The World Of Tzu Chi(Vol.128)

TZU CHI 128 21 In the impression of Tzu Chi volunteers and Kim Chew’s friends, he was a sturdily built friendly person with dark skin who suffered from “arthritis” for years. He would always dismiss their concerns by saying that it’s “arthritis” with a wry smile, “I didn’t want others to know my walking disabilities when I was younger.” When life took a turn Kim Chew is the third child in a family of nine children. He did not like to study since young. After dropping out from secondary school, he worked as a construction worker and offered practically all his wages to his mother for family expenses. At 16, he went from Malacca to Selangor and became an accompanying assistant to a lorry driver. An impatient and impulsive person, he nearly hit someone with a stick during a conflict on the road once. In 1983, when he was 24, he started to work at the dock, hoping to earn a better income. However life took a turn on a fateful day. He remembers vividly that on August 23, while dock workers were unloading iron bars, his leg was accidentally crushed. He was rushed to the hospital but his right leg had to be amputated from below the knee. For the young Kim Chew, the accident not only crushed his leg, but also his future. Since then, he always wears a thick and long sock over his right amputated leg. He shook the sock and said, “It was bloody, even the bones were crushed and my foot was dangling like this. It was impossible to save it.” After being discharged from the hospital, he returned home to Malacca to recuperate. He became even more hot-tempered. “Why me?” He complained. His octogenarian grandfather felt sorry for him and would walk 1 km daily to visit him and express his concern. But, Kim Chew felt that no one understood his pain. He started to give up and begun isolating himself. He explained, “I was an active person. Without my leg, do I still have a future? I kept thinking that my life was ruined.” Upon recovery, Kim Chew had a prosthetic leg fitted. He forced himself to adapt to a new life as he did not want to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He returned to Klang to work, but became a cashier as his former employer delayed his salary payment. Later, he got involved in the illegal 4D betting business and got his first taste of making quick money. From there, he spiralled into drinking and gambling. He recalled, “I could drive from Klang to Johor for seafood. I had tasted various game meat and drank until dawn. That became the normal. I always had a few thousand Ringgit on hand because illegal gambling made high profits! I was also addicted to gambling. Life was meaningless but I thought that was happiness. Actually, I was giving up on myself.” His life looked glamorous but in reality, he felt empty. He kept his past from others for fear that people would look down on him due to his disability. He masked his inferiority with extravagance and numbed his despair with excitement from gambling. Even when he first joined Tzu Chi, the shadow in his heart lingered on. Facing the harsh reality In 2003, Kim Chew’s good friend, Tee From Disabled to Able