Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States

Byline:KELLY HER
Publication Date:08/01/2012

Humanistic Buddhism in Action

A Zulu Tzu Chi volunteer cares for a patient in Durban. Some 5,000 of the charity’s workers assist around 1,500 patients in the South African city. (Photo Courtesy of Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation)

Taiwanese religious organizations in South Africa offer education, supplies, shelter and vocational training to local people in need.

For some South Africans, violence, poverty and illness are part of everyday life. A number of Zulu tribeswomen who live in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province in the southwest of the country, are taking action to change that. Every day, they leave their homes and villages to help those who are worse off.

Gladys Ngema, 60, is one of those women. Born into a poor black family, Ngema, like many of her fellow Africans, has endured great hardship and suffering in her life. Under apartheid rule, a formal system of racial segregation in place from 1948 to 1994, black people were dispossessed of their lands and forced to settle in remote rural districts, in addition to suffering economic, political, social and educational marginalization.

Meanwhile, tribalism began to increase locally and many areas saw an upsurge in tribal warfare. Divisive politics fueled further strife. Ngema recalls the difficult living conditions from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. “Amid the escalation of political violence, my house was petrol bombed and burnt to ashes by a group of opponents from another village and my three children were injured. We had to flee and sleep in the forest,” she says. “Life was very tough for us. I was filled with a lot of anger and hatred.”

Michael Pan (潘明水), a member of the Taiwan-based Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, came to her aid. “Michael, a total stranger, came to our village, provided us with food and blankets and taught us to sew and make handicrafts to earn a living,” Ngema says. “Also, he told us to love our enemies and treat them nicely, adding that [one day] they’d repay it and do good things for us.”

Inspiring Love

Inspired by Pan’s words and his treatment of her and other villagers, Ngema says she was gradually able to release her anger and learn to love and care for others. She became the first South African volunteer for Tzu Chi in 1995 and has been serving the community and helping train other local volunteers for 17 years.
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Gladys Ngema, third left, a Tzu Chi volunteer since 1995, teaches sewing to other local women. Nearly 600 such training facilities have been built in Durban. (Photo Courtesy of Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation)

“After years of working with Michael and visiting Taiwan several times to hear the teachings of Dharma Master Cheng Yen (證嚴) [the spiritual leader and founder of Tzu Chi], I’ve managed to free my mind and find peace,” Ngema says. “Helping people in need not only makes me feel happy, but also strong. I hope to lead more sisters to join in the volunteer work.”

Taiwanese Tzu Chi members in the northern city of Johannesburg, mostly immigrant businesspeople, set up the charity’s first South African office in 1992. The office launched charity events and emergency relief programs to assist the needy, as well as visit institutions for the elderly and disabled people. Today, members also raise funds to build schools in black South African communities and provide students with books, stationery, meals and tuition subsidies. So far, Tzu Chi has established nine bases across the country.

Pan, who was born in Taiwan, moved to Durban in 1990, where he started a computer business. On his trips to several black communities, he was surprised and saddened to see many impoverished families struggling to meet their daily needs. In addition to occasional donations of everyday goods, Pan began to think about how he could help local people acquire job skills so that they could raise themselves out of poverty.

To that end, Pan collected secondhand sewing machines and scrap fabric from local textile factories operated by other Taiwanese and in 1995 he set up the vocational training center where Ngema learned how to sew. To date, nearly 600 Tzu Chi training facilities have been built in Durban, with the number of participants exceeding 10,000.

Another challenge taken up by Pan and other Tzu Chi members was teaching villagers the correct ways to protect themselves against HIV infection and treat people who had contracted AIDS, given South Africa’s high infection rates. In 2000, the charity’s workers began to take their information from one village to another, but they also found a pressing need to attend to the sick, the dying and children orphaned by the disease.
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Tzu Chi member Michael Pan, left, visits an injured Zulu woman in Durban. (Photo by Kelly Her)

Soon after that, Pan invited women who had attended the sewing classes to join the ranks of Tzu Chi volunteers and has since recruited 5,000 of them. “Initially, they were all scared as they thought that touching people with AIDS would lead to their own deaths,” Pan recollects. “Still, some brave women followed me when I visited the homes of AIDS patients and watched how I bathed and massaged them. It wasn’t long before they took over the work. That’s compassion overcoming fear.” Currently, approximately 1,500 patients in Durban are under the care of Tzu Chi volunteers.

Then, in 2004, Pan proposed that Zulu Tzu Chi volunteers feed AIDS orphans. “We’re dirt poor ourselves. How can we feed those kids?” a volunteer asked Pan. The businessman replied, “The land is your resource and your hands and feet are the best tools.” Volunteers bought vegetable seeds and got out their rakes and hoes to plant them. There are now more than 120 vegetable gardens in Durban dedicated to the project, which adds color to the landscape and provides food for about 5,500 orphans.

“Buddhism teaches love and compassion for all living beings. The world is one big family and we need to help each other,” Pan says. “Those Zulu women used to hold no hope for the future. As I’ve accompanied them through difficulties, I’ve been glad to see them build confidence by gaining practical skills and helping others.”

This year Pan was appointed the executive director of Tzu Chi’s South Africa Branch. He expects to set up similar operations in other African nations in the next few years. “I’m not sure how much more I can accomplish. Nevertheless, I believe in the power of love and can feel it spreading out,” Pan says. “Several of my [Zulu] team members are well trained in social services. They can be role models for their people and help develop these projects in other African nations.” In fact, Pan and his staff have made several fact-finding tours to neighboring Swaziland and plan to launch vocational training and volunteer work programs there in the near future.

Similarly, Venerable Master Hui Li (慧禮法師) of Taiwan set up the Amitofo Care Center (ACC) in South Africa in 2004 to address the needs of the many children orphaned by AIDS. Hui Li first traveled to the country to head Nan Hua Temple for one of Taiwan’s largest Buddhist organizations, Fo Guang Shan, in 1992. The ACC offers accommodation, meals, education and training. The children currently in its care are aged between 4 and 10.
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Venerable Master Hui Li sits with some of his charges at an Amitofo Care Center in Malawi. Hui Li aims to set up an orphanage in every country in Africa. (Photo Courtesy of Amitofo Care Center)

Sherry Chen (陳阡蕙), who was originally from Taiwan and was elected the first ethnic Chinese member of South Africa’s parliament in 2004, serves as the CEO of the Amitofo Charity Association. The association is based in South Africa and manages the ACC. Chen says she was touched by Hui Li’s enthusiasm to care for orphans and joined the effort to raise funds for and systematize the ACC’s operations in 2009.

Big Family

The main work of the ACC, Chen explains, is based on a “big family” or “children’s village.” A group of 16 to 20 children, together with one nanny, one “mother” and one teacher live together as a family. Twelve families form a village, which includes schools, and medical and religious centers where the children learn about African and Chinese cultures and Buddhism.

Chen says thanks to administrative and financial support from Taiwan’s Yuan Tong Culture and Care Association and Pu-Hsein Educational Foundation, the ACC runs various programs in the African countries of Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland. The organization cares for some 3,000 children in total in Africa.

About 50 percent of the donations that Chen’s association receives come from Taiwan. She brings a number of beneficiaries to visit Taiwan regularly, where they are able to meet their sponsors and perform traditional singing and dancing.

“I grew up in a single-parent household and can well understand the grief and predicament of those children without parental care,” she says. “I’m glad that I can do something for them and allow them to grow up in a safe and happy environment and develop physically and mentally. Seeing the smiles on their faces motivates me to keep moving ahead with our goals.”
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Sherry Chen, left, and her husband, Vincent Lin, serve as the CEO and secretary-general of the Amitofo Charity Association, respectively. (Photo by Alexander Chou)

The charity CEO says that working for a grassroots organization is a lot more meaningful to her than working in politics. “While I was in parliament, I tried to make laws that would benefit average citizens, particularly disadvantaged groups. But oftentimes I was disappointed because of lax implementation,” she says. “Now that I’m working for the ACC, every day I can see the children’s progress. I hope they will become the new African generation with the qualities of compassion, gratitude and morality. That will enable a positive transition from a land of poverty and suffering to a land of abundance and fellowship.”

Chen’s husband, Vincent Lin (林青嶔), a garment trader, has also extended his support by handing over the day-to-day running of his business and taking on the role of secretary-general of the Amitofo Charity Association. “Venerable Master Hui Li’s and Sherry’s philanthropic undertakings have inspired me greatly and changed my attitude toward life and money,” Lin says. “I feel a strong calling to be a part of the humanitarian mission.”

Fo Guang Shan was founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun (星雲法師) in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan in 1967, and started out in South Africa in 1992 with the construction of a Chinese Buddhist cultural and educational complex on six hectares of land donated by the Bronkhorstspruit City Council. The city is about 50 kilometers east of Pretoria, the country’s executive capital.

The main structure of the complex is Nan Hua Temple, which is the largest Buddhist temple in Africa and the African headquarters of Fo Guang Shan. Other facilities include the African Buddhist Seminary, a meditation retreat center and a museum displaying Buddhist and Chinese cultural artifacts, in addition to an assembly hall, dormitories and guesthouses.

Venerable Master Yi Chun (依淳法師), the abbess of Nan Hua, says the temple aims to promote Buddhism on the African continent. Its operations are based on the four guiding principles of Fo Guang Shan: education, charity, culture and the spread of the Buddha’s teachings, or Dharma. The temple is also part of the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA), a Buddhist monastic and lay organization founded by Hsing Yun in 1992. BLIA has eight chapters in Africa, including six in South Africa.
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Yi Chun, abbess of Nan Hua Temple. The religious leader lists education, charity, culture and the spread of the Buddha’s teachings as her temple’s main missions. (Photo by Alexander Chou)

“We strive to promote ‘living Buddhism’ by adopting a pragmatic approach,” Yi Chun explains. “Accordingly, our objectives are to nourish talent through education, benefit society through charity, propagate Dharma through culture and purify people’s minds through cultivation.”

Besides providing religious education at its African Buddhist Seminary, Nan Hua has devised and implemented numerous community programs to promote computer literacy, environmental protection and the prevention of AIDS. The temple donates computers to local primary and high schools to help them set up computer classrooms, for example, and has an in-house training and testing center in cooperation with Microsoft Corp. to help trainees gain certification as a Microsoft Office Specialist. The program offers instruction in how to use applications including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.

Lai Yen-lin (賴彥林), a computer teacher at Nan Hua, says about 90 percent of his students, mostly senior high school graduates, have “never touched” a computer before they sign up for the three-month course. In many districts, residents only have access to computers at town libraries or community centers. Thus, Lai has to teach his students from the very basics—starting with how to turn on a computer and use a mouse.

“Seeing those students who previously knew nothing about computers getting to understand the operating system and its various applications brings me a great sense of achievement,” Lai says. “Computer education is designed to help young Africans improve their career prospects.” The unemployment rate in rural area has remained high, he adds, due to both the inadequacy of labor skills and the scarcity of jobs.

Free Classes

Oclinah Moma, 21, began a computer class at Nan Hua on the recommendation of a friend who had completed the program. “It’s nice that they provide free lessons. I only have to pay for the [certification] exams, which I can afford,” she says. “It’s interesting to learn about how the computer works.”
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Lai Yen-lin, left, a computer teacher at Nan Hua, says computer education is designed to help young South Africans improve their career prospects. (Photo by Alexander Chou)

Moma says that after graduation from high school, she managed to get only a four-month work contract as a fieldwork supervisor and has been out of work since November 2011. “Instead of sitting at home and feeling bored, I think it’s better for me to come here to study something useful,” she says. “Nowadays many jobs require computer skills. I hope by learning the skills, I can find a job at a call center.”

Yi Chun says her temple also organizes Sunday activities for children and youths from nearby communities, as well as educational camps during school holidays. Nan Hua regularly donates wheelchairs to hospitals and centers for disabled people, meals to primary school students and food to street children. The organization also distributes blankets, cooking oil, clothes, rice, shoes and paraffin stoves to impoverished communities every winter.

Moreover, the abbess says her temple has listed the promotion of Chinese culture among its important tasks in South Africa. Hence, the organization plans a variety of activities including Chinese paper cutting, lantern painting, tea making, calligraphy demonstrations, and lion dance and martial arts performances in conjunction with its annual Lunar New Year Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. Every September, Nan Hua organizes the Festival of Light and Peace, for which it invites representatives from various religions including Christianity and Hinduism to pray together for world peace. “Our purpose is to contribute to more compassionate human relations, which we do by actively engaging in charity, cultural and educational activities,” Yi Chun says.

Through their endeavors to integrate their Dharma practice into everyday life, Taiwanese Buddhist groups and their followers serve the immediate needs of orphans, the poor and the sick in South Africa and other African countries and effect positive change in the region. The ACC’s Hui Li has vowed to set up an orphanage in every country in Africa in his quest to relieve the suffering of underprivileged children. Supporters like Sherry Chen of the Amitofo Charity Association are enthusiastic about making that goal a reality. “Many people think what we’re aiming for is ‘mission impossible,’” Chen says. “Still, we’re adamant about the direction we’re heading in and believe that with the support of a continually rising number of committed sponsors, we can establish ACCs one after another across the African continent.”