At either side of the entrance to the village was a rectangular stone plaque with "Sri Lanka Hambantota Tzu Chi Great Love Village" inscribed in Chinese, English, Sinhala, and Tamil. The endless red roofs in the village presented a majestic ambiance under the blue sky.

The traffic circle behind the entrance was covered with green grass and plants. To separate the sidewalks from the traffic lanes, seedlings of banyan and frangipani trees had been planted on either side of the road leading into the village. It is not hard to envision their lush growth in a few years. The second phase of construction on the village center, a meeting hall, a secondary school, a day-care center, and more houses has also started.

It is hard to imagine what the area looked like before the village was built. About a year ago, the 105-hectare (259-acre) site was still a wild forest in which elephants and monkeys roamed. Now that the building has been completed and people have moved in, the village pulses with life.

Architect Guo Shu-sheng designed the homes as independent, detached houses in the Sri Lankan style, with red roofs and beige walls. The lot for each house is 5,444 square feet, but the house only occupies 676 square feet. Each house has spacious front and back yards, where residents can plant fruits and vegetables to support themselves. Each house has a living/dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. The dining and living areas can be used separately if divided with a curtain.

Construction started in June 2005 and was completed in February 2006. A total of 350 houses were turned over to their owners on April 10. Over 180 Tzu Chi volunteers and members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association from Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore attended the opening ceremony and held a free clinic to provide free medical care for local residents. Tzu Chi people also prepared practical gifts for each villager--20 kilograms (44 pounds) of white rice, two bags of sugar, and two bottles of cooking oil, which can support the villagers for two months.

The traditional Hindu New Year celebrated in Sri Lanka fell on April 14, so residents were delighted to be able to move into their new homes before their New Year. Coming away from the disaster and being able to start new lives, the villagers can finally feel peace in their bodies and souls.

The village gathered endless love and blessings from Tzu Chi people all around the world. Although the tsunami crushed many people's families and hopes, the villagers' dream of having new homes has finally come true. Being able to live in the new houses delights them and also gives them hope and expectations for their future.

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Offering Flowers to the Buddha

Premachanda Plants Trees

By Qiu Shu-juan and Lin Cui-lian

Premachanda Sudusinghe, 45, was planting seedlings in his front yard. Around 180 seedlings surrounded his house. For the past six months, they have been nurtured by Tzu Chi volunteers and now the seedlings are producing results.

The second phase of construction in the Great Love Village is underway. Tzu Chi has created a plan to make the village green with trees and plants, and there are 300,000 seedlings in a nursery garden. In the future, every house will receive 100 of them to be planted around their houses as a green fence.

Premachanda originally worked for a power company, but is now unemployed. He lost his only daughter and his house in the tsunami. He and his wife have moved into their new house. They use one bedroom and set up the other as a guestroom.

Premachanda was working industriously in the yard. He had bought papaya, coconut and mango seedlings, so that he could create a beautiful garden.

"The papayas can be the hedge; mangos will be planted in the front yard to shield the house from the scorching sun...," he murmured while pointing to the empty yard. Some little white flowers were growing behind a black net, and he said that he would use the flowers as an offering to Buddha.

We look forward to seeing his thriving garden with lots of green trees.

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Treasuring Number 162 and the Bodhi Leaf

Mulasdeen Opens the First Grocery Store

By Lin Cui-lian and Chen Wei-hao

S.M. Mulasdeen, his wife Farina, and their four-year-old son Mafaz moved into their Great Love house, numbered K4, on February 16.

Mulasdeen took out a bank loan to set up a grocery store in his house. Goods such as cookies, drinks, coconuts, dry food, milk powder, and matches were placed on a table and on shelves. The store has all the daily necessities and food supplies the villagers need. Mulasdeen can simply open the window and start business every day. He earns around a thousand rupees a day (US$9), and he is very happy about that.

He took out two stickers from a drawer, one bearing the number 162, and the other a bodhi leaf logo. He said that 162 was the Tzu Chi tent number where he lived after the disaster, and the bodhi leaf logo was from the relief goods donated by Tzu Chi. Mulasdeen, a Muslim, said he would laminate them because they represented warm help after the tsunami.

He said that the new house is strong and beautiful, and the bathroom is inside the house. Tzu Chi people also gave each family a double bed, a mattress, a dining table, and six plastic chairs, which were very handy for them. His friends and relatives had seen his new house and were envious of him.

With a smile, Mulasdeen said that he would continue donating money for the second phase of the construction of the village, and he would treat warmly any customer in the village who had difficulty paying him; he would even allow them to run up outstanding bills.

Seeing him working busily with a sense of satisfaction on his smiling face, we believe the spirit of Great Love has taken root inside him.

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See What You Have, Not What You Don't

Tuan's Family Makes Beautiful Music

By Lin Cui-lian and Chen Wei-hao

Tuan Rashid Kasaar, 46, lived in the house numbered G19. He had planted two neat rows of flowers and plants. When he heard our voices, he came out of the house and saw volunteer Lin Cui-lian from Singapore. Kasaar greeted her happily, saying, "I know you--I saw you in the free clinic last year!"

Kasaar's family moved into the new house on March 6. He hung a green flowered curtain, and in the living room he put a small table on which was a vase with some red plastic flowers.

Kasaar worked at odd jobs. He used to have four boys and a girl. The tsunami killed his wife, a son and his daughter, but his three other sons survived. He thanked the volunteers for giving him a new house, but he felt sad that his wife, daughter and son could not share the joy with him.

He took out some very valuable photographs-they were a little blurry because they had been soaked in sea water, but they still carried good memories. A year had passed since the disaster, but the grief of losing his loved ones was still there and tears filled his eyes.

The volunteers comforted him by saying, "You have to pay attention to what you still have, not to what you have lost." They even suggested he paste the photos on the wall, as though his deceased family members were still here. He seemed relieved by such a positive thought.

He rolled up a cuff of his son's pants and pointed to a faint scar on his foot. He said that the wound had been treated by a Tzu Chi doctor after the tsunami. He cautiously displayed a case history dated January 11, 2005. His son's sole had been injured in the tsunami and treated at a Tzu Chi free clinic.

Kasaar cheerfully brought all his musical instruments into the living room and performed a Sri Lankan folk song. His singing was filled with joy.