The world of Tzu Chi (Vol.108)

TZU CHI 108 41 language, interacted with the villagers with sincerity and love, and managed to recruit as many as 400 donors at one point. However, that number varied from time to time due to constant relocations of the village’s population. She said, “This is a big gift from Master Cheng Yen. For a while, we visited the village practically every day, going from door to door to recruit donors.” In fact, the villagers could not believe that this group of Chinese Tzu Chi volunteers, comprising mainly of women, had the courage to set foot in such a notorious ‘black area’, where even the police would only go in an armed group. Maria explained, “We went there with a strong sense of mission. How can we catch a cub without entering the tiger’s cave? Likewise, as we walk the Bodhisattva Path, how can we help those in real suffering if we avoid going to the darkest of places?” On every volunteers’ visit, the kids would swarm around them and ask, “Did you bring sweets today?” Occasionally, Maria and other volunteers would bring them sweets, oranges and apples. Once, Maria was shocked to see a kid gobbling up an orange without peeling it. It turned out that the kid had never eaten an orange before, thus, he ate it like he would an apple. Evidently, life was impoverished for the villagers. Coming back stronger after falling Maria remembered vividly one particular visit, where a group of kids showed them the way, and when they came to a bridge with a few missing planks, the kids hopped over easily, but not for Maria – she hopped as they did, but landed beneath the bridge, on the muddy grounds with rotten weeds, garbage and faeces. She recounted, “I couldn’t pull my legs up, nor could other volunteers. Luckily with the kids’ help, they managed to pull and drag me out after much effort, like pulling a cow.” As Maria looked around for water to clean her white pants, some villagers were kind enough to offer help. However, knowing that their water came with a price tag, Maria just roughly cleaned her pants and continued with her home visits in In September 17, 2017, volunteers presented relief cash to the fire victims in Kampung Titingan. [Photograph provided by Tzu Chi Tawau]