Recognise your own blessing by helping others who suffer

It was a bright, shiny Tuesday morning on July 9, 2019, when thirty of us walked our way through the homes in Kamal Muara fishing village, North Jakarta to find Turaenih’s house. Her decrepit house was far from decent to live in, its door creaked, the ceiling was left with skeleton roofs,  and the floor was layered with dust and rubbish, with holes here and there making it impossible to sleep anywhere. Flowing underneath the house were black, smelly, and muddy water from the Jakarta bay. When the rain hits or the tide is high, her house would be flooded in an instant. The thirty of us were there to help her house and clean up the area for Tzu Chi foundation to help rebuild them.

Ms Turaenih, 68, who was born and raised in Indramayu, started her life in Jakarta with her husband some forty years ago by selling nasi uduk in the market near Elang Laut housing, North Jakarta. She had been living in this house in Kamal Muara for 23 years. After Turaenih's husband passed away 7 years ago, she now lives with her third daughter, son-in-law, and her two grandchildren. Her son-in-law barely make enough money to support a family of five, fortunately, Turaenih is surrounded by kind neighbours who often share their meals with her. 

Turaenih is haunted by the flood almost every day, ‘It can happen anytime, mostly at night time when it’s difficult to save our household items,’ When the flood hits, it took a couple of days for the water to go down. 

Turaenih’s old age also means that she often has health problems, she gets regular headache, her knees are going, and she has to walk with a stick to support her. Every month, Turaenih needs to get routine check up and medication from the Puskesmas, thankfully, her kind neighbours are willing to take turns in taking her there. The doctor in the puskesmas will drive her home when no one is there to pick her up.

Tzu Chi’s volunteer who joined our group, Ng Siu Tju shigu, expressed how blessed Ms Turaenih is, despite her house condition, she’s having such kind-hearted and loving neighbours who care about her and her family. Ms Mase, 37, who lives right across Turaenih’s house also cares so much about Turaenih. ‘I feel so sorry for nenek, she likes to stay at my house when her house is flooded, often when we talk, she tells me heartbreaking stories, I consider nenek just like my own mother, I am so happy to hear that shelt get a new house soon,' 

When asked by Siu Tju shigu about her caring neighbours, Ms Turaenih feels very thankful for them, and said she believes to have done some good deeds during her young age for her to meet such good people in life, ‘I said to my children and grandchildren, I am not rich. But as long as you have rich heart, always be good to people, then people will do the same to you. When I was still selling my nasi uduk, some people came to me to eat but they have no money, so I told them to take the food for free… now my neighbour gave me their food for free,’ to which Siu Tju shigu replied, ‘You are such a good person, you just reaped what you sow,’

Neither of Ms Turaenih or Ms Mase has heard of Tzu Chi School or foundation before, and when she first heard that Tzu Chi came to help renovate and rebuild her home, she broke into tears and surprised that people are kind enough to help her and her family. Likewise, faith in humanity restored in the heart of Ratih, 74, whose house will also be renovated. It was difficult for her to believe that good people still exist in this world. She couldn’t stop thanking everyone and expressed her gratitude towards the help she received. 

Gratitude, Respect, and Love

The trip to Kamal Muara fishing village was a part of Tzu Chi School’s teacher training programme to experience Master Cheng Yen’s Jing Si Aphorism in real life, ‘Seeing suffering, one recognize one’s blessings’. Over 300 teachers and staff from Tzu Chi school split themselves into ten groups of 30, and worked together to demolish and clean up ten decrepit houses in the village. Ms Iing Felicia, Tzu Chi Early Childhood Principal who is in charge of this year’s training explained, ‘These houses belong to the elderlies and mostly widows in the area. They are barely able to manage their own food, as most of them don’t work anymore. We picked these houses as recommended by the local communion head’. 

Such effort by Tzu Chi and its volunteers are not only felt by its recipient, but also by the teachers who joined and helped. Novianty, 24, Tzu Chi Primary School teacher, felt so grateful for this opportunity that allowed her to help people like Ms Turaenih through this community service. ‘We’ve seen pictures and videos of people living in difficult situation, but seeing them in real life hits me right in my heart, I am glad I can be a part of this,'

Other participants who joined the trip was Mr Miles Noah, 30, Tzu Chi School Primary new teacher, shared how unbelievable it was seeing Ms Turaenih to spend her old age in such house, 'The thought that can fall anytime and probably can never walk again, there are holes everywhere on the floor,’ he said. Despite the pain in his feet for not having the right-sized boots, Miles was encouraged to give his everything to help Ms Turaenih, especially after seeing his fellow group member, Mr Ujang, Early Childhood’s PE teacher, who was willing to climb up the bamboo ladder to finish his work,‘If Pak Ujang was willing to trust this rickety ladder, and put himself in danger, I don’t feel right to complain about the pain in my feet, I have to just go through it, I have to do this for Ms Turaenih,’ he added.

Yao Lan, 34, Early Childhood teacher highlighted the fact that despite the condition of their house, an elderly couple managed to stay positive and be happy about life, while many of us, sometimes forget our blessings and complain. Likewise, Master Cheng Yen’s Jing Si Aphorism once said, ‘Seeing suffering, one recognize one’s blessing,’

With this trip, Tzu Chi School Director, Mr Sudino Lim hoped that teachers could bring in the humanistic feelings they went through this experience in their teachings throughout the next school year.

By Chrestella Budyanto,

Tzu Chi School’s Journalist