Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation

On March 21, the Tzu Chi foundation began construction of a third ‘Great Love’ village for survivors of Typhoon Morakot, which struck the south of Taiwan in August last year. The village, in the Yujing District of Tainan County in southwest Taiwan, will have 58 homes on a site of 1.9 hectares; it is due to be completed in the middle of July this year, with the first families moving shortly after. It will be the third village the foundation has built for the typhoon survivors, after ones in Kaohsiung and Pingdong counties in the south of the island.

The ground-breaking ceremony was held on March 21, attended by Su Huanzhi, chief of Tainan county, representatives of the central government, Chen Jinmu, head of Nanbei township and Lin Biyu, vice president of the foundation, who was representing Master Cheng Yen. The residents of the new village formerly lived in Nanbei, one of the areas of Tainan worst hit by the typhoon. The ceremony began with a performance of sign language by students from the Tzu Chi primary school in Tainan and a song ‘Love and Concern’ by a choir from the Yujing middle school. Then everyone joined together in prayers for the safety of the new village and harmony among those who will live in it. Then the future residents brought a large map showing the village’s layout, to show their hope that it will be a permanent home for them and their descendants.

Vice President Lin read out a letter from Master Cheng Yen, in which she expressed her care and blessings for the new village, and declared the start of the construction. “The Tzu Chi construction team and volunteers will work wholeheartedly and in the shortest possible time to complete the village. We hope that the future residents will come every day and take part in the construction of their new homes,” she said. The village will be built on 1.9 hectares of land belonging to Taiwan Sugar, a state-owned company. As with the other Great Love villages, it will have social and communities amenities and be built with many environmental features, such as recycling of water and a large area of green space. The 58 homes will come in three sizes, suitable for families of one-two, three-five and six-ten. The largest units will have four bedrooms, two reception rooms, two bathrooms and one kitchen.

Morakot was the worst natural disaster to hit Tainan in the last 50 years. Officials of the Tainan government said that Tzu Chi volunteers were the first on the scene, after local officials, to offer comfort and help to those affected, earning the deep respect of the county government. Su Huanzhi, chief of Tainan county, said that he wanted to express his deep gratitude of Master Cheng Yen and her volunteers for their help in the aftermath of the typhoon and to the construction team for building the new village. Chen Jinmu, chief of Nanbei township, expressed his ‘eternal gratitude’ on behalf of the people of the township. “The volunteers had been with them through their ordeal after the typhoon and while they lived in temporary shelters and would build a new home for them. They have shown their concern from the very beginning. I want to say ‘thank you so much’,” he said.

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