By Yogyakarta News Group, Indonesia (Originally in Indonesian)

In response to the heavy earthquake that hit Indonesia on May 27, Golden Year 3 (2006), where more than six hundred thousand people were rendered homeless, relief teams comprised of fellow practitioners from Indonesia, Formosa and Singapore were quickly organized to provide the victims emergency aid. From May 27 up to now, more than 8,750 families have received relief items from Master and Her Association. (Please refer to the report in News #169.)

On June 6, we continued our relief efforts to some sub-villages in Sumberharjo Village, situated in Prambanan District. Local villagers were genuinely appreciative of the relief materials supplied by Supreme Master Ching Hai. They also wholeheartedly received the sample booklet, a spiritual gift that will bring them more everlasting comfort than the material ones.

The next day, we went to five different sub-village locations, Banjarharjo, Pancoran, Tegallawas, Banyuurip and a temporarily set-up school in Kongklangan.

When we delivered the relief items to the temporary school, the children looked happy and welcomed us by singing. Although all of the children studied in a tent, and wore whatever they had, still a sense of cheerfulness radiated from their faces. They clapped with joy and were very excited when the stationery gifts - books, felt-tip markers, crayons, pencils, etc. - were shown to them. The children even asked about Master and our meditation practice. The representative of the local villagers expressed his deepest gratitude to Supreme Master Ching Hai for all of Her love and concern for them.

In Banyuurip, a father shed tears upon hearing that the relief items were from Master out of Her concern for them at this most difficult time during the disaster.

By Singapore News Group (Originally in English)

A group of Singapore fellow initiates arrived at Yogyakarta Center on May 30. To facilitate the relief work, assessment and distribution work teams were formed.

When one assessment team reached Tamanan Village, housing 258 families, the chief only asked for rice as his people especially the old and young, would be hungry without food. However, our assessment team observed that the villagers were also very much short of tents and ground sheets and did not have electricity for lighting. The following day, the distribution team brought them over 700kgs of rice, 40 tents with ground sheets, milk powder and kerosene lamps. The leader was very touched and received these items with tears of joy and gratitude. He was also very surprised that everything had arrived so quickly. When one of our sisters was assisting some children with the pronunciation of Master’s name on some leaflets introducing Master and the QuanYin Method of meditation, the village chief came over to tell his people that all the relief goods were from Master, so out of respect and appreciation they read aloud the entire front page of the leaflet together!

When our assessment team was in Sewon District, a lady, Miss Ipung, from Klayu Village came to ask us for our help on behalf of her village. When the distribution team arrived within 24 hours with the requested relief items, rice, tents and kerosene lamps, the entire village was extremely touched and surprised that our group responded so fast. That evening, Miss Ipung expressed her gratitude to Master once again by sending a message to one of our fellow initiates.

In Karang Gede Kidul, local initiates delivered needed items, such as tents, ropes, and biscuits to the villagers. When knowing that meditation could calm the mind and reduce anxiety, the village leader expressed interest in the meditation method that Master imparts and hoped it would help his people in this adverse situation. Local initiates visited them the next day to explain the basic requirements of the vegetarian diet to learn the Convenient Method of meditation and then informed the chief to contact Yogyakarta Center again when the villagers were ready.

After learning that we were distributing items to the disaster victims, one supplier was greatly moved and offered to drive his lorry to assist in our efforts. We gladly attached Master’s poster to his truck and he followed us. At the end of the day, the supplier respectfully requested to keep Master’s poster as a remembrance of Her kindness. Of course, we were more than happy to fulfill his wish.

On our trip to Dlingo District, we delivered two boxes of bread to one village, besides the tents, rice and other needed items. The villagers’ eyes lit up when they saw the bread. Everyone gratefully took it and immediately ate it, as they had been eating only rice and instant noodles for the past few days and bread was quite a rarity for them. It was really a celebration!

Despite all of the hardships that the locals were experiencing at this time, we noticed many heart-warming situations that portrayed the good nature and co-operative spirit among the village people. For example, they helped each other and even planned a duty roster, where families took turns to cook for the entire village. In one location, some young men formed a team to clear the rubble of the fallen houses. After clearing the debris in their village, they moved on to clear the debris in the neighboring village.

The men took turns to patrol the area at night so that the women, the old and the young, could sleep peacefully. The men slept directly on the ground, leaving the mats and ground sheets for the women and children.

Although the villagers had lost their houses, they still had high spirits. They just accepted the situation as it was without complaining about anything. They took everything with a light heart and we could even hear laughter from the children. In some places life went on as usual, as the farmers tended to their paddy fields and harvested the corn. The disaster may have taken away their homes, but not their faith in life. They remained contented and quietly rebuilt their homes.

At the end of the relief effort, as each of us returned to our respective homes, we brought with us the fond memories of the smiles, the warmth and gratitude of the Yogyakarta people. We also cherish the friendships that we made with our fellow initiates and feel glad that we had a chance to walk the way of love, in step with our generous and gracious Master.

By Formosa Medical Relief Team (Originally in Chinese)

Upon hearing the news of the earthquake in Indonesia, fellow initiates of medical professions from Formosa quickly formed a medical relief team. On May 30th, they proceeded to Indonesia with about 100 kg of medical supplies where they met with the Singaporean and Indonesian fellow initiates. The next day, our relief team started providing medical aid to the victims together with the local medical and pharmacy students from Sanata Dharma and Gajah Mada Universities. They were like messengers from God that helped us with the translation and medically.

Our work was centered at the heavily stricken town of Bantul. We were not working alone. Personnel from the Indonesian Health Ministry, the Indonesian Red Cross and the Indonesian Food and Drugs Administration joined in the relief efforts. We divided into two groups and on the first day, we went to Berbah and treated about 180 patients. Most of them suffered from external injuries, symptoms of anxiety, insomnia and lower back pain, etc., resulting from the shock of the earthquake.

On June 1st, we went to Pajangan and Bambang Lipuro where our services were very much appreciated as well. Their Muslim prayer room was especially reserved for us to be used as the medical station. Our two groups treated more than 200 patients. We also distributed biscuits and Master’s photos to the victims who came to us for help.

On June 2nd, one team went to a small town called Kasihan; there the inhabitants suffered mainly from wound infections. Apart from disinfecting and dressing their wounds, we also gave them dressing packets, iodine and gauze, so that they could change their dressing at home by themselves, and thus minimizing the risk of further infection. Our other team went to Piyungan in the remote mountain areas. Along the way, they found that many houses had been seriously damaged. Because of the collapsed bridges, vehicles could not drive through, so fellow initiates carrying the medical supplies, blessed food, Master’s photos and flyers, switched to motorcycles driven by the local young people. When they reached a devastated village, although many houses had been damaged or collapsed, villagers were still very composed and peaceful. When our fellow initiates began the medical services in the morning, so many people came for treatment; the villagers were very delighted and shook their hands profusely. But by the middle of the day, all of them left, because it was time to pray. All of them dressed neatly to go to Mosque. Their devotion is really amazing. After one hour of praying, they returned to resume their treatment.?Also, even though everything in their life had been uprooted, they still offered us fresh coconut juice, sweet corn, potatoes, peanuts and fruit. Needless to say, we were very deeply touched. In these two places, about 150 patients were treated.

Our relief work ended on June 3rd. On that day, we went to Pundong located about 5 kilometers from Parangtritis beach, which was the center point of this earthquake. We treated about 120 patients. During this period of time, most of the victims who came for help were suffering from external injuries. There were also some who caught colds or had diarrhea due to insufficient clothing and unclean food and water. We also noticed that, seriously shocked by the quake disaster, the victims generally suffered from insomnia, dizziness and headaches. In addition to giving them medicine for the above symptoms, we also gave them Master’s photos, chatted with them to comfort them, and silently prayed to Master to bless them. For the more seriously ill patients, we gave them preliminary treatment and then requested the Red Cross ambulances to take them to the hospital for further care. Before leaving the country, we left all of the information regarding the patients we had treated with the local Center, so the fellow initiates could follow up on the progress of their recovery and check whether they required further medical or financial aid. All the remaining medicine was later given to the Dharma General Hospital.

Thanks to Master’s blessing, the meticulous arrangement of the local initiates, as well as the help from the Red Cross and the volunteer local medical students, the whole medical relief operation went very smoothly. Despite the graveness of the earthquake, the positive manner, pure-mindedness and unmoving devout faith of the local people was truly remarkable.

Expenditures for Relief Efforts Rendered to
Earthquake Victims in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
by The Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her Association