, Yuemei and Luye, received reimbursements for their transportation fare. All in all, Tzu Chi offered relief to 671 households in Yuli, Hualien and Taitung in the wake of Typhoon Nora. Total disaster relief expenditures were in excess of NT$600,000. The principles of disaster relief work were developed in the process: directness (the organization and provision of aid without the intervention of intermediaries), priority and respect. A set of standard operating procedures was also established, starting with assessing the damage in the disaster area, followed by compiling recipient rosters, raising funds for disaster relief and distributing aid to the victims. Ablind old man in a cemetery Tzu Chi’s care for the needy first reached Taitung over a year after the organization was established. One of Tzu Chi’s care recipients back then was 65-year-old Wu Fa, who had been living in a hut in a cemetery in Taitung for years. In his earlier years, he cultivated vegetable crops and relied on offerings of food left behind on the graves for sustenance. But as he grew older and weaker, he was unable to carry on with a self- sufficient lifestyle as his vision had deteriorated rapidly to the extent that he almost turned blind. Master Cheng Yen learnt of Wu Fa’s situation from a newspaper article in January 1968. She immediately sent NT$300 to the news outlet and requested them to forward the money to Wu Fa. On March 23, she boarded a train to Taitung to pay him a visit. After more than five hours on the road, she finally found the gaunt old man at the cemetery by the sea. The Master took his hand and left him with NT$200 and a few words: “Don’t worry. We’ll care for you from now on. We’ll also take you for treatment and pay for the medical costs.” Upon arriving at Hualien, the Master sought recommendations for a doctor capable of treating Wu Fa’s eye condition. Ten days after her first visit, she returned to Taitung to take the old man to a doctor in Shalu, central Taiwan. Unfortunately, all hopes of recovery were dashed as the doctor performed an examination on Wu Fa and declared that the window for treatment had lapsed long ago. Furthermore, surgery would not be a feasible option due toWu Fa’s advanced age and frail health. Disappointed, the Master escorted Wu Fa back to Taitung and gave him NT$600 before leaving, besides reassuring him that Tzu Chi would support him from then on with a monthly subsidy of NT$300. Wu Fa thus became Tzu Chi’s first long- term care recipient in Taitung, back when the Fifty Years of Tzu Chi in Taitung