The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.115).

TZU CHI 115 13 commissioners from Hualien to Taitung to conduct home visits. After the visits, Tzu Chi allocated financial and material aid accordingly to several deserving individuals and their families, besides adopting them as care recipients. On April 17, the Master travelled to Taitung once again on her quest to identify more people in need of assistance. The Master encountered Zhou Ren-lai, a 72-year-old aborigine who lived in a dingy hut. The Master and the commissioners were assailed by an unbearable stench as soon as they stepped into Ren-lai’s home. His legs had developed necrosis and the festering wounds were infested with maggots and flies. Several commissioners were so overwhelmed by the revolting sight and stench that they ran outside and vomited. The Master, on the other hand, calmly approached Ren-lai and expressed her concern for him, as if the repulsive odour was non-existent. There were many people in Taitung who were plagued by poverty and illness like Ren- lai, and were unable to afford medical attention at the hospital. Master Cheng Yen sympathized with them and decided to conduct free clinics for them as soon as possible. Combining charity with medicine On May 6, 1973, a team of medical professionals from the regular Tzu Chi free clinic in Hualien, consisting of father-and-son pair Drs Zhang You-chuan and Zhang Cheng-wen, Dr Huang Bo-shi, as well as nurses Lin Bi-qi and Deng Shu-qing, joined Tian-ding and Yu-nu in organizing a free clinic at Hai Shan Temple for the needy in Taitung. Su Wan-gui, a Taitung resident, suffered from damaged nerves in his eyelids, which had to be propped open by hand in order for him to be able to see anything. He entered the free clinic uttering a long string of words, but his speech was so slurred that no one could understand him. His neighbour was eventually fetched to interpret for him, conveying his hope for a doctor from the clinic to go to his home and check on his father, who was too ill to travel to the clinic. Dr Zhang Cheng-wen immediately stood up and said to him, “I’ll go with you.” This marked Tzu Chi’s first ever medical home visit. The free clinic served 160 patients. Meanwhile, Master Cheng Yen and some commissioners traversed local villages to visit the needy, adopting numerous long-term care recipients in the process. A record-breaking 15 families – 8 of whom were from Taitung – were added to Tzu Chi’s long-term care recipient list that month. From April to September 1973, the Master and a team of commissioners travelled repeatedly between Hualien and Taitung to visit the underprivileged, undaunted by the distance between the two counties. This resulted in a significant spike in the number of families added to Tzu Chi’s long-term care recipient list. At the same time, nearly 600 individuals benefitted from three free clinics, which also inspired many local medical professionals and volunteers to join Tzu Chi in helping the underserved. A week after the third free clinic had ended, Typhoon Nora tore across Taitung. In the wake of the typhoon, Tzu Chi was faced with its most challenging disaster relief operation since its founding. Nevertheless, the local volunteers proved a boon to the disaster relief efforts. Since then, the number of Tzu Chi commissioners in Taitung gradually increased, enabling Tzu Chi to expand its reach to the wider community. Fifty Years of Tzu Chi in Taitung