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

41 TZU CHI 120 A s a photojournalist for Tzu Chi Monthly, I have interviewed and covered many Tzu Chi recycling volunteers in Taiwan. Hence, I was very excited to meet their counterparts in Malaysia during a recent trip here. One of the people I met was Tan Wee, a resident of the Gombak District in the western Malaysian state of Selangor. Tan is 88 and badly hunchbacked. Her severe stoop is a result of a traffic accident at age 46. The accident left her with a curvature in her spine, which increasingly deteriorated with age. But despite her severe impairment, she never complains or laments. On the contrary, she makes the best of her time by giving of herself – and her way of giving is to work at recycling every day. Taking Master Cheng Yen’s words to heart, she does her best to do the Earth a good turn. Tan wears traditional Chinese clothes, looking dignified and spirited in them. “I make every single one of these garments myself,” she said proudly. She is good with her hands and makes her clothes to suit her slouched figure. She told me that as a child she enjoyed watching her mother work at a sewing machine – that was how she picked up her sewing skills. She used those skills to help with her family’s finances by the age of ten, helping her parents when they were out working in a kitchen garden. At 13, she took up work as a rubber tapper, going from plantation to plantation to tap rubber trees. Later, she married and bore six children, but her husband shirked his responsibilities and liked to gamble, and he passed away early. The heavy burden of supporting six children fell to her. She did what she could to provide for them: she cleaned houses, cooked and washed clothes for others. Even though caring for her children after a long day’s work was hard, she sometimes made clothes too to supplement her income. Making ends meet was a challenge, and she had to pinch every penny. The family’s clothes were repeatedly patched up to save money. Her life at the time was not easy, but she bore her hardship with fortitude and resilience. Her hunched back seemed to tell a tale of a lifetime of heavy burdens. Happily, that was all in the past. Surrounded by her children and grandchildren now, her life is one of contentment and peace. Staying the course Tan said that her appearance might lead people to think otherwise, but her deformity has not decreased her usefulness. In fact, she can do as much work as others, if not more. After working hard most of her life to support her family, she refused a well-deserved life of ease and comfort in old age. Instead, she threw herself into recycling work in response to Master Cheng Yen’s appeal to love the Earth through action. DawnhadbarelybrokenwhenTan, carrying a large bag, stepped out of her home, ready to start her daily trip to collect recyclables in the neighbourhood. I followed her as she traversed the streets and alleys on foot, her back bent at an angle of nearly 90 degrees. She walked no slower than I did, all the while breathing easily, even though I am younger by several decades. She took every step firmly and steadfastly, unhampered by her physical limitations, and she went about her business fully at ease. She knew