By
Meishiang Hsieh
Considering my own endurance and adaptability,
I had long been hesitant to participate in any international
disaster relief lest I, myself, became a liability for the
team. However, I gradually gained more confidence in my own
physical conditions by scrapping through larger and longer
workshops in the last two years. It has also dawned on me
that if I don't grasp the ever-shrinking opportunities with
my age, I may find regret at the very end.
Inspired by Sister Hui-Ru Lin & Dr. Xu's fifteen oral
hygiene training sessions in the Northern California branch
offices, I signed up for Bolivia Disaster Relief. With my
minimal study in Spanish, I translated the PowerPoint oral
hygiene educational materials into Spanish. In the short span
of my translation, helping hands emerged one after another,
and the mysteriously opportune moments made me perceive the
meaning of "Believing that one can avoid selfishness,
and believing in the love and care of others."
Through tremendous help from three Mexican Americans in our
continuous effort in translating and proofreading, each PowerPoint
slide had a verbal translation attached. These translators
are our angelic helping hands appearing at the perfect time.
We gave these USB-based oral hygiene care kits, compiled before
the outreach, to the local dentists as their educational material
when we left Mairana, Bolivia. To our greater delight, our
Tzu Chi volunteers in Argentina and Paraguay also needed this
material. We hope our initiative will induce more participation
to its continuous improvement. The joy of this work is beyond
description.
Retracing Our 3-day Free Clinic Activities
Closing my eyes on the plane back to the US, I mentally replayed
blow-by-blow the activities in the last three days. I saw
villagers drawing out long lines back-to-back under the scorching
sun, waiting for free treatment and supply distribution.
Most people's skin was engraved by perennial exposure to the
hostile climate, women wore braids under their hats and their
feet were covered in thick calluses. Their body odor was the
result of their poverty and the lack of sanitary facilities.
My mind was also full of pictures of infants wrapped tightly
in baby sling, who later grew into bare-foot children laden
with dried snot on the face and decayed teeth in the mouth.
I started from San Francisco International Airport at around
ten in the morning on August 8th 2007. I missed my connecting
flight in Houston because the airport was too big and I had
only less than 34 minutes to go from one terminal to the other.
I was close to tears when seeing the gate to my connecting
flight closed in front of me. In the first place, I had worried
that my luggages, loaded with disaster relief kits, might
not be able to make the transfer flight, but it turned out
being my person who missed the flight. While waiting for the
next flight, I noticed that the person sitting next to me
looked Latino. After self-introductions, I found that he happened
to be from Bolivia, so I asked him to record the last section
of the Spanish version of the oral hygiene. My little inconvenience
in missing my connection flight turned out to be a great benefit
to my work. It was already 11:40 pm when I arrived in Miami.
Thanks to Brother Tsai & Sister Shu to pick me up and
take me to their place to stay for the night. The whole team
convened at nine next morning. At our destination Santa Cruz
airport, the media was already waiting outside. Thanks to
our forerunner team, we smoothly checked in the hotel in darkness
after midnight. Regardless of what time it was, we had to
get up at 4 and set out at 5 in the morning.
Early in the morning on August 10, our car reeled through
the winding mountain road. It was already broad daylight when
we arrived.
Expecting to be greeted by excited villagers, I envisioned
the grand-opening local hospital to be a tower block with
air-conditioning, all kinds of medical devices, and disinfectants.
But, the reality fell far from my expectations.
The free clinic was held in the hospital as well as the elementary
school's classrooms. Supply distribution took place in the
middle school's gymnasium. At either place, people had to
wait outside the gate for security reasons. The anxious crowd,
bearing the scorching sun and lining up close to one another
with expectant faces, made me feel deeply sorry for them.
Once we arrived at the hospital, everyone started to set up
equipment based on their individual assignments. Due to the
difference in voltage, we had prepared transformers and converted
two-prong connections to three-prong ones. Every step was
successfully completed through perfect teamwork in advance.
I felt the instant appreciation when I finally saw the oral
hygiene pictures projected on the wall.
After putting his posters on the wall around where the patients
were waiting in line, Dr. Xu, the dentist in our team, spontaneously
took this very opportunity to interact with the patients and
showed them oral hygiene tips. In watching him administer
his ever-ready demonstrating how to brush teeth either one-on-one
or in a group, it dawned on me the importance of interpersonal
interactions in our Dharma practice. Yet he is a practicing
Christian, and his wisdom and modesty are truly respectable.
Led by Dr. Xu, we carried our tooth brush and backpack next
day to the primary school's classroom in another free clinic
area. In order to avoid interfering with the free clinic activities,
we conducted "mobile" oral hygiene teaching amongst
different departments of the free clinic wherever time and
space allowed. Our first visit was in Pediatrics, where we
showed children how to use the soft brush. With a 45 degree
angle, the right way to brush is circling the brush from inner
side of the gum to the outer side, gently massaging every
gum and naturally keeping the brush at its proper place.
A lot of adults only had 2 or 3 or even no teeth left, making
us feel frustrated and helpless. Our experience accumulated
over time; we learned how to size up the patients. For the
elderly whose cheeks were concave from missing teeth, what
they needed were dentures. Oral hygiene needs to start from
a young age. So, we looked for kids to demonstrate to them.
To our surprise, most kids' molar teeth had been emptied from
decay. Endless questions arose in mind, such as "if they
had ever brushed their teeth?" "Were they too poor
to afford toothbrushes and toothpaste?" No wonder most
adults have no teeth at all.
Interactions with Children
It dawned on Brother Stephen Huang when we were folding the
Spanish version of "Still Thought" paper that we
should ask the children to help us. Using basic Spanish, I
asked the children for help. We then gathered more children
around to practice the song "The Three No's". Accompanied
by Dr. Shi's keyboard, sadly discordant, the kids resounded
sincerely without hesitation. I believe the meaning of The
Three No's in Spanish "There is no one that I don't love,
there is no one that I don't trust, there is no one that I
don't forgive" has ingrained in all attendants' mind.
At last, we distributed Dr. Lin's gifts from New York of stationery
boxes to the children. The line for this gift got longer and
longer after a while. This gift attracted children and adults
alike, and even the local work staff hoped to get one.
Free clinic and neighborhood visits
Dr. Hui-Ru Lin convened all the local dentists and asked
Dr. Xu to offer them oral hygiene education. The emphasis
is to infuse the community with prevention knowledge. Hopefully,
the local dentists can educate the general public about the
right way to brush their teeth. We were glad that we could
give them the Spanish version PowerPoint slides for their
future reference.
The neighborhood visiting was led by two local councilmen.
The first household was located in a disheveled house made
of dirt with the meager size of ten square meters. Nine people
took two beds; the kitchen was outside. Both parents were
out working at their temporary jobs, and the barefooted children
at home were aged from three to twelve. We gave them the rations
and then taught them how to use toothbrushes and tooth paste.
With their stark conditions, I wondered how the local volunteers
could possibly follow up after our initial outreach.
When seeing their sheer poverty, I became very appreciative
of what I have: Coming upon poverty reminds us of our own
fortune; knowing our own fortune reminds us to treasure it;
we must be assiduous in spreading further good fortune.
After word
Thanks to the tireless effort from brothers and sisters in
the forerunning team to look after us during the outreach.
Thanks to the volunteer cooking team to prepare abundant food
which we accepted with great indebtedness.
Sharing by Meishiang Hsieh
