Formosan fellow initiates provide free medical diagnoses and consultations at a relief activity for the poor.

Relief activity brings happiness and sunshine to the poor and the sick.

<Combined Report> Relief work for the poor by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has continued in Formosa month after month. Eighty households island-wide received financial support totaling NT$112,500 from the Association in November of 1997. Another eighty-four households island-wide also received financial support totaling NT$109,500 in December of 1997. The gentle greetings of fellow initiates brought a motivating force of life to the less fortunate and the poor. Some of the beneficiaries expressed their longtime despondency through eyes moist with tears. Either born handicapped or disabled later by accidents, they apparently could not understand why creation had played games with them. Fellow initiates brought them material support and news about eternal liberation in hopes that they would be able to find both physical comfort and spiritual consolation.

Fellow initiates participating in this activity in Taichung, Formosa included doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers. Bearing Master's utmost love and compassion, they visited poor and ailing compatriots, chatted with them, diagnosed their illnesses, and taught them how to use medications and react to emergencies. The relaxing atmosphere had the patients smiling happily and openly, affirming the proverb, "A smile can dispel a thousand worries." Fellow initiates hope that these visits have brought brilliant sunlight to the beneficiaries.

Monthly relief funds for poor households in Formosa

(November & December 1997)