Tzu Chi Taiwan Sends Relief Supplies and
Blessing to South Africa
The
volunteers hold a small blessing ceremony to wish the relief
supplies a safe and smooth delivery to the needy in South
Africa.
KAOHSIUNG,
Taiwan - More than two hundred Tzu Chi volunteers from Kaohsiung
took part in packing 500 boxes of relief items for South Africa.
The relief materials are scheduled to arrive by the end of
September for 3,000 under-privileged people and 2,700 students
in South Africa's Tzu Chi Elementary School.
Supplies for education and winter needs
The relief items include secondhand winter
clothing, hats, gloves, stationary and old textbooks. A local
publisher donated two hundred first and second grade textbooks
for the relief mission. Hualien Tzu Chi Elementary School
donated Chinese writing books to six South Africa Tzu Chi
Elementary Schools so that the students would be able to practice
their Chinese.
Although Tzu Chi South Africa has distributed
relief items before, this is the first time Tzu Chi Taiwan
is sending relief items to South Africa. The volunteers held
a small blessing ceremony and hoped their sincerity would
ensure a smooth transfer of the goods to the needy in South
Africa. Considering the unstable political and social situation,
these items would be able to help some of the underprivileged
in East London, Smith and Port Elizabeth pull through the
hard winter.
The joy of giving
A volunteer said, "I wanted to make
good use of my time." This single mother brought her
daughter to join the efforts. Initially her daughter didn't
want to participate in volunteer activities. However she found
her mother becoming more patient after joining Tzu Chi, so
she decided to come and see. She remarked, "I guess the
joy from volunteering drives me to continue joining activities."
Tzu Chi volunteers in Taiwan are grateful
for the opportunity to give a helping hand to the other side
of the world. Although not all relief supplies are new, the
volunteers still picked through, cleaned, ironed and packed
the items with their respectful hearts. They hope the recipients
would be able to feel the blessing and warmth from them.
