The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.114).

2019 • 09 36 Navigating the Jordan Desert with Compassion By Lin Ling Li Translated by Translating Team Source: Tzu Chi Monthly (Vol. 633) Photograph by Huang Xiao-zhe “T he vast desert seemed to stretch on endlessly. All of a sudden, rain poured from the overcast sky, turning sandy terrain into a muddy land riddled with potholes that punctured the tyres of vehicles driving through the downpour. My fingers were frozen stiff in the cold April storm. In the wilderness stood tents without electricity supply. Meanwhile, class was in session for more than 30 children, who were huddled in a small hut built from metal sheets.” The above is an excerpt from a Facebook post dated April 23, 2019 by Taiwan’s former Minister of Culture, Lung Ying-tai, on her observations in Jordan. During her time there, she had visited a learning centre in Mafraq and the tent areas inHuweyja in the company of aTzuChi Jordan staff member. Having witnessed the woes of the Syrian refugees struggling for survival on a foreign land and the refugee children’s thirst for education, she commented, “Wars go on year after year. Babies are born on a muddy land, toddlers grow up in the tents, youths begin to understand their plight, and the elderly meet their ends away from home with tears in their eyes.” On Tzu Chi’s work, she remarked, “It felt like the most hopeless and desolate corner of lobal Presence While GPS navigation apps are commonly used to locate a place, Tzu Chi volunteers in Jordan have never lost their way when dispatching aid to nomads and refugees living in the desert. Wherever the suffering people are, the volunteers will reach out to them in the spirit of compassion.