The proud of Taiwan? - Tzuchi

On March 11th we watched a series of video clips made by a group of Taiwanese students introducing Taiwan. I appreciated the hard work on gathering so many fabulous pictures and I did like the video very much because it reminds me how beautiful the island is. However, there is one point mentioned in the clip that I don’t really agree with. Here I want to share my idea with you guys.

In the “famous people/thing” part of the clip, they mentioned Tzuchi (慈濟), the most famous foundation and charity from Taiwan. As we all know, Tzuchi was established by the Dharma Master Cheng Yen in 1966, mainly dedicate themselves to education, medicine and humanistic culture. Of course, we Taiwanese are all very proud that we have such a charitable organization. But after I read the article from the journalist Hu muqing (胡慕情), I don’t really think that Tzuchi deserved such praise from Taiwan and other countries.

Here is the article. http://gaea-choas.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post_8012.html【災後半年】慈善有界線

As we all know, after the catastrophe on August 8 in 2009, Taiwan government and Tzuchi help the victims to rebuild their home. The most controversial part of the rebuilding is the “temporary residence” or “eternal home.” The local residents are mainly separated into two parts: the ones who want to stay at the shelter or the temporary residence, and the ones who want to go back to their shabby hometown. Doubtlessly we should respect their choices. Hence it is the government and Tzuchi's responsibility to fulfill their needs and help them to get back on their feet.

However, Tzuchi use their great love and mercy as a disguise, but in fact intruding the locals’ life. Tzuchi helps the local to rebuild their home and at the same time adds some “Tzuchi” flavor to their house: the big rocks with description to remind the broken-hearted locals of how the tragedies happen to their family members, roads named by Tzuchi, and disturbing the locals’ religious beliefs.

Of course Tzuchi is helping out of good will, but we have to make sure there’s a boundary between helping and invasion. Also, we Taiwanese should rethink whether Tzuchi is really Taiwan’s proud.

Judy Chou, Eng dept. FJU

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2010.03.24 AM 00:50
I found an nice article talking about what Tzuchi have done.
慈濟的愛，不如一碗白飯
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/Bernstein/15990229