The world of Tzu Chi March 2020(Vol.120)

2020 • 03 34 could tell that the items they distributed were truly appreciated by the recipients. After receiving the blankets, second-hand clothes and multigrain powder from Tzu Chi, the villagers cheerfully hoisted the items onto their heads and headed home with a bounce in their step. One of the team’s stops in Bo was a farm. Yumkella’s mother had provided the land for some local women to grow crops. These female farmers grew rice and vegetables on the farm. They showed off their freshly harvested rice to the visitors, explaining that although they received aid from Tzu Chi, they worked hard to support themselves too. The volunteers were happy that Tzu Chi’s aid had empowered the recipients, given them strength and hope, and inspired them to work hard to make a living. This is probably the best thing humanitarian aid can achieve. The multigrain powder Tzu Chi has been providing on a long-term basis to local institutions has enriched the diet of many children. The principal of Paul School for the Blind, himself visually impaired, thanked Tzu Chi for their help. “Our world is dark, but your love brings light,” he said to the visiting volunteers. The children at the school could not see the volunteers, but when the volunteers held their hands, the children responded by tightly holding their hands back. Though the language barrier prevented them from talking to each other, the volunteers’ love was transmitted to the children through the warmth of their hands. The delegation’s last stop was Kalia, a village with 54 households. Forty-eight people there had died of Ebola. This was the first time Tzu Chi volunteers had come to Kalia, and the residents were looking forward to the aid distribution. Volunteers led the villagers in singing the Tzu Chi song, “One Family”. Then, volunteer Liu Jing-qiang encouraged the villagers to hug each other and pay the love from Tzu Chi forward. The volunteers distributed aid in six places in Bo District before they left for the long trip home. It was midnight by the time they returned to their hotel in Freetown, bringing to an end a nearly 20-hour stretch to serve those in need. The light of the world Caritas Freetown is one of Tzu Chi’s partners in Sierra Leone. On November 19, the delegation visited a school and an orphanage founded by Father Peter Konteh, the director of Caritas Freetown. At the Kiera Chaplin Desert Flower School, the volunteers met first-grader Yatu Koroma. She did not know her father and was brought up by her mother. She suffered from a congenital issue with her hip, but her family was too poor to afford treatment. She could not walk normally, nor could she stand for a long time. Dragging her weak feet, she “walked” for a kilometre every day to school. The trip to and fro was a long journey for someone with her condition. Koroma was absent from school on the day Tzu Chi volunteers visited. There were goods to receive on this day, and so the school principal wondered why Koroma had not come to school. He hurried to her home to find out why she was absent. Koroma told him that she had had no breakfast that morning, and was so hungry that she did not have the energy to walk to school. Without a moment’s hesitation, the principal picked her up, hoisted her on his back and carried her to school. Everyone was touched when they heard the story. Dr. Zheng felt so much compassion lobal Presence