Mon, Aug 17, 2009 page2

• MORAKOT: THE AFTERMATH: Donations pour in to aid those affected by typhoon

  STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE The public has stepped in to lend needed help by emptying savings banks and giving supplies from their stores to typhoon victims

  • By Yang Chiu-ying, Lin Liang-che and Hsu Hsia-lien / STAFF REPORTERS
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  A mother and daughter brought a bamboo piggy bank containing NT$160,000 in donations for Typhoon Morakot victims.

  A volunteer worker at the non-profit Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation received the piggy bank, which weighed 9kg. After carefully counting each coin inside, the volunteer found NT$160,000 accumulated by the mother and daughter over 12 years.

  The piggy bank was originally intended as the girl’s dowry, which the mother started adding to after her daughter’s birth. However, after seeing victims of Morakot losing their homes to floods, the seventh-grade daughter asked her mother to donate the dowry money to the foundation to be used in relief efforts.

  

  Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation volunteers in Kaohsiung receive a donation to help victims of the disaster brought by Typhoon Morakot disaster on Thursday. The woman making the donation, which totaled NT$160,000, had saved the money over a period of 12 years for her daughter’s dowry.

  PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TZU CHI FOUNDATION

  Aside from their personal donation, they also handed in NT$500,000 that they collected from members of their community to be dedicated to typhoon relief.

  The bamboo piggy bank, 70cm in length, had the words “perseverance is a virtue” engraved on it. The mother, who declined to be interviewed by reporters, told Tzu Chi volunteers that the bank was a shared memory between her and her daughter, and carried with it her good wishes. Although it was originally meant to be her daughter’s dowry, she was happy with her daughter’s decision to donate the money to help the victims of the typhoon.

  Another generous donor was the owner of a convenience store, surnamed Wang (王), who lives in Chienshan Village (建山) in Kaohsiung County. Wang, who traveled to Kaohsiung City for business on the day of the typhoon, never thought that he would be separated from his father and younger brother, who were trapped in the village because of flooding after the typhoon.

  Because of the slow rescue efforts, the villagers faced food and potable water shortages, prompting Wang’s younger brother to tell him of the problem. This prompted Wang to allow his brother to give away all the food from his convenience store to the villagers free of charge. However, this only staved off hunger shortly, because the supply was limited and there were many mouths to feed. After six days, villagers again faced food shortages.

  After his brother again told him that all the food in the village had run out, Wang went to Chienshan Middle School to plead to Deputy Minister of National Defense Chao Shih-chang (趙世璋) to arrange for the army to deliver food and water to the villagers.

  Wang told Chao that he and the villagers were like family, but because he could only do so much, he needed help from the deputy minister to save the village.

  Wang told Chao that relief efforts to the village were minimal, and the villagers had cleared an area and cordoned it off with red cloth for helicopter landings.

  Help came not only from business owners, but also from those who used to sleep on the streets of Taichung City.

  Eight people who were homeless for months or years donated a total of NT$2,250 to typhoon victims because they said they understood the pain of not having a home.

  Thirty five-year-old Kuo ­Chuan-cheng (郭川正) served nine years in jail after being convicted of manslaughter. After he was released, his family refused to take him in.

  Coupled with his inability to find a job, he resorted to living on the street for half a year.

  With the help of social services, Kuo was able to find a stable job cleaning streets last month.

  He said that sometimes when he is doing his job, store owners offer him free beverages and thank him. He said he sympathized with the victims of the typhoon, so he donated NT$1,000 to help them, because he wanted to give back to the community that gave him so much.
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