The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.115).

2019 • 10 24 Following the 1999 Jiji earthquake, Zheng Yi-hui and her husband, Chen Sheng-feng assisted with the construction of a Great Love Village in a disaster area in Nantou County. [Photograph courtesy of Zheng Yi- hui and Tzu Chi Hualien Headquarters] chauffeuring the Taitung-based volunteers on their trips to the care recipients’homes. He would even take an active interest in the welfare of the care recipients. From then on, whenever Sheng- feng left home to fulfil his volunteer duties, I would make sure that a home-cooked spread was ready in time for his return. No mountain too high In the 1980s, the care recipients’ homes were scattered across a wide geographical area, accessible through four main routes and numerous secondary routes encompassing land, air and sea travel, as well as mountainous terrain. Many of the families adopted as Tzu Chi’s care recipients in Taitung include youths who left their children in the care of their parents or grandparents while earning a living elsewhere. These youths were employed in low-income jobs as unskilled labour. Some of them who worked as construction site labourers were injured in workplace accidents, exacerbating their dire living conditions. Prior to the monthly relief distribution sessions, the Taitung-based volunteers would compile a list detailing the types of aid and the amount of financial assistance required, before sending it to the headquarters in Hualien for approval. Once approved, the list would be sent back to Taitung, where local volunteers would prepare the relief supplies for distribution. The relief supplies and monetary aid would then be duly distributed to the care recipients. Furthermore, the volunteers would deliver the relief supplies to senior citizens as well as the beneficiaries who were unable to collect their relief supplies in person. There were 40 to 50 Tzu Chi commissioners serving the Taitung region two to three decades ago. In addition to conducting monthly home visits that took several days to complete, the volunteers would organize relief distribution sessions in three locations, namely Taitung, Chenggong and Guanshan. They would also reassess the care recipients’ welfare on a quarterly basis. Smiling in my sleep When Sheng-feng was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, we relocated to Hualien as he was undergoing treatment at the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital (now known as Hualien Tzu Chi Medical Centre). He later experienced a relapse, but he rejected medical treatment on eature