Date: April 21, 2008 (Monday)
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
There is such inequality in the world. We see that there are some people who are classified as refugees. Why have this group of people been displaced from their homeland, so that they are now in Malaysia? It is all due to manmade disasters. They could not continue on in Myanmar and were compelled to flee their homeland and come to Malaysia. Living in Malaysia, they are not recognized as citizens by the Malaysian government. So, they are still refugees who are temporarily under the protection of the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR). But, how do they survive? They still need to earn their own living. See how poor these people are. Those children are truly innocent victims of it all. Despite being homeless and destitute, the women keep bearing more children. So, as soon as the children are able to walk or crawl, they learn to earn money by sifting through garbage. Look at these small children. They have no nationality and have to survive in such unfavorable conditions. Look back at our children in Taiwan. From a very young age, they have a nanny, and there are also nurseries, so children are given a lot of care and protection. What good living conditions they have. But see what different conditions the refugee children live under. They have a very sad lot.
But, since 2004, Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia have been working closely with the UNHCR to care for refugees. The UNHCR provides living supplies while Tzu Chi volunteers provide love and care for the children, and think of ways to nurture and educate them. In addition to a lack of material goods, food, and education, the refugee camps also lack medical care. With not even being able to have three meals a day, how could they afford medical care when they got ill? Seeing that, Tzu Chi volunteers began to hold free medical clinics for these refugee camps. Our volunteers organized set times each month when they would go to each refugee camp to hold free medical clinics. Our Tzu Chings also help out a lot. For example, they often visit an Islamic school for refugee children from Myanmar and help the children out with their homework. These have been our efforts since 2004 to help refugees from Myanmar. To date, Tzu Chi has worked with UNHCR to set up five education centers. The education centers are open from Monday to Friday each week and provide the same kind of education for children as a normal school does. Not only are they taught to read and write, but they’re also educated about moral principles, ethics, proprieties, etc. In the future, when the children get a chance to go to a regular school, they’ll already have a firm foundation of knowledge regarding proprieties and moral ethics as we’ve offered such an education to them.
How many refugees are there exactly in Malaysia? Over 46,000 of these 46,000, around 6,000 are children of schooling age but not able to go to school. These children are really innocent victims. What did they do to deserve this? Why do human beings create such calamities which displace people from their homes and affect their later generations as well. To escape the dangers in their country, they are compelled to leave their homeland and try to survive in a new country. But they also continue to have more children. In one particular family, the mother gave birth to nine children. It was already hard to get by, but she still had nine children. The father had passed away some years before and the mother isn’t in good health. One of the elder daughters got seperated from them as they were fleeing their home. Two other daughters had been married off at an early age because it was hard for them to get by. So, that leaves seven in the family. The responsibility to support the family falls on the shoulders of the twins in the family. But, they are very interested in their studies, and so attend classes at the education center. But, they are very dutiful and will go to work as soon as classes finish. What is their work? It is to scavenge through garbage. Each day, despite working very hard, they’ll only earn the equivalent of US$3 which is ten ringgits (Malaysian currency). Sometimes, they won’t make even that. They have to support a family of seven. We can see how difficult conditions must be for this family. The children, therefore, suffer a great deal. No matter whether it is sunny or raining, they have to toil away by scavenging while also having to work hard at their studies. One of the twins has a dream which is to become an engineer when he grows up. He hopes to be able to go to college. See how full of aspirations he is. How can we not provide an education for a child like him? This is one of many families living under very difficult conditions. Children in poor families truly know to work hard. Living under such difficult conditions, can he really achieve his dream of going to university and becoming an engineer? Though we want more than anything to help him, can he really grow up safe and sound? It’s hard to say with life being so impermanent. It is truly hard to predict what changes might take place in a family like his. So, there are truly many people that need our help. This is especially true as the world is facing a food crisis at present. It truly makes one’s heart very heavy. In Kuala Lumpur, there are many rich people who lead a life of luxury, and many who spend a lot and are very wasteful. With so many people being wasteful, there is a lot of unfinished food thrown away. So, a lot of refugee children will look for food in garbage dumps. I wonder how many people there are who search for food in garbage dumps and make a living through scavenging. We truly cannot imagine it.
All we can do is extend our help to those that we can see and reach. As for the rest, we are really helpless. Just now, we saw that the children who were guided by our Tzu Chings at the religious school also received graduation certificates. They were very happy to receive a graduation certificate. How they cherished it. When we gave them a school bag, it was as though they’d received a gift from Heaven. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, people insist on name brands. Why are there such different lives?
Lecturer: Master Zheng-Yan
There is such inequality in the world. We see that there are some people who are classified as refugees. Why have this group of people been displaced from their homeland, so that they are now in Malaysia? It is all due to manmade disasters. They could not continue on in Myanmar and were compelled to flee their homeland and come to Malaysia. Living in Malaysia, they are not recognized as citizens by the Malaysian government. So, they are still refugees who are temporarily under the protection of the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR). But, how do they survive? They still need to earn their own living. See how poor these people are. Those children are truly innocent victims of it all. Despite being homeless and destitute, the women keep bearing more children. So, as soon as the children are able to walk or crawl, they learn to earn money by sifting through garbage. Look at these small children. They have no nationality and have to survive in such unfavorable conditions. Look back at our children in Taiwan. From a very young age, they have a nanny, and there are also nurseries, so children are given a lot of care and protection. What good living conditions they have. But see what different conditions the refugee children live under. They have a very sad lot.
But, since 2004, Tzu Chi volunteers in Malaysia have been working closely with the UNHCR to care for refugees. The UNHCR provides living supplies while Tzu Chi volunteers provide love and care for the children, and think of ways to nurture and educate them. In addition to a lack of material goods, food, and education, the refugee camps also lack medical care. With not even being able to have three meals a day, how could they afford medical care when they got ill? Seeing that, Tzu Chi volunteers began to hold free medical clinics for these refugee camps. Our volunteers organized set times each month when they would go to each refugee camp to hold free medical clinics. Our Tzu Chings also help out a lot. For example, they often visit an Islamic school for refugee children from Myanmar and help the children out with their homework. These have been our efforts since 2004 to help refugees from Myanmar. To date, Tzu Chi has worked with UNHCR to set up five education centers. The education centers are open from Monday to Friday each week and provide the same kind of education for children as a normal school does. Not only are they taught to read and write, but they’re also educated about moral principles, ethics, proprieties, etc. In the future, when the children get a chance to go to a regular school, they’ll already have a firm foundation of knowledge regarding proprieties and moral ethics as we’ve offered such an education to them.
How many refugees are there exactly in Malaysia? Over 46,000 of these 46,000, around 6,000 are children of schooling age but not able to go to school. These children are really innocent victims. What did they do to deserve this? Why do human beings create such calamities which displace people from their homes and affect their later generations as well. To escape the dangers in their country, they are compelled to leave their homeland and try to survive in a new country. But they also continue to have more children. In one particular family, the mother gave birth to nine children. It was already hard to get by, but she still had nine children. The father had passed away some years before and the mother isn’t in good health. One of the elder daughters got seperated from them as they were fleeing their home. Two other daughters had been married off at an early age because it was hard for them to get by. So, that leaves seven in the family. The responsibility to support the family falls on the shoulders of the twins in the family. But, they are very interested in their studies, and so attend classes at the education center. But, they are very dutiful and will go to work as soon as classes finish. What is their work? It is to scavenge through garbage. Each day, despite working very hard, they’ll only earn the equivalent of US$3 which is ten ringgits (Malaysian currency). Sometimes, they won’t make even that. They have to support a family of seven. We can see how difficult conditions must be for this family. The children, therefore, suffer a great deal. No matter whether it is sunny or raining, they have to toil away by scavenging while also having to work hard at their studies. One of the twins has a dream which is to become an engineer when he grows up. He hopes to be able to go to college. See how full of aspirations he is. How can we not provide an education for a child like him? This is one of many families living under very difficult conditions. Children in poor families truly know to work hard. Living under such difficult conditions, can he really achieve his dream of going to university and becoming an engineer? Though we want more than anything to help him, can he really grow up safe and sound? It’s hard to say with life being so impermanent. It is truly hard to predict what changes might take place in a family like his. So, there are truly many people that need our help. This is especially true as the world is facing a food crisis at present. It truly makes one’s heart very heavy. In Kuala Lumpur, there are many rich people who lead a life of luxury, and many who spend a lot and are very wasteful. With so many people being wasteful, there is a lot of unfinished food thrown away. So, a lot of refugee children will look for food in garbage dumps. I wonder how many people there are who search for food in garbage dumps and make a living through scavenging. We truly cannot imagine it.
All we can do is extend our help to those that we can see and reach. As for the rest, we are really helpless. Just now, we saw that the children who were guided by our Tzu Chings at the religious school also received graduation certificates. They were very happy to receive a graduation certificate. How they cherished it. When we gave them a school bag, it was as though they’d received a gift from Heaven. Meanwhile, in Taiwan, people insist on name brands. Why are there such different lives?
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