 | Tzu Chi celebrates its 11th year! To allow more people to join in the celebration and get to know more about the foundation and its missions, Tzu Chi organized the 2005 Charity Bazaar and Food Fest. The 2-day bazaar that ran from November 5 to 6 was held at the Le Pavillon in Roxas Boulevard.
At 8:45 am on November 5, Tzu Chi volunteers promptly lined up at the gates and solemnly entered the venue as the bazaar was officially opened with a grand march. The volunteers welcomed the 24 Tzu Chi volunteers from Taiwan who came to help in the event with the end goal of touching more lives and pushing forth for Tzu Chi’s missions and raising funds for the construction of Tzu Chi’s Free Clinic including the purchase of medical equipment. With the volunteers all singing “Let Great Love Brighten Up the World”, the volunteers hope that the event can pave the way in bringing hearts together, sending love to those who need it and making the country a brighter place. The opening was capped off with the hitting of the gong 3 times, each a symbolism for echoing Master Cheng Yen’s vows for “purification of human hearts”, “harmony in society” and “the world to be free from disasters”. Then the lion dance team of the Philippine Buddhacare Academy entered to further bring a happy atmosphere.
Upon entering the venue, one could already feel and see the Tzu Chi culture. On the left side, one would see a display of the various Jing Si products. On the right side are rows of Tzu Chi posters of humanitarian efforts around the world, a corner serving hot tea and some volunteers explaining the missions of the foundation to visitors.
On one area, volunteers were presenting plans for the Tzu Chi Free Clinic. Tzu Chi has been conducting medical missions around the country. Over the past 11 years, Tzu Chi Philippines has conducted a total of 90 missions (ed.’s note: summing up those organized by Tzu Chi Manila, Cebu & Zamboanga) all over the country and treated over 180,000 patients. Whether in far away provinces or just around the Metro, there are countless people who cannot afford basic medical services. Commonly, what starts as simple ailments, after being left untreated for years, turn into critical illnesses. The immense need for quality medical services for the less fortunate has prompted Tzu Chi to decide that a free clinic inside the Tzu Chi Great Love Campus would be most beneficial. The free clinic will have the departments of ophthalmology, dental, minor surgery, pediatrics, general medicine, physical rehabilitation and an elderly day care center.
Inside the main hall of the bazaar, the love gong greets each guest who enters. Each hit on the gong represents a small donation to the foundation. Walking further in, Tzu Chi volunteers from Australia and Taiwan have set up the Tzu Chi Basketball Team area. In support of this event, they brought in products and came up with unique activities that would allow people to contribute for the building of the Tzu Chi Still Thoughts Hall. During the two-day event, this was one of the liveliest booths.
The bazaar had 103 different booths selling food items, apparels, accessories and other goods. There were some booth owners like Planet Footwear, Richtop (Micromatic), Polland Bakery, Quan Yin Chay, Sunnyware and Lexan plasticware who unselfishly donated all their sales to the foundation. The Tzu Chi Youth and the Da Ai Mama Class also set up their own booths to sell products they made or cooked on their own. There were others who donated their company products to Tzu Chi to sell during the bazaar. Going towards the further end of the hall, one could instantly smell the appetizing food. There were individual rented food stalls, and a long vegetarian buffet table that featured dishes tastefully prepared by Tzu Chi Taiwan and Manila’s Kitchen Committee, even using some special ingredients that were brought in from Taiwan. As these volunteers willingly spared their time and continuously cooked for two whole days, they hoped to encourage more people to go vegetarian and raise awareness that vegetarian food can be both healthy and tasty.
Going past the food area, at the farthest end of the hall is the stage where programs were running all day long, with the intention of hyping up the festiveness of the event, as well as sharing with more people the truth, goodness and beauty of Tzu Chi. Through the programs, Tzu Chi hopes to inspire more people to help in our missions. The volunteers and youths sang and performed sign language numbers. The Tzu Chi youths also introduced their activities and modeled the shirts they designed and produced. Moreover, guest performers including students from the Philippine Buddhacare Academy and St. Jude Catholic School came to add to the celebration. Because the main purpose of the event was for Tzu Chi’s missions, Brother Alfredo Li also took the stage in an opportunity to share the reason why Tzu Chi will create the Tzu Chi Free Clinic. As Brother Alfredo shared milestone medical cases of the foundation, an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair in the audience was inspired and quickly donated for the facility.
Having been able to raise funds during these two days could only be possible with all the support from the guests, vendors, donors, and the volunteers. Still, our responsibility has not become any lighter especially since there are still countless people out there in need of our help and assistance. Because of this, we need to make firm and quicker steps to accomplish more in working towards Tzu Chi’s missions in the hopes that these efforts of great love can soon brighten up our society. |