By scrimping and sacrificing for a month, more than thirty residents
from the island of Camiguin accumulated 150 pesos for transportation
fees. They took a boat from the island the day before, and then rode buses
for a total of four hours before finally arriving at the Tzu Chi free clinic.
For these poor islanders, for whom basic subsistence is already a
problem, seeking medical treatment at a hospital is an unaffordable
luxury.

The ninth Tzu Chi free clinic visited Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines,
from July 24 to 26, 1997. Each day before dawn, groups of sick
residents and their families queued up in orderly fashion between
wooden stake markers outside the walls of the Kwang Hwa Middle
School. As the sun rose, tropical heat and humidity shrouded the
people, drenching them in perspiration, but not dampening their
single-minded determination to seek medical help and to obtain
medical supplies.

As I walked towards the entrance of the free clinic, dressed in my Tzu
Chi uniform, a young girl in her twenties rushed up to me. She asked if I
had a ticket. This same question was encountered many times by all the
members of the medical team. To all those who were impatient for their
turns and who hoped to receive special preference, I gently replied that I
didn't have a ticket, and if they wished to seek medical assistance, they
should wait their turn in the queue.

Perhaps too many people were waiting and the girl had stood in line for
a long time, for she anxiously asked me why I was allowed to enter the
station. I pushed the iron gates open and entered silently, unable to give
her a reply. In my heart, however, I deeply appreciated why these people
would start lining up under the stars in the wee hours of the morning to
seek medical attention.

Free Medical Consultation

After gaining independence from the United States in 1946, the
Philippines continued to use the American system of public health care.
Patients are required to foot the bills for medication and doctors'
consultation fees. Government hospitals do provide free medical
treatment, but patients are still required to pay for medicine, surgery,
X-rays and other miscellaneous expenses.

However, this is an environment where the unemployment rate is 11.8%,
the average annual income is US$1,200, and about 40.6% of the
population struggle below the poverty line. For example, in Misamis
Oriental, the majority of the residents eke out a living from fishing and
agriculture. Their average annual income is between 20,000 and 50,000
pesos (US$1=30 pesos). Their daily subsistence is already extremely
difficult, and should there be a sudden illness or accident, they simply
cannot afford the additional expenses.

Hu Tzu-eng, a representative of Cagayan de Oro City, said there is a
wide gap between the rich and the poor. About 85% of the city's
500,000 residents live in poverty. Although two public hospitals provide
eighty districts with free medical services, people still have to pay for
their own medicine, which is often in short supply. If they cannot afford to
pay, they just do without it. Hu observed that this explains why there is
such a need for the Tzu Chi free clinic.

No Available Treatment

Conrado Booc was a five-year-old boy who suffered a discoloration in
his eyes, lips and fingers. His mother made a living from selling fish
while his father was unemployed. They had no money to seek medical
treatment for their son. When he was brought to the free clinic, his whole
body had almost totally turned pale. He was immediately transferred to a
local hospital for further treatment.

According to Sister Tzu Chien, head of the local Tzu Chi liaison office,
the free clinics receive many patients who require further medical
treatment and who have to be transferred to hospitals. Most of them
come from remote mountain regions or distant villages, and it takes
them two or three hours to get to the free clinic for treatment. Yet they are
often fearful about being transferred to Manila for further treatment.
Sister Tzu Chien sighed that they sometimes ask patients to call them to
keep in touch, but some villagers have never even seen a telephone, let
alone know how to use one.

Sister Segunda Aocdeio, a teacher at Kwang Hwa Middle School, has
worked for thirteen years in the villages of western Visayas in Iloilo-hapi.
She observed that during the monsoons, many of these villagers could
only manage one meal a day, mainly bananas and sweet potatoes.

A dentist took an hour to extract the teeth of a patient. I was shocked by
the extent of the tooth decay. Helen E. Daing, another Kwang Hwa
School teacher who was assisting in the dental health unit, explained
that the poor villagers cannot afford to buy toothbrushes or toothpaste.
They often use guava twigs for toothbrushes and coarse salt for
toothpaste. In their remote mountain villages, even salt is often
unavailable. The lack of salt causes many people to suffer from thyroid
inflammations.

Dentist Joselito Pascua added that the cost of dental treatment was far
too high for the average villager. Furthermore, their knowledge of dental
health was extremely inadequate. This underscores the importance of
the Tzu Chi free clinic's on-the-spot dental health education for the
villagers.

When Helen returned home after the first day of the free clinic, she was
unable to sleep till 1 a.m. She kept thinking about the patients and about
Tzu Chi until tears rolled down her face. "The patients have been
extremely fortunate, and I am eternally grateful to Tzu Chi."

Collective Efforts

In planning for the clinic, Sister Tzu Chien, head of the local Tzu Chi
liaison office, Lee Wei-sung, medical coordinator, Chai Wan-lei,
volunteer team leader, and Dr Ker Sian-chi, a physician from the
Chinese General Hospital in Manila, commuted to the site no less than
ten times to ascertain the suitability of the location, organise work teams
and ensure appropriate medical backup arrangements. The search for
an appropriate location involved much hard work and was extremely
time-consuming.

In the beginning, when the field task force identified the Kwang Hwa
Middle School as a suitable venue, the Philippine Chinese Chamber of
Commerce expressed apprehensions that the fact that it was a Roman
Catholic school could pose problems. The Tzu Chi representatives,
however, quickly made it clear that the cause of charity transcends
religious differences.

Sister Yuen Shue-chen, principal of the Kwang Hwa School, explained
that she was away when the Tzu Chi representatives first visited the
school. On learning that Tzu Chi was planning to hold a free clinic for the
poor at the school, the other nuns wanted to give their immediate
consent for the use of the facilities. However, they decided to wait for
Sister Yuen to return, unsure if she would actually agree to the plan.
When she finally gave her permission, the elated sisters shouted for joy.

Sister Tzu Chien observed that in the past, the maximum number of
patients treated was about 1,000. At this clinic, they treated more than
1,600 patients on the first day! The busiest day at the dispensary would
normally be the first day, and just the preparatory work alone would have
taken half a day. However, because the number of patients had almost
doubled, the situation became unmanageable and extra help had to be
called for.

Sister Tzu Chien deftly planned and managed the allocation of
personnel to various units according to the demands of the work at
various times throughout the day. In response to compliments on her
ability, she humbly said that through years of involvement in free clinics,
they had been able to learn from experience and continually improve
themselves. Dr Wang Yin-wei, director of the family health department of
Tzu Chi Hospital, who had been involved in many previous free clinic
missions, said that about a fortnight before, volunteers had had to
transport about180 cases of medical supplies to Cagayan de Oro. He
commented that for the medical team to be able to commence their
work immediately, the preparatory work of the support team was vital.
Without it, the best and most able doctors would not have been able to
function effectively.

Recognising the hard work and efforts of the support team, Sister Tzu
Chien said that what touched her most was that all the members of the
Tzu Chi Philippines liaison office had uncomplainingly, wholeheartedly
and willingly sacrificed their time and efforts to the cause. She said the
new Tzu Chi Philippines branch office, which would be officially
established in August, would provide a central point for the coordination
of Tzu Chi medical services and supplies and facilitate the organisation
of free clinics in the future.

Realisation of Our Goals

During this mission, we treated a record total of 5,033 patients. Despite
setting new records, Sister Tzu Chien said that if they had not made
these sacrifices, they would never have known that so many people
needed their help. "Up till now, we still feel that our efforts are
inadequate. My only wish is to be able to do more and to do even
better."

Ting Min Piow, chairman of the Philippine Chinese Chamber of
Commerce, assisted greatly in the free clinic. During the three days of
the clinic, he discovered that there were still so many poor people in his
own country. Seeing those who had come too late to seek medical
treatment, his eyebrows furrowed as he said, "My heart aches for them!"

As Chairman Ting bade farewell to the Tzu Chi team at the airport, he
raised the same question asked so often by the locals at the end of
every Tzu Chi free clinic: "When will you return?"

Regrettably, no one had an answer. There are 7,107 islands in the
Philippines. How many people are living in remote regions without
medical aid? How many more need medical attention but are unable to
afford it?

Since 1992, the Philippines economy has grown by 7.1%. Running
down the red clay road towards the airport from the city, several trucks
loaded with logs and roof tiles raised a cloud of red dust behind them.
As far as the eye could see, excavators worked busily at several large
construction sites. A new commercial block and a new shopping mall
were all near completion. No matter whether the team will actually return,
the majority of us hope that the Philippines will have a brighter, better
tomorrow!

Procopio's Predicament

By Weng Yu-ming
Translated by Low Siew Kiang, Singapore

Procopio A Galgo was one of those farmers who could not afford to pay
for his medical bills. He had worked in a hotel for eleven years. If
workers made any small mistake or felt ill, the manager would often use
that as a pretext to direct them to halt their work. For workers receiving
only daily wages, this meant no income. Driven by the difficulty of trying
to eke out a living, the workers organised a strike in the hope of
communicating a message to the hotel management. Unfortunately, this
only led to their dismissal from their jobs.

Procopio sadly recounted that that was how he lost his job. After that, he
wanted to work as a construction labourer since the wages were higher,
but the site supervisor said that at the age of fifty-three, he was too old
for the job. He subsequently tried to apply for many other jobs, but
without success. Finally, he rented a piece of land to plant some crops.
However, due to ill health, backaches and liver problems, the two crop
harvests each year could barely sustain him and his wife. At times, he
had to borrow money from his two married daughters to supplement his
income.

Having been unemployed for four or five years, Procopio recently
applied for financial assistance from a non-government agency. As a
precondition, he had to undergo an X-ray and a medical examination, all
at his own expense. This cost him six hundred pesos and he had to wait
two weeks for approval. The reply would normally have taken a couple of
months, but he was acquainted with someone in the agency. Procopio
was quite upset by the inefficiency of government administration, but
could do nothing about it.

Beginning from this month, Procopio can receive one thousand pesos
per month for living expenses, but this payment is only available for eight
months. Procopio says that he still needs to find a job.

Two or three years ago, he used the severance payment of 29,000
pesos he had received from the hotel, along with some 6,000 pesos
from his daughter, to build a house. The landlord recently claimed that
the residents do not own the land and that their houses would have to be
demolished by 23 June.

Procopio remains puzzled: "Why didn't they inform us before we built the
houses?" Eventually, with the help of the government, the forty families
who had built their homes on the piece of land were temporarily
relocated to a school in the west city district. Recently, as a result of a
petition by the school teachers and students, all residents were notified
to vacate the premises in two months. It has been learnt that the
government has plans to buy a piece of land about seven kilometres
away for the construction of public housing, which they could move into
in the future. Procopio lamented that he did not understand why these
unfortunate events should befall him.

Having heard that the Tzu Chi free clinic in Cagayan de Oro City was
distributing free medicine, he made sure to come early to join the queue.
At noon, after receiving treatment from the Tzu Chi free clinic and whilst
waiting to receive his medication, Procopio browsed curiously through
Tzu Chi brochures. He was, however, most pleased with the medical
supplies he received from the clinic and the fact that for the next couple
of months he will not have to worry about his medical expenses.

A Meaningful Trip

By Joyce Low, Singapore

"Thank you, Tzu Chi Medical Team" was a thanksgiving song performed
by primary one students of the Kong Hua School at Cagayan de Oro,
Philippines, where I spent my one-week annual leave. My heart was
deeply touched by the sweet little girl who sang the song. She was
accompanied by smart little boys and girls dancing on the stage and five
young students holding posters with both the English and Chinese words
of the song. This amazing thanksgiving performance was orchestrated
by Sister Teresa Yen, principal of the Kong Hua School, for the
155-member Tzu Chi team, which included thirty-five medical doctors
and ten nurses, twenty-two volunteers from the Tzu Chi head office in
Taiwan, and volunteers from the Tzu Chi office in Manila. I was the only
Singaporean. The school auditorium was used as a clinic, three
classrooms were turned into surgical rooms and an operating theatre,
and the canteen served as a pharmacy.

In this free medical service mission, I believe I met the most devoted,
compassionate doctors that I have ever seen in my life. The Tzu Chi
surgeons from Manila schedule five days every three months to provide
free surgical services to the needy in areas identified jointly with the Tzu
Chi liaison office in Manila. They do an excellent job of planning and
operating, as well as counseling the patients. They also believe in giving
the needy the best services and the best medicines. Although I was not
a medical professional, I was proud to be part of the mission team.
Daily, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., I was among the twenty volunteers working
in the pharmacy division, which took care of packing, checking and
issuing prescribed medicines to patients. At night, I slept at 12.30.
Before 6.30 in the morning, I helped our Tzu Chi reporters from the
Taipei office to translate (from English to Chinese) their various
interviews at the Philippines Health Department, hospitals and a foreign
medical mission. During lunch breaks, I loved to go to the surgical
division to observe operations. In many hospitals, this may be the most
awful area to be in. However during this mission, the surgical rooms
(actually classrooms) were filled with the most positive energy. Doctors,
surgeons and patients (including children) were filled with gratitude and
calmness, which was very unusual in any surgical room or operating
theater. I did not hear any screaming or crying,even though many
patients were young children.

During the three days of the free clinic, 5,033 needy patients from
nearby provinces received medical consultation, dental care or surgical
treatment. Over 2,000 were young children below the age of ten. More
than 325 surgical operations were performed and about 600 patients
received dental treatment. In order not to turn away any patients, our
surgeons worked till 1 a.m. each day. If I had not been there as a
volunteer, I would find it difficult to believe those figures. The fact that I
was part of the Tzu Chi mission there further enhanced my determination
to follow Master Cheng Yen and the buddha's teachings. I found a new
dimension in my life when I joined Tzu Chi in 1991. This meaningful trip
to Cagayan de Oro was yet another part of my life journey, filled with
tears of joy and gratitude, and blessed by all members of Tzu Chi and
the 5,033 patients who enabled us to be of service.