Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

On August 14, a catastrophic earthquake again struck Haiti – its people are truly suffering. Over 11 years, Tzu Chi volunteers have brought aid there again and again. Often, they need to travel from other countries to Haiti to provide aid. This time the worst-hit places are in remote rural places; so Tzu Chi needs more local volunteers to deliver the aid. It also needs to ensure more support from local volunteers to carry out its charity missions. To build a better future for Haiti, how do Tzu Chi volunteers carry out their mission? Here is the story.

By giving love, compassion, and wisdom, on September 4, the Tzu Chi’s Haiti Earthquake Response Team held the first local volunteer training in the country. More than 50 local volunteers participated in the event. They learned the spirit of Tzu Chi and how to cook Jing Si instant rice.

Tzu Chi volunteer Curtis Hsing (邢敏) is a very experienced volunteer training instructor. As instructor this time, he used interactive teaching to help participants better understand the spirit of Tzu Chi. He listened to the opinions of local volunteers and hoped to understand the difficulties and challenges they encounter, so as to help them practice the Tzu Chi work much more smoothly. The participants are very diligent and inspired. Indeed, it is possible to inspire love.

Local volunteer Misena Dorvil has been with the Foundation for eight years. Asked about the training this time, she said: “I’ve learned a lot of things from Tzu Chi and this training helped me improve my life. I choose to be a volunteer because there are a lot of people in my country who need help. So I put myself in a position to help them and help them sincerely. Today, I’ve learned a lot from brother Curtis Hsing. The most important thing is that I have learned to help others from my heart.”

Curtis Hsing said he is looking forward to the local volunteers working together. A team leader needs to coordinate its work and to provide work opportunities to everybody. Mutual Love 3 team leader, James Ocean, earned a lot of praise from Curtis Hsing because the members of his team are very organized. Their gestures, uniform, and poise are all very good. They work closely with Johnson Chang (張永忠) in doing relief work.

Tzu Chi in Haiti has already received 250 cases of Jing Si instant rice at the warehouse. Volunteers plan to bring it to the disaster areas to make hot meals for the survivors. Therefore, they used one of the training courses to teach people to cook Jing Si rice. Volunteer James Chen (陳健) taught 4 key participants, so that, when they later go to the disaster areas, they can teach people there and start to make daily hot meals.

Hopefully in the future there will be more and more local people in Haiti join Tzu Chi. When more kind-hearted people give of themselves, disasters can be mitigated and more people can be relieved from suffering. Only when fewer people are suffering will there be hope in society.

U.S. Tzu Chi volunteers truly serve with wisdom in Haiti. They can easily enjoy life at home – but, instead, they willingly go to Haiti despite the difficult conditions. Apart from helping the needy, they also guide and train local volunteers. Good karmic affinities have borne fruit; it is time for Haiti people to serve as Tzu Chi volunteers. And the volunteers will work unceasingly to inspire love in one person after another.