September
15, 2003
Chinese
Version
Two Vietnamese doctors
attend the annual TIMA conference in Taiwan.
Dr. Dung-Thang Tran, a venerable
86-year-old physician, attracted everyone's attention with
his traditional Chinese shirt and his healthy, steady strides.
Dr. Nhu-Vinh Nguyen, a 29-year-old
physician working at Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital in Ho Chi Minh
City, shows a kind, shy smile.
HUALIEN, Taiwan - At the annual
conference of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association
(TIMA), our 13-man delegation from Vietnam, led by Brother
Chi-Lang Lam, brought the exciting news that Tzu Chi is now
approved to operate in Vietnam.
Not easy
Any assemblies or gatherings tend to be
spied on in the communist state of Vietnam. Although the Tzu
Chi Foundation is a religious charitable organization and
Tzu Chi members are not involved in any political activities,
our retreat gatherings and other meetings have often been
kept under special surveillance. We have been surrounded by
substantial hardships even though we are trying to serve the
community.
Through the persistent efforts of many Tzu
Chi volunteers in the past year and a half, the "Official
Approval of Legal Registration" for the Tzu Chi office
in Ho Chi Minh City was finally obtained on July 2003. From
now on all Tzu Chi activities may be carried out openly in
public.
Just do it
Despite its previous unofficial status,
Tzu Chi had held five large-scale free clinics throughout
Vietnam by the end of 2002. Currently there are twelve commissioners
and over thirty volunteers in this chapter. The number of
long-term care cases (people who receive regular material
assistance from volunteers) has exceeded 150. We are spending
around US$1,500 (around NT$50,000) of donated funds every
month.
The venerable old doctor
Dr. Dung-Thang Tran, 86, has carried out
his family tradition of Chinese medicine throughout his whole
life. He has cured many desperate and abandoned patients.
His goddaughter, Tuyet-Phan Phung, is an active Tzu Chi volunteer.
She repeatedly urged Dr. Tran to participate in Tzu Chi activities.
However, he often responded with a chortle, "I've always
been doing charitable activities for the community, haven't
I?" On one occasion when Tzu Chi held a food bank and
family services activity in Dr. Tran's neighborhood, Tuyet-Phan
grabbed the chance and dragged her godfather to join them.
Tuyet-Phan said, "When we visit the
long-term care recipients, we don't simply hand out relief
supplies and leave. We meet them with respect and earnestness.
Dr. Tran must have been moved by the sincerity and continuing
efforts devoted by the Tzu Chi members to those needy people."
Having personally experienced a Tzu Chi activity, Dr. Tran
was so impressed that he told Tzu Chi volunteers, "You
guys are really helping the needy with genuine actions."
Since then, Dr. Tran has actively taken
part in Tzu Chi free clinics in Nha Trang and Hanoi. He made
his first visit to Hualien to attend a TIMA conference. Although
he has given lectures and speeches in eighteen countries,
he remarked, "This is the most impressive and touching
conference that I have ever attended."
Fortunate to serve in Vietnam
Dr. Nhu-Vinh Nguyen, 29, works at Pham Ngoc
Thach Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. He learned about Tzu Chi
through a volunteer named Van-Anh Ly, and has been actively
involved in various activities ever since day one. "Since
Vietnam is a communist state, we encounter all kinds of hardships
even when we are trying to serve our community. All activities
were almost put on hold during the one and a half year period
when we were processing the official application for legal
registration.
"However, we were just too eager to
suspend what we were doing. We continued our activities secretly,"
said a volunteer named Quang-Trach Duong. He continued, "We
went without wearing uniforms to deliver food and clothes
and to visit needy people in their homes. Sometimes we would
bring along medical personnel to provide health care."
Dr. Nguyen has often gone with volunteers
to provide free clinics to the needy. He observed, "Some
diabetics, even with severe lesions on their legs, do not
receive proper treatment or diet since they are not aware
of their diabetes and simply treat it as a regular skin disease.
Once Tzu Chi volunteers encountered an old
lady on the staircase of a public housing unit. She had almost
lost consciousness when they saw her. Dr. Nguyen examined
her on the spot, and he discovered that the lady's blood pressure
was unusually high. Fortunately, the lady resumed consciousness
after emergency care.
"This old lady has no children
or home of her own. She would not have been rescued without
the Tzu Chi volunteers," said Dr. Nguyen with a relieved
smile on his face.
