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This morning we headed to two more schools and distributed
40 and 14 first-aid kits respectively. One of the schools
was a Muslim school. It was the alma mater of Zareena
Samidon, a local volunteer who accompanied us to the
distribution site.
Of the four schools in Hambantota ravaged by the disaster,
three saw their principals' lives taken by the tsunami.
Eleven teachers and over 470 students also passed away.
All the surviving teachers received a first-aid kit
so that they can use it to take care of the students
and neighbors.
Some teachers questioned how one first-aid kit could
take care of 40 or so students? We said that it was
a first-aid kit for emergency, and hopefully they would
take on the role of a medical emissary.
At 3 p.m., Dr. Lin Shinn-rong, president of Buddhist
Tzu Chi Medical Center and leader of the Tzu Chi medical
team, led team members to Hambantota Base Hospital to
donate some medicines. These medicines were provided
by Taiwan's Chungmei Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Co.
Owned by Lee A-li, a Tzu Chi commissioner in Changhua
in central Taiwan.
The medicines donated to the hospital included 40,000
units of antibiotics, 400,000 units of Steroids, and
4,000 tubes of antiviral lotions. The total worth of
these three groups of medicine exceeded NT$500,000 (US$15,600)
and were the most needed by the local staff. Dr. Lin
was very pleased and hoped those supplies would be helpful
in improving local medical care.
In the ceremony attended by many staff members at the
Base Hospital, Dr. Lin expressed gratitude toward Tzu
Chi for everything they've done. The donation of medical
supplies was only the first step in the cooperation
between Tzu Chi Hospital and Hambantota Base Hospital.
Dr. Lin further invited the president of the Base Hospital
to visit Tzu Chi Hospital in Taiwan.
In the morning, Brother Pan Ming-nan of the survey
team accompanied Dr. Hung Yo-ming and other volunteers
to visit a daycare center near the free clinic. While
they were giving out cookies and candy to the children,
they also talked to them to better understand their
family background and treated a few who were wounded.
Among the approximately 20 youngsters there, two lost
both parents and three lost their fathers during the
tsunami. Information collected during this trip will
be used for a future assistance program for the children.
The team continued rushing on in building the temporary
tent shelters next to a mosque. Construction work included
setting up foundations for tents, bathrooms, and kitchens.
At the end of the day, the team completed foundations
for 116 tent houses, two public bathrooms, and two septic
tanks. It would take two more days to complete all foundations
and set up all tents immediately afterwards.
In the morning, the chief officer of the Hambantota
city government came to the administrative office of
the free clinic to announce the news of an upcoming
visit from the Sri Lankan president. The president would
visit the future site of Tzu Chi's Great Love Houses
and host a ceremony to mark the first step in the upstart
of future permanent sites for all the charity organizations
and a new city establishment.
The chief officer asked Tzu Chi to set up three temporary
tent house models at the site of Tzu Chi Great Love
Houses. This would help the president, who could not
visit the tent house camp near the mosque, to better
appreciate the temporary shelters provided by Tzu Chi.
The models were completed later by Brothers Chen Ying-chi
and David Liu along with a group of construction workers.
Brother David Liu, who rarely set foot in the kitchen,
decided to cook for the departing medical team members
and volunteers from Taiwan as an expression of his gratitude.
He went to the market early in the morning and quickly
prepared a pot of tasty noodles, several entrees and
soup. All heartily enjoyed the meal. It was a rare occasion
for the free clinic team members to take a break at
noon and come together to enjoy Brother Liu's kindness.
At 2 p.m., a group of volunteers, including Brother
Hsieh Ching-kuei, Brother Chu Chang-lin, Brother Kuo
Yo-yi, Mr. Anil de Silva and Mr. Sirosha Prithiviraj
Gunatilake, met with Mr. Basil, the secretary to the
prime minister, at the prime minister's office in Colombo
to re-sign a memorandum on construction of the 1,000
permanent Great Love Houses.
Mr. Basil was very busy and constantly interrupted by
phone calls, but he was still very friendly as he greeted
everyone. Mr. Basil apologized to Brother Ching-kuei
for the typo on Tzu Chi's name in the memorandum. He
took out an English copy of Tzu Chi periodical given
to him previously to double check again.
At 2:30 p.m., Mr. Basil formally presented the signed
memorandum to Brother Ching-kuei and shook hands to
express mutual gratitude which turned into an embrace.
Brother Ching-kuei further discussed with Mr. Basil
on various issues regarding Great Love House construction,
food distribution with the help from the military for
moving and transporting, establishing interface for
school reconstruction, cooking utensil distribution
list, and food distribution list.
Afterwards, Brother Ching-kuei played a videotape made
by Da Ai TV reporters of the first disaster relief team.
Although Mr. Basil was constantly on the phone, he noticed
that the tape used a native music in the background.
He asked for a copy from Brother Ching-kuei, and Sirosha
promised to help with making a video disc for Mr. Basil.
As the free clinic came to a close at 5 p.m., the fourth
relief team came from Singapore and Malaysia, with 11
volunteers arriving ahead of time. Besides receiving
a warm welcome, they were also invited to attend the
gratitude party held by the local volunteers. The Master
of Ceremony was Sister Yu-liu, who explained the meaning
of the performed songs in English and led everyone in
singing a hello song.
Afterwards, the song "We are family" was
sung to express the idea that we are all one family.
The party took place in the outdoor examination area.
It opened with a broadcast of the song "Showering
Love Upon Humanity" in English, where everyone
was invited to join and sing along with palms together,
as a prayer for peace in society and a world free of
tragedy.
Also, the local volunteer Zareena took on translating
the English subtitle to the Sri Lankan language so all
the local volunteers can understand the meaning of the
song. Later, about 10 volunteers took turns on stage
to share their testimonials in tsunami relief and expressed
thanks.
For some of the younger volunteers who came with their
parents, these "Bodhisattva families" were
also invited to share their thoughts on stage. Some
of these parents were once treated at the clinic and
many of these parents fully supported their kids' volunteering
at the Tzu Chi's free clinic during their free time.
Everyone's common sentiment was the gratefulness towards
Tzu Chi for coming to Sri Lanka to help their people.
Furthermore, they also elaborated the moving inspiration
brought about by Tzu Chi's people and culture.
Asitha, who is Anil's elder brother and a director at
Anil's company, also voluntarily ascended the stage
to express his gratitude. He sincerely thanked Tzu Chi
for coming to help his country. (Asitha has privately
revealed to Tzu Chi volunteers his desire to give up
his career and joining a charity mission like Tzu Chi.
Brother David Liu and Brother Ching-kuei had already
invited them all to visit Hualien during the Chinese
New Year).
Afterwards, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Center President
Lin Shinn-rong and Brother Lu Fang-chuan passed out
tokens of friendship to all the volunteers. These gifts
included prayer beads from the Venerable Master, Flying
Toward Heaven greeting cards, bilingual edition of The
Little Still Thoughts Volumes 1 and 2, and the 38th
anniversary pendant.
As the melody of "Peas that Remind Us of Teacher"
played, the participants started thinking about the
Venerable Master, and there was a special feeling of
warmth knowing Tzu Chi's seeds of Great Love had been
sown upon this Buddhist nation. We sincerely prayed
that Sri Lanka would enjoy a peace free from disaster.
We looked forward to the continuation and propagation
of the Tzu Chi spirit here.
Volunteer Zareena announced she would donate the volunteer
subsidy given by Tzu Chi. Her declaration was applauded
with enthusiasm and many volunteers followed suit and
donated their subsidies also.
Originally, Tzu Chi had considered that many volunteers
had paid their own bus fare to help out in the free
clinic for days, with some of them taking hour long
trips. They also considered that many volunteers had
bought their own meals because they were not used to
the Chinese food provided. Hence Tzu Chi decide to compensate
volunteers' travel and meal expenses.
However, these grateful volunteers not only contributed
their time to come and help, they even donated their
subsidy at the end. They became individuals who generously
shared their wealth with open hands. There was no doubt
of Sri Lanka's peace and harmony based on the great
dynamic of volunteers' love.
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