Tzu Chi in South Africa

By working with and empowering the local population, Tzu Chi activities in South Africa are becoming more sustainable and rooted in the community. For example, volunteers in Durban provide lunches every day to more than 5,000 AIDS orphans, often their only full meal of the day.

(Photos by Huang Chun-kai. 11/18/2010)

Since beginning the lunch program, the volunteers have also established more than 120 "vegetable gardens of love," which they cultivate themselves. They use the produce at 120 food stations for the lunches for the orphans. They also provide rice, corn flour and other foods to supplement the vegetables.

Tzu Chi volunteer Bathobile Maphumul cares for a "Vegetable Garden of Love"

(Photo by Yuen Ya-chi, 10/9/2010)

The most classic illustration of this "long-term sustainability" approach is Tzu Chi's job training program, which teaches Zulu women vocational skills, such as how to operate a sewing machine to sew clothing. The first training center was set up in Durban in 1995, and to date, several thousand women have participated in the trainings, which allow them to make an income and support their families. The city now boasts 524 such centers.

In 2004, the “Blue Bank Project” was launched near Ladysmith. Like the sewing training centers, the Blue Bank Project also assists local residents to become self-sufficient by providing them with cloth, sewing machines and needles so that they can make clothing for sale. ("Vows and Commitments in South Africa")

Furthermore, as one woman noted, the benefits are not just material: the independent income is personally empowering, because the women no longer have to beseech the male head of household for money to buy basic necessities like salt.

Many of these Zulu women went on to become Tzu Chi volunteers, returning to train others and most notably, beginning outreach projects in the larger Zulu community, such as caring for AIDS patients. Today, they form the backbone of Tzu Chi's volunteer corps in South Africa. They have moved from being the recipients of aid, to giving to aid to others even more impoverished or marginalized. In this way, the cycle of caring continues onward, with Taiwanese and Zulu volunteers working hand in hand to spread the seeds of love.

Video: Tzu Chi in South Africa

Empowering Women & Girls in South Africa

"Love Without Borders" - Empowering Women in South Africa

In post-apartheid South Africa in the early 1990s, Taiwanese businessmen and Tzu Chi volunteers started a job-training program to empower Zulu women and help them overcome poverty. Thousands eventually took part, and not only did these women emerge from poverty -- they also uncovered the power of unconditional giving. As they began to care for AIDS patients and orphans in impoverished Zulu communities, their actions sparked a movement that continues to spread the seeds of love.

Cooking hot meals for orphans

Two of these legendary Zulu women, Gladys Ngema and Tolakele Mkhize, recently led a workshop at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Please join us for a special evening, where Gladys, Tolakele and businessman Michael Pan will share their inspiring life stories and discuss their humanitarian work with the Tzu Chi Foundation (慈濟基金會) in South Africa.

Tzu Chi, whose name means "compassion and relief," is the largest NGO in the Chinese-speaking world. Founded in 1966 by the Venerable Master Cheng Yen, it has over 10 million members and chapters in over 40 countries. The group's core activities span Charity, Medicine, Education and Disaster Relief, and it provides aid to all people regardless of race or religion.

7:30 PM at San Jose State University (March 8)
2 PM at Bayview Opera House, SF (March 9)

Free and open to the public. For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.tcnw.org/love or call (408) 666-0624.

Video: About the Event

PHOTO: Tzu Chi volunteers gathering donations for charity work