Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

The Tzu Chi Nepalese charity team keeps helping those who are suffering. They inspired Om Kalwar and his mother in Lumbini to give of themselves to help the needy.

Meet Om Kalwar

On November 28, 2022, volunteers from Singapore and Malaysia visited Balrampur Secondary School in Lumbini to learn about children who have dropped out. One of them was 18-year-old Om Kalwar. When he was two years old, his father left the family. Since then, he and his mother have depended on each other. Because his mother had no job, she only could rely on her own family to support her. When Om Kalwar reached seventh grade, her family stopped providing assistance on the grounds that her son had grown up and could work. Om Kalwar dropped out of school and stopped his studies thereafter.

Like Family

During the interaction, the volunteers clearly felt the loneliness, helplessness, panic, and worry of the mother and the child. After the home visit, they immediately discussed, evaluated and decided to start subsidizing them with rice. On the same day, the volunteers delivered the rice, and told the mother to rest assured that the assistance would not be interrupted. At the same time, they persuaded her to let her son go back to school.

On December 3, 2022, volunteers invited Om Kalwar and his mother to participate in the Tzu Chi winter distribution. The mother received thick blankets and daily necessities from the volunteers. Later, accompanied by a volunteer, the mother and son and other care recipients had a meal together; they were like a big family. In the warm atmosphere, the mother's face showed a long-lost smile.

Impressed Deeply

In addition to preparing the meals with care, the volunteers also carefully staged a fascinating small play. Some volunteers rolled up their trousers and held hoes and sledges to act like Burmese farmers. Coupled with the narration by volunteer Manoj Dhawal in the local dialect, it vividly and interestingly brought out the meaning of the Rice Piggy Bank in Myanmar -- to save a handful of rice a day to help the needy.

Om Kalwar and his mother watched happily and earnestly. They were deeply impressed by a scene in which Tulsi Narayan Matang held a pot full of rice and a container as a rice piggy bank and then asked everyone to take a handful of rice from the pot and put it into the container.

Pay It Forward

On January 7, 2023, volunteers came to visit them again. When Om Kalwar’s mother saw the familiar blue and white uniforms, she felt the care and love, and tears filled her eyes with gratitude. The volunteers cared about their current situation, particularly Om Kalwar's learning at school. Just when the volunteers were about to leave, Om Kalwar took out a container full of rice from his home and handed it to the volunteers.

Volunteers were surprised and moved. They gave a thumbs up and praised them again and again. Om Kalwar and his mother saved a handful of rice every day after the winter distribution. Before cooking, they grabbed a handful of rice and put it in a container. Within a month, they collected 1.4 kilograms of rice and handed it over to volunteers to spread great love.

In Lumbini, Om Kalwar also became the second member of the rice piggy bank after Sharada Harijan, the first one. The love continues to this day. Volunteers hope that the local area can become like  Myanmar, transforming fate into love. The kindness that can help others in difficult times will make more poor families no longer go hungry; the souls that are nourished and grow in love will have more courage to face their hardships.

One Jing Si Aphorism says: “We help others with our palms facing down, and we ask for help with our palms facing up; helping brings happiness, while seeking help brings pain.”

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Story by Wang Qi-zhen and Wu Xiu-ling