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There are only two days left before we distribute relief
supplies to the tsunami survivors. We tried to hurry
up setting up the tents to provide temporary shelters.
All of the relief goods, such as rice, cooking oil,
sugar and milk powder, had to arrive and be in order
today.
Two separate distribution process briefings were to
be held in Amblantota and Hambantota. We would explain
the procedures to the village chiefs and give them the
relief distribution tickets to give to the victims.
Forty-six people, including 41 Tzu Chi members from
the United States and Canada and five TV crew members
from Taiwan, would arrive at the free clinic station
this afternoon to help out in the next few days.
The number of local volunteers joining Tzu-Chi relief
effort had been constantly increasing. They roll up
their sleeves and put their sorrows aside to help other
victims. There were about 40 local people who joined
to help and were here almost every day in the last one
month of Tzu-Chi's disaster relief effort in Hambantota.
We wish to attract even more local volunteers to spread
the seed of love. It was only when they help each that
this kind of benevolence can be passed on to the people.
It was half an hour past midnight when Tzu Chi North
American members arrived in Sri Lanka. Five public TV
crew members from Taiwan followed them to report the
relief activities. Ah Sango, Sirosha Prithiviraj Gunatilake
and other staff members from Anil de Silva's trading
company Leader Day were there to pick up the Tzu Chi
people from the airport.
The team leader, brother William Keh, made room arrangement
for the volunteers and had to set up the meeting time
for tomorrow before everyone could get some rest. It
was quite a luxury for many brothers and sisters who
had stayed up during the past couple of days. For some,
the flight from the U.S. East Coast to Sri Lanka via
Germany and Singapore, took 53 hours.
We found out during breakfast today that the hotel
we stayed in was nearly 200 years old. Everything seemed
perfect for a vacation spot. It was hard to image such
a horrible disaster had taken place not too far away
from here.
To our surprise, Dr. Edward Artis of the Los Angeles-based
Knightbridge International showed up during breakfast.
He arrived in Sri Lanka for almost a month now, and
has helped in rebuilding the fishing boats for the local
fishermen. It was a great surprise to see another international
volunteer in this foreign land working towards the same
goal of giving love and care to the tsunami victims.
Dr. Edward Artis waved his hands at the window to see
us off.
When we arrived, brothers David Liu and Lin Chung-chih
showed everyone the medical station and the area for
Jan. 30's distribution of relief goods. We immediately
started to lay white canvas on the ground in the tent
area of the medical station. The hot temperature and
humidity made everyone sweat immediately. Our caring
Brothers and Sisters were all standing by and had cups
of water to make sure everyone did not dehydrate.
To minimize the language barrier between volunteers
and victims, we demonstrated the distribution procedures
to the village chiefs. It would help the relief distribution
to be completed more effectively on Jan. 30.
We held a briefing at the office of Amblantota's divisional
secretary at 10 a.m. for Jan. 29's distribution. All
49 district and village chiefs and the mayor came to
attend the briefing. Brother Chen Chin-fa explained
the distribution details and procedures with a slide
show and distributed the relief tickets to the district
and village chiefs. The briefing was done successfully.
At 2:00 p.m., we held another briefing in Hambantota
for the distribution to be held on Jan. 30. The briefing
was held in the temple across Tzu Chi's free clinic
site. Out of the 30 village chiefs, only 13 attended
the briefing. It took significantly longer to explain
the details due to different opinions, but fortunately,
the mayor and the district chief also attended the briefing
and helped smooth things over.
For those village chiefs who did not attend the briefing,
we also delegated the chiefs from the nearby villages
with the responsibility of helping to distribute the
relief tickets and conveying the necessary messages.
We need to work harder on communications in order to
perform the distribution more effectively.
A total of 196 tents were completed today. Four of
the 14 planned kitchens were done; while another four
of the 15 planned bathrooms were completed. The tsunami
victims would have the basic sanitary and utilities
when they start moving in on Jan. 29. We were grateful
to the Pakistan army for assigning 37 soldiers to help
our project. We were also grateful to the seven Sri
Lanka navy personnel and 12 local volunteers who came
to our aid to speed up this project.
This was the third day this medical team offered free
clinic, and the number of people came in to seek medical
help continued to increase. The blood pressure measurement
of local people appeared to be higher than normal. They
were seriously lacking medical knowledge. We then decided
to hold a seminar to educate local residents with some
general medical knowledge in order to prevent future
diseases and improve their health awareness.
Most of the local residents spoke only Sri Lanka language
despite having English as their official language. Therefore,
it was essential to educate them in the local language.
Even with help from Mr. Anil de Silva, we found many
medical terms were difficult to be translated to simple
words in the Sri Lankan language for easy understanding.
This made the medical education a daunting task. We
were all touched by the efforts our volunteers' effort
to convey these important messages to the local residents
with the most appropriate and simple words.
During the medical education seminar, Sister Chen Tsu-fei
and the translation volunteers worked hand in hand to
teach the local residents the impact of high blood pressure
and how to prevent it. The climax of this event was
a trivia contest with gift prizes. Everyone eagerly
participated, and it was a pleasure to see most of the
answers were correct.
Today, the free clinic serviced 1,233 people, including
82 in dental care. This was another new record. We were
grateful for running the free clinic smoothly.
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