Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

A tea ceremony to express gratitude to the elderlies was organized in Maheswori tent community. It was special because the event planning and execution, like songs selection, layout and decoration, activity and emcee, were all coordinated by the local volunteers. They even included a session to help the elderlies wash their hands and faces to express their heartiest thanks. Many elderlies were moved to tears.

Young volunteers shed tears while paying respect to the elderlies

“Because we are one family … ” singing the chinese version of the song named “One Family”, the young Nepalese volunteers organized a tea ceremony on June 2nd for the elderlies in the tent community, regardless whether they were related or not. Impressively, the youngsters did it without any help from the adult Tzu Chi volunteers.

Nepalese volunteer Ria said, "Tzu Chi Foundation has been accompanying and helping us to find the strength to move on right after the earthquake. I wish to thank Tzu Chi Foundation and all of you." Another local volunteer made a resolution, "If possible, I would like to be a Tzu Chi volunteer in the future."

With sincere resolution comes the strength to fulfill it. The young volunteers seize the moment to express their heartiest gratitude to all parents. A member of the Tzu Chi disaster relief team Lin Shu-chen said, “It is good to let them have hands-on experience to learn the ways to return the kindness and love of the elderlies and pay it forward to others.”

Young volunteers knelt down to serve the elderlies. Using wet tissues, they wiped away the dirt and also the sorrow from the faces of the elderlies. Nepalese volunteers, especially Ria, had a lot of feelings during the session, “The elderly grandmother felt comfortable, and she feels like I am her daughter.”

Because the tent area blows strong winds that carry sands, the tea serving ceremony was replaced by serving biscuits to the elderlies. The ceremony was very warm-hearted and many had shed their tears out of joy followed by lots of laughter. A medical team member Wen Su-jui said, “He gave us these flowers because he felt happy with us.”

A bouquet of flowers said a thousand words. Their gratefulness touched the hearts of Tzu Chi volunteers.

(Report by Chen I-chen, Chen Li-wei, Hsu Fei-li, Ko Hsin-chih in Nepal. June 02, 2015)