The world of Tzu Chi March 2021 (Vol.132)

TZU CHI 132 39 Emergency Relief for FilipinoWorkers From January 5 to 19, 2021, Bah Sayap, Jelita and Rakut Covid-19 clusters, and a sub-cluster of Pasai cluster in Sibu, were detected in Miri, Sarawak. As a result, the Miri Hospital with a limited capacity of 300-plus beds, had to set up a few isolation centres to accommodate the patients. Tzu Chi volunteers took the initiative to understand the hospital’s needs, and requested for 200 Jing-Si foldable beds to be transported from Tzu Chi Kota Kinabalu office to Miri. Dr. Grace Lee, person-in- charge of the Sports Village isolation centre, commented that the foldable beds were not only easy to assemble and store, but also eco-friendly as the plastic materials used allowed them to be sterilized and reused. Sarawak 30.01.2021 Report and photograph by Chong Mou Hin In a village in Telipok, a small town 25 km away from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, there live more than 30 Filipino families. Earlier in June 2020, Tzu Chi volunteers had distributed relief supplies to the villagers. In January 2021, volunteers received another request for help from a villager, Sahara, and decided to distribute rice, drinking water and dry food supplies to 29 families. Many villagers, who had heard about Tzu Chi’s bamboo bank story, prepared loose change for donation. Villager Arnalyn was grateful for the aid from Tzu Chi. She said that her children and her had hardly enough food. She could only rely on borrowings from relatives and friends, and had a meagre income from selling peanuts, after losing her job three months ago. Sabah 28.01.2021 Report by Chong Yee Cheun Photograph by Tse Ning Siong Together We Fight Covid-19 Local News