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Hambantota,
SRI LANKA - These are a series of diary entries written
by a Tzu Chi volunteer who is helping in relief work
after the December 26, 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami disaster.
No vacation for anyone
this year
Today, January 14th,
is the Tamil Festival, Tamil's harvest festival. This
is a national holiday in Sri Lanka that is followed
by a three-day weekend. The holiday is observed by public
schools and government agencies; hence we have no choice
but to postpone our plan to visit local government and
educational agencies until next Monday. However, our
own work goes on. We continue to run free clinics, visit
families, set up camp, arrange relief materials, coordinate
the partnership between the Tzu Chi clinic and Hambantota
Hospital, allocate volunteer allowances, manage the
labor-for-relief money project, and host a "spreading-love"
evening soiree,. (The labor-for-relief money project
is an ongoing project that hires impoverished disaster
victims to help us rebuild the community.)
On our way to the free
clinic, volunteers were diligently practicing sign language
for the song "We are Family," specially requested
by Dr. Lin to be presented to the people where the free
clinic is held. Before the performance, a local volunteer
explained the lyrics to the audience "My happiness
comes from your laughter, if you cry, I'll be even more
sorrowful than you are..." When the villagers stood
up to welcome the medical team, Brother A-Gui requested
that they all sit down, relax and enjoy the performance.
People moved and danced with the rhythm, and there were
smiling faces everywhere. It seems like there are no
more cultural differences or barriers between us.
As usual, another emergency
case came in this morning. A woman was found sitting
on a bench barely breathing due to an asthma attack.
A nurse, Mrs. Hong Miao Li, helped her get to a clinic
room where the staff took her blood pressure and gave
her an examination. The physician then helped her inhale
bronchodilators, which significantly helped her condition.
As her breathing stabilized, everyone felt relief.
Long awaited tents
arrive
Around 9:30AM, a big
truck delivered the first shipment of 100 tents for
the disaster refugees to live in. This camp has an estimated
capacity for 200 tents. The area has gradually become
a small community. Camp workers are busy taking measurements
so they can decide where to erect the tents, and one
large tent has already been set up. Everyone walks in
to take a look and experience what it will feel like
to live inside their new home. Sunlight shines through
a window in the tent and warms the room, where in the
near future there will be a chair, cookware and 22 other
types of furniture and utensils. When refugees move
in, they can start their new life right away. The room,
though not huge, is spacious enough to hold the laughter
of a family. A new house and a new life are within reach.
A free clinic has been
on-going for half a month. 700 to 800 patients arrive
each day, and this number is still increasing. With
people spreading the word, the clinic service is known
through a much wider area. At first, people walked or
rode a bike to the clinic. Soon after, people started
to arrive via bus or tri-wheel taxi.
Our brother in charge of general affairs usually makes
tea and coffee after lunch to boost the caffeine level
of the medical staff. However, they don't always have
the chance to enjoy it. With such a heavy workload due
to a shortage of pharmacists, Sisters Yi-Jie and Hsing-Jiao
didn't even have time for lunch the other day.
We set aside a special
area for interviewing tsunami victims. Volunteers record
the victims' contact information, the impact of the
disaster on their lives, and the items they most urgently
need. It is also important that the volunteers just
listen to their stories and provide comfort for them.
For victims severely impacted by the disaster, such
as those having difficulties making a living and those
with health conditions that require continued treatment,
a follow-up visit is scheduled. Brother Ming-Nan Pan
and Brother Hong-Chi Shi (from South Africa), who are
responsible for follow-up visits, can't help but be
filled with tears of sympathy.
Medical team begins
home treatment service and disaster survey
Despite the heavy workload, the medical staff would
still like to understand better the living conditions
of local residents, especially the victims of the tsunami.
Therefore, starting today, teams consisting of a doctor
and a nurse will take turns visiting the families of
victims and delivering special TLC (tender loving care)
packages. Earlier visits have already revealed a more
complete picture of the victims' suffering and the destruction
of their homes. This is something the medical staff
has never witnessed before.
A family with two retarded children
In the morning, a team of volunteers (Dr. Yi-Gong Li,
Emergency Room Director of Da-Lin Tzu Chi Hospital;
Miao-Wen Chen, chief nurse of internal medicine intensive
care, and Brother Ming-Nan Pan), escorted a man named
Piyananda to his home 20 miles away from Hambantota.
Piyananda, 49 years old, came to the clinic with breathing
difficulties and chest pain. He told Tzu Chi volunteers
that he has a daughter and a son who are also sick but
couldn't bring them along to the clinic. Thus, after
a 40 minute trip, our medical team arrived at his house.
Piyananda has two children. His 20 year old daughter
has cerebral palsy and severe retardation and is unable
to speak. Her legs are skinny and stiff, and she can't
walk on her own. His twelve year old son is mildly retarded
and sometimes suffers from seizures. He is able to carry
simple conversation but does not control his temper
well and has a tendency towards violence. "I hope
doctors can make my kids smarter," Piyananda said.
Miao-Wen approached the boy and offered him cookies.
She tried to play with him in order to observe his behavior
and his ability to learn. Meanwhile, she wiped the daughter's
saliva off of her chin and brought a plastic bottle
for her so as to test her ability to grip objects. After
some observations and diagnosis, Dr. Li concluded that
Tzu Chi's clinic would not be able to improve their
condition much, yet hesitated to reveal the fact to
the parents.
The boy's parents pointed out that the neighborhood
kids do not play with their son much, and he rarely
has seen so many visitors. The boy enjoyed the cookies
and playing punching games with the volunteers. However,
his punches became increasingly stronger and his screeching
louder. The game had obviously made him angry. While
the son can be trained to take care of his daily routines,
the daughter would require a government agency or church
to accept her and take care of her. From the local volunteer
interpreter, we learned that there is no institution
for the retarded in Sri Lanka. Realizing the parents'
dedication as they unwaveringly continue to take care
of their kids with such patience, Dr. Li decided to
collect relevant information about caring for retarded
children and had a local volunteer translate this information
to the parents.
Furthermore, the boy
has folliculitis on his legs and arms. Dr. Li requested
that volunteers bring medicine for it in the afternoon.
Two weeks of treatment should provide a complete cure.
Piyananda took out the
seizure medicine he had and told us that his son needs
to take it twice a day and that this costs him 300 rupees
each week. Yet, his monthly income is only 1000 rupees.
He hoped that Tzu Chi could prescribe and provide them
with the same medicine. Dr. Kun-Jie Wu responded that
the anti-seizure drug is not an emergency medication
and hence is not presently available in the free clinic.
However, since the hospital Superintendent Dr. Lin has
made an exception for this, Dr. Wu promised Piyananda
that the next Tzu Chi free clinic team would bring the
medicine from Taiwan.
When it came time to
say goodbye to the family, the son unexpectedly bowed
and placed his hands on the shoes of the doctor, nurse
and other volunteers as a gesture of respect. This surprised
and touched many of us.
Tzu-Chi to provide
medication for brain tumor patient
Our next visit took us to 35 year old Aumitha, a patient
with a brain tumor. Though her husband was working in
the market on the morning of the tsunami, he survived
the disaster. However, all his business equipment was
destroyed, and he is now unemployed. Aumitha told Dr.
Yi-Gong Li that ever since she had the brain tumor,
her breasts have been producing milk irregularly. The
local physicians suggested she either continue to take
medication to keep the tumor under control, or have
surgery to remove it. Not only did she not have the
money for surgery, she couldn't afford to take long-term
medication without interruption. She said that her medication
is not covered by the public hospital and that she needs
to pay on her own. She asked whether Tzu Chi could help
her.
Aumitha had spent 35,000 rupees, subsidized by the government,
for an NMR examination. Dr. Li took a close look at
the NMR scan and suddenly thought, "Why, this is
Dr. Lin's expertise, why not take her back to the free
clinic and let Dr. Lin diagnose it!" Dr. Li then
pointed out that if we took only the expensive NMR picture
back without bringing Aumitha along, she might be concerned
about it. So we invited her and her ten-year old daughter
to ride back with us. Dr. Rong-Hsin Lin asked her questions
while looking at the NMR result. He then told her that
she has been diagnosed with Pituitary Prolactinoma and
that the tumor size was now about 1.5 cm. There are
two treatments for this: she could take medication for
two to three years to keep the tumor size under control
or she could have surgery. Knowing that Aumitha preferred
medicine but couldn't afford it, Dr. Lin offered to
have the next Tzu Chi clinic team bring her a six-month
supply of medication. Aumitha was overjoyed.
Widowed woman moves
on after tsunami
Yasawathee is pregnant and due in March. She lost her
husband and father-in-law in the tsunami. Her baby will
be born without ever having a chance to see the father.
The sadness and worry has put a deep frown on her face,
and when we saw her, Yasawathee was listlessly living
with her mother-in-law and her brother-in-law and his
wife.
Her brother-in-law is
a motorcycle repairman. After losing his father and
brother, he found himself as the sole breadwinner for
the whole family, which is a tremendous burden. Yasawathee
was also worried that with a baby on the way and no
skills to make a living, she would always be dependent
on others.
When we went to see
the family, we delivered milk and biscuits to her and
asked if she had enough food. She said that there might
not be enough next month. Dr. Yi-Gong Li was concerned
about the health of both her and her baby. He and Miao-Wen
both gently touched her belly to feel the baby inside.
They told her, "Here, this is the baby's head,
do you know that?" Yet not even the slightest smile
appeared on her face.
After learning that
Yasawathee never had a pregnancy check, Dr. Li urged
her to have an exam before the child's birth. "Please
take good care of yourself. Your husband and father-in-law
would have wished that you deliver the baby safely,
OK?" Singaporean volunteer sister Tzui-Lian Lin
embraced Yasawathee like a mother and comforted her:
"You're not alone. You have family members who
love you and we all love you too. If you're happy, the
baby will be happy; if you're sad, the baby will feel
sad too. We believe you will be a great mother".
Sister Tzui-Lian also encouraged Yasawathee and her
mother-in-law to take care of and support each other.
Before their departure,
Tzu Chi volunteers told Yasawathee that they would return
to see her and that she should not to worry about food
shortages. The Tzu Chi foundation would distribute food
for Tsunami victims by the end of February, and she
would have her share. With the volunteers' comforting
words and their dependability, Yasawathee broke into
tears, releasing her sadness, and then, finally, she
smiled.
Unconditional
love repaid with fresh coconuts
As we returned from our outpatient visits, a smiling
patient greeted Dr. Kun-Ji Wu through the window of
his vehicle. Dr. Wu kindly asked whether she felt better.
She replied affirmatively and told Dr. Wu that she had
brought lots of coconuts today and that he should be
sure to try some. The woman had been diagnosed with
diabetes and has a cut on her leg. When she came for
her second visit yesterday, she and her husband brought
many coconuts from their home for the medical team.
Here, a coconut can be sold for 25 Rupee, and the lady
has been bringing them in for two days. Dr. Wu figured
that if she keeps coming back for medical treatment,
everyone will get to have a coconut everyday. We all
truly felt the sincerity and courtesy of this woman.
After lunch, Brother A-Gui and Brother Ji-Yu participated
in a construction meeting. This involved architects
and contractors meeting to discuss how to speed up the
progress of setting up the tents. Starting tomorrow,
the number of construction teams will be increased from
one to ten. This labor-for-relief money project will
help survivors rebuild their community and earn a living
at the same time. At first we were paying 150 rupees
a day for the work, but later this was re-adjusted to
250 rupees to match the local regular daily wage of
300 rupees. Workers are men selected from a prioritized
list of impoverished victims who were discovered through
our follow up visits. In the afternoon, we were able
to identify more than 10 qualified people. Our brothers
and local volunteers then visited those candidates to
ask if they wanted to accept the job offers.
Other than that, at the end of tomorrow's free clinic,
the clinic equipment will be relocated to Hambantota
Hospital, and we will begin to work with local physicians.
After our evening sharing time, we sang a prayer to
bring closure to the day's work, and we prayed that
the victims will be able to rebuild their life soon.
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