The world of Tzu Chi January 2020 (Vol.118)

TZU CHI 118 17 three weeks without any signs of recovery. Our business has been on hiatus since then,” professed Daniel’s mother, Rohayati Mat Adam, woefully, evidently worried for her husband, Zol Azizan bin Yahya. The kindly father, hair greying with age, maintained a calm, dependable presence throughout, tending to the visiting volunteers with affable smiles and warm hospitality while checking Daniel’s and his brother’s homework. The couple arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 1999 to seek employment. Azizan secured a job as a part-time cook in a hotel, but later contracted a peculiar illness that prevented him from working. After regaining full health, he assisted a friend in manning his stall at a night market and started making a living as a mobile cart vendor. As the sole breadwinner of the family, Azizan was responsible for supporting his elderly parents as well as his father’s medical fees, his children’s tuition fees and various household expenses, hence the constant delay in settling Daniel’s tuition fees. Since young, Daniel has been assisting his parents with the household chores and managing the mobile food cart. Instead of feeling embarrassed upon encountering his classmates when manning the food cart, the sensible Daniel was not the least bit flustered. “I’m aware of my inferior background. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about making an honest living,” he asserted in fluent Mandarin with a dignified air of composure. Daniel understood that working doubly hard was the only way of compensating for his lack of a conducive learning environment. He and his brother have been deprived of a dedicated space within the confines of their cramped home that allows them to concentrate on their studies, hence he regularly stays in the school library after class to revise his lessons and seek homework help from his teachers, returning home only in the evening. His stellar academic performance has earned him financial assistance from Tzu Chi to fund his education since Form 1, made possible with the support of one of his teachers. Timely relief Yap Sai Mui and Leong Lai Fun were among the earliest batch of volunteers to extend care to Daniel and his family. The former recalled witnessing the family’s hardship, living hand to mouth when Daniel’s mother was a bedridden invalid. Therefore, Tzu Chi decided to fund Daniel’s education through the Study Grant to enable him to concentrate on his studies worry-free. Rohayati expressed her gratitude for Tzu Chi’s willingness to lend a helping hand that transcended racial and religious borders. In 2018, the financial aid provided helped Daniel to relieve the costs incurred by the purchase of reference books in preparation for the PT3 examinations. During the monthly home visits, Sai Mui would introduce Daniel and his family to Tzu Chi’s missions and values. Upon learning that the organization’s funds were gathered from donations from the public, Daniel was inspired to reciprocate the generosity by contributing in kind and began volunteering for cleaning duties at the KL Tzu-Chi Jing Si Hall. “Every time I attend Tzu Chi’s events, Opening Doors to a Brighter Future