The world of Tzu Chi (Vol.107)

40 2019 • 02 A journey of truth, revelation and realization By Yeo Kar Peng E xcited and yet apprehensive was how I felt emerging from Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Excited because this was my first trip to Istanbul and I was on a Tzu Chi mission. Apprehensive because of the unknown emotion that awaits me. For the team of 40-plus of us from Malaysia who decided to spend the Christmas and NewYear festive break away fromhome and family, we went bearing a mission to distribute aids and support to some 6,000 Syrian refugee families in Sultangazi, Istanbul. It was a 5-day trip (December 27 – 31, 2018) on an 11-hour direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul. Coming face to face with thousands of Syrian aid recipients, bow after bow, hug after hug in the handing over of the white envelopes containing cash cards on the sound of “Hazir, Shukran”, might have seemed like a very mechanical exercise to many unknown to Tzu Chi, but for me those brief moments of contact with these care recipients have stirred something deep inside me. Prior to this trip, I read about the Syrian war, heard many stories related by our Taiwanese brothers and sisters, and watched many heart-wrenching videoclips of the war with cries for help from those injured, and voices of victims with irreversible physical injuries. However, none of these had sufficiently prepped me emotionally when I came face to face with them. These are victims who were lucky enough to survive the war; escapees, with only a shirt on their back, who ran from their war-torn homes; lobal Presence