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

TZU CHI 132 43 more than 100,000 Indian households from April to the end of October 2020. Tzu Chi’s cooperation with the Camillians on coronavirus prevention began in April 2020. Father Giuseppe Didone, who has served in Taiwan for over 50 years, received tremendous support from Taiwanese citizens when he raised funds to purchase resources for his pandemic-stricken motherland, Italy. Tzu Chi contacted volunteers in China and other regions to assist in the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies for Italy, notwithstanding the global shortage. Yen Po-wen, CEO of the Tzu Chi Taiwan’s charity mission, visited Camillian-affiliated Saint Mary’s Hospital in Luodong, Yilan, to discuss relevant matters. Tzu Chi had no representation base and lacked point of entry to India, which hindered its provision of aid there. Upon discovering this, the Camillians helped Tzu Chi contact religious officials, medical personnel and volunteers in India. They also assisted with the coordination of logistics. The Camillians in India delivered Tzu Chi’s food aid to 13 states, including the Indian capital New Delhi, Assam in the East, as well as Gujarat, the hometown of Mahatma Gandhi and the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Besides the Camillians, the Missionaries of Charity—founded by the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa—also distributed food in Kolkata on behalf of Tzu Chi volunteers who could not be present. We care for you Another major partner in Tzu Chi’s relief efforts was the Indian Buddhist organization ABM Samaj Prabodhan Sanstha. One of its members, Pravin Bhalesain, first learned of Tzu Chi when he participated in a conference, “Buddhism Rejoins the Great Conversation in India”, in 2014. Together with his mother, he paid a visit to Master Cheng Yen in Taiwan in the month of March the following year. When an earthquake shook Nepal in April, Pravin joined Tzu Chi’s disaster relief team, becoming Tzu Chi’s contact person in India from thereon. With him as an intermediary, ABM members helped Tzu Chi distribute food supplies to 2,000 poor families in Mumbai and Pune (major cities in western India) in 2020. “Volunteers started to compile the beneficiary name list at the end of May. The process was very tedious as the slums are scattered. Although there were representatives from each district who helped with the records, everything was handwritten, with the lack of computers available.”TzuChi staffmemberChen Shang-wei, who was in-charge of relief efforts in India, showed us photos of a handwritten roster. At that same time, India was hit by the devastatingCycloneAmphan.Combinedwith the pandemic, it intensified the need for emergency aid, but the government ordered lockdowns in mid-June to combat the pandemic. Stricter lockdowns were imposed on Mumbai and Pune in July; permits which had allowed volunteers to enter those cities were now rendered null and void, so work on roster compilation had to be put on hold. Even the bank that handled Tzu Chi’s fund transfers was forced to suspend operations, with its employees diagnosed with Covid-19. The government relaxed restrictions in August, not because the pandemic had eased up but because livelihoods would be unsustainable if strict lockdowns continued. ABM members seized the opportunity to distribute Tzu Chi’s supplies. To prevent cluster infections, small- scale distributions to remote villages replaced