Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

In Nepal, many children enter the workforce after completing the 10th grade of secondary school. With no specialist skills, they rely on manual labor to earn a meager income to support their families. If they could continue their education and obtain a diploma from a college or university, they would have more job opportunities and could change their own and their family's destiny.

Affinity

Compared to other colleges, Khudabagar Adarsh College in Lumbini, Nepal, has affordable tuition fees, but many students still drop out due to financial difficulties. To help such poor students return to school, the college's dean, Ram Bali Yadav, provided a list of dropouts to Tzu Chi volunteers. The volunteers tirelessly visited each student's family and worked hard to persuade these young adults to return to school. They successfully helped 16 of them with financial aid; this enabled them to fulfill their dream of education, become teachers and develop skills for their future.

Sincere Sharing

On March 18th, the second student aid association event was held at Khudabagar Adarsh College, attended by 14 student beneficiaries. Since its first event on January 11th, 2023, 16 students have participated, allowing beneficiaries of different grades to get to know each other and learn about Tzu Chi. The hope is that these students will continue to strive for excellence in their studies and understand that Tzu Chi is an organization that helps those in need through the accumulation of small donations. The event aimed to inspire everyone to join Tzu Chi with love; the beneficiaries are encouraged to help others.

Ahead of the event, the education team carefully prepared in advance, with local volunteers taking full responsibility. During the event, the four Tzu Chi missions of charity, medicine, education, and humanistic culture were shared in Nepali. To create a more attractive learning environment, the volunteers cleverly designed a puzzle activity; students were asked to combine two puzzle pieces to represent Tzu Chi's missions of charity and education.

Story of Sundari

Tulsi Narayan Matang, a volunteer from Kathmandu, shared the charity case of a little girl named Sundari and her family with the students through a video. The family includes a nearly blind father, a mentally challenged mother, and three children who struggle to have three meals a day. As a result, the volunteers started distributing goods to them. Seeing that Sundari and her family lived in a house with a leaking roof and collapsing mud walls after the onset of the rainy season, volunteers also built a simple house for them. For the older children who were not attending school, they arranged for them to attend preschool to learn to read and write; they provided long-term care and companionship to ensure their stability and well-being.

Learn through Games

The education program was led by Kriti Gole, a local volunteer from Kathmandu who grew up in a Tzu Chi Village and was once a Tzu Chi scholarship recipient. After graduating from social work, she joined the Tzu Chi volunteer team. She used a puzzle game to teach everyone the correct way to wash their hands and apply it in daily life to help students understand. Her lively approach made a deep impression on the students.

Spirit of Piggy Bank

Volunteer Krishna carefully explained that the student aid fund does not come from the donations of just one or two people, but rather from the love and contributions of many people who donate piece by piece into a bamboo piggy bank (coin bank). He also introduced "Mi Pum Man" (rice piggy bank), encouraging everyone to learn from Burmese farmers who set aside a handful of rice each day. This embodies the spirit of compassion and altruism of "eat eight-tenths full, and use two-tenths to help others." The volunteer's sincere sharing captivated the attention of all the students who attended the event.

Deeply Moved

For this gathering, the dean, Ram Bali Yadav, also invited his brother Sanjay Singh Yadav, who teaches science at Suryapura Secondary School, so that he could understand Tzu Chi. Sanjay listened attentively to the volunteers' sharing and was very excited. He was happy to be able to participate in the activity and said: "Our society has many poor people who don't have the opportunity to go to school. Some don't have money, some have lost their parents, and there are many other problems. So, providing them with scholarships is really great." Sanjay was deeply moved by Tzu Chi's assistance to poor students.

Sanjay finally understood the purpose of his brother Ram Bali’s invitation to the event - to let him personally experience the sincere efforts of Tzu Chi volunteers and see hope for future education. As a teacher, he expressed gratitude for his brother's guidance. He said he would strive to follow his example to change the attitude of government and schoolteachers towards teaching and fulfill the responsibilities of being a teacher.

Dean Ram Bali Yadav

After hearing his younger brother's words, Ram Bali exclaimed with joy: "Since joining the Tzu Chi Teachers’ Association, I have gained immeasurable strength and courage within my heart. Every day, I share a Jing Si Aphorism in class. Not only do I teach it in the college, but also after 10 o'clock when classes end, I go to another high school to teach and share Jing Si Aphorisms."

He proudly said that, since Tzu Chi brought in Jing Si Aphorisms to the school, the learning atmosphere has improved. Previously, students used to fight and curse each other, but now they have become docile, friendly and helpful -- something he had always wanted to change but could not.

In fact, when Tzu Chi volunteers came to Lumbini to promote the Zero Drop Out program, Dean Ram Bali Yadav actively responded and personally led volunteers to visit the families of dropouts. Because the dean was familiar with the rural routes, he quickly found the students' homes; when volunteers asked questions, he acted as a translator and note-taker. The dean knows the importance of education for students, and used to feel helpless when it came to dropouts. Now that Tzu Chi volunteers have come from afar to Nepal to help with education, it has given him the inspiration to "visit poor students who cannot afford tuition fees with volunteers."

Power of Love Never Ends

Subika Dhawal is one of the recipients of the scholarship. She feels that the school has become better and she herself has changed because of Jing Si Aphorisms. She said: "The smiling face in Jing Si Aphorisms impressed me the most, so I am slowly learning to treat people and things around me with a smiling face every day." Another thing that she has learnt is the seven steps of hand-washing. Before, she had never heard of such knowledge about hand-washing, and it is related to physical health.

"I never imagined that saving a handful of rice every day could help others!" said Jagarnath Yadav, also a beneficiary of the Tzu Chi scholarship program. He learnt from a video that there is also a Rice Piggy Bank charity initiative in Lumbini. After filling the bank with rice, it can be donated to Tzu Chi, which will then distribute the love to even poorer people.

He said with emotion: "Therefore, we cannot underestimate the power of an individual's humble contribution. If we work together with one heart, our power will be great." Manoj Kurmi, a volunteer who came to accompany the students, is also a student of the college. He was moved by the fact that rice piggy banks can help people. After returning home, he started to collect a handful of rice every day with his family.

Rabina Kasaudhan, a second-year student majoring in business management at Khudabagar Adarsh College, is a Tzu Chi volunteer who participates in the organization's Work for Pay program. She said that, after participating in Tzu Chi's activities, she learnt how the Foundation helps people, and deeply realized that it is not about having a lot of money, but about the dedication of many loving individuals. This moved her and made her want to help others more.

Rabina said that her family did not have their own farmland because they were poor and her parents could not afford to let all their children go to school, so she dropped out. "I never expected Tzu Chi would give me the opportunity to continue my studies. Now, I want to practice the Bamboo Bank Spirit and save fifty cents a day to help those in need."

Malaysian volunteer Li-Hua Lee (李麗華), responsible for coordinating the event, said that this is the second time they have organized a student gathering. The event is held every three months, not only to understand the students' learning status but also to let them understand Tzu Chi's charitable and educational undertakings, as well as the spirit of bamboo and rice piggy banks. After graduation, they can give back to society and become a person who extends a helping hand, turning their own life around and changing their family's destiny.

A Jing Si Aphorism says: “To change yourself is to save yourself; to influence others is to save other people.”

Join Tzu Chi. Let us make a better place for the world.

Story by Ya-Hui Shen and Goh Lam Kia