| Through
giving, one leprosy patient lives with dignity and gratitude |
 |
Translated by Peiying
Chou
November 02, 2002
Chinese
Version
CHIA-YI, Taiwan -Yi-Tseng Kim,
who has leprosy, lives his life with dignity and gratitude.
One bag costs one fifty
Ten bags fifteen hundred
Come pitch in your fifteen hundred or your one fifty
And help the suffering in Yun-Lin and Chia-Yi
Yi-Tseng Kim, an elderly man with leprosy,
chanted this poem many years ago. At the time, he was raising
funds to buy cement for construction of the Tzu Chi Dalin General
Hospital.
Mr. Kim is now eight-two years old. He was
recently admitted to the Dalin General Hospital for surgery
on a fracture following a fall. The staff at the hospital treated
him like family. The superintendent, Dr. Chun-Lung Lin, personally
attended to Mr. Kim everyday. He commented that Mr. Kim's concern
for the community and devotion to Tzu Chi was most inspiring.
Overcoming Leprosy - Kim and fellow patients
became Tzu Chi members
Originally from Jiang-Su province in mainland
China, Mr. Kim has lived at the Lo-Sheng Convalescent Home in
Taipei for over fifty years. At the age of thirty, he became
ill and was admitted into a hospital. As his life as an aspiring
military officer fell apart, he endured many physical and mental
sufferings, and he considered and attempted suicide on many
occasions.
In 1978, Dharma Master Cheng Yen made her
first visit to the Lo-Sheng Convalescent Home, and following
a request made by Mr. Kim, Tzu Chi began providing assistance
to senior citizens with severe disabilities. After five years,
the assistance program had to come to an end, but it had inspired
hundreds of residents from the Lo-Sheng home, including Mr.
Kim, to become Tzu Chi members. For over twenty years, their
participation has endured; these leprosy patients at Lo-Sheng
have come together for every single Tzu Chi fundraiser, including
the construction of the hospital, disaster relief assistance,
September 21st Earthquake relief, and Project Hope, the building
of over 50 adopted schools around Taiwan.
It was the act of giving to the community
that regained these patients' confidence and morale. Mr. Kim
was like a skipper that led his friends across the sea of suffering,
escaping from hell to reach a shore that surpassed heaven. While
the Dalin General Hospital was under construction, he conducted
seven fund raising events. He passionately called out:
There is a net of healing being made at
Dalin
To end the medical drought at Jia-Yi and Yun-Lin
Ten thousand patients in line for four hospital beds
They need your help, so won't you pitch in?
Leprosy patients wish to be understood
and accepted by the public
Earlier this October, Mr. Kim suffered a fractured
from a fall and was confined to bed for a week. He finally checked
into the Dalin General Hospital for surgery at the urging of
many friends. Mr. Kim also underwent a complete heath examination
and was treated for all his pre-existing illnesses. The medical
staff and volunteers at the Dalin Hospital carried no reservations
as they came in contact with his leprosy. Instead, they all
revered and saw him as an extraordinary and respectable man,
and they sincerely wished for his speedy recovery.
Mr. Kim was grateful and appreciated the staff
for their kind and courteous treatment. He humbly pondered what
virtue and qualification could he possibly have had to deserve
such genuine affection from everyone and commented that he was
blessed to have all these people caring for him. He then added
that he still had much to live for, so he must recover as fast
as he could. While recollecting the fundraising events for the
hospital, Mr. Kim never expected that he would someday be admitted
into it as a patient. "All things are the work of cause
and effect!" Mr. Kim remarked, "People like us are
accepted by the folks of Tzu Chi, but we long for the same understanding
from the general public too!"
Surpassing Heaven
Mr. Kim has written the first book in
Taiwan about leprosy, entitled A Pure Land that Surpasses
Heaven. In the preface, he writes, "Leprosy is neither
sin nor fate. We are patients with an affliction, not criminals
and not prisoners. Although we are ill, we strive to live life
to its fullest. We only hope to be understood and to be accepted."
