The World Of Tzu Chi December 2019 (Vol.117)

2019 • 12 54 nspiration By Wong Siew Ching “C an I call you mum?” read the text message I received from Amer (not his real name), a 14-year-old refugee, a few days after we first visited him. A new cycle of the Cash-based Intervention (CBI) programme commenced in September 2019. The CBI is a collaborative project between Tzu Chi and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that operates on a quarterly cycle, with the aim of providing assistance in the form of cash to those in need, enabling them to cope with the costs of various basic needs, such as sustenance, accommodation and healthcare. The first month of each cycle is usually allocated for volunteers to conduct visits to the homes of prospective beneficiaries in order to assess their living conditions by using the Livelihoods Vulnerability Assessment Tool (LVAT) developed by the UNHCR. We started the new cycle on a clean slate with barely any information on the new cases assigned to us, other than a brief summary of their profiles. It was our responsibility to evaluate each case and determine the suitable form of assistance to be administered. The evaluation process produced heart-rending revelations of the plight of the refugees, all of whom were deserving of aid. Can I Call You Mum? Our first case was Amer, who arrived from Afghanistan all by himself over a year ago. We followed the address provided and found him sharing a low-cost flat with 13 other tenants, all cramped together like a tin of sardines. This led me to wonder, how could his mother bear to send him, a young boy of 14, abroad without friends, family or a guardian to keep him company? He was left all alone in a foreign land, not knowing where to go. Why did his mother choose to send him and him alone to a foreign country? We later discovered that Amer has four remaining siblings; he had lost his elder brother to the conflict back in Afghanistan. His mother was left with no choice but to arrive at a difficult decision – to send her children to a land far, far away from the conflict for a chance at survival. But she was only capable of funding the escape of one of her children with her limited finances, so Amer, the eldest child, was chosen to be sent abroad. She would have undoubtedly sent along all of her five children if only she had sufficient means. We visited Amer on the basis of a referral note from a General Practitioner who had diagnosed the youth with auditory hallucinations and confirmed his susceptibility to suicide. In fact, Amer had attempted suicide several months ago, but