To the Southwest district volunteers, organizing a blood donation drive in the community is something they feel gratified about. This is because it allows them the opportunity to be able to contribute to the community as well as take care of their homes at the same time without the need to spend much time on traveling.

The Southwest Compassionate group volunteers venture near HDB flats many times to undertake “Spreading the Seeds of Love” activities, as well as to promote the upcoming pioneer blood donation drive to be held in the community.

Volunteers hard at work in the kitchen at “Tian Xin Vegetarian Buns”, filling containers with lunch that they have cooked, preparing to send it to JMC for the other volunteers to enjoy.

After helping out in the kitchen, Sister Xiu Zhu prepares to register for blood donation at JMC.

65 year old Medical volunteer Sister Looi Cai Feng in her role as receptionist, introducing Tzu Chi and its activities to a volunteer donor.

To the Southwest district volunteers, organizing a blood donation drive in the community is something they feel gratified about. This is because it allows them the opportunity to be able to contribute to the community as well as take care of their homes at the same time without the need to spend much time on traveling.

About 2 years ago, newly-joined member Miss Ye Xiu Zhu got to know Sister Liang Gui Yan, co-leader of the Southwestern Singapore Compassion Group, and started being an environmental protection volunteer in the Jurong West Tzu Chi Recycling Station.

Currently, with her two children both in secondary school, Sister Xiu Zhu started to work at “Tian Xin Vegetarian Buns” on a part time basis. Upon getting to know that Tzu Chi would be organizing a blood donation drive at Jurong Medical Centre (JMC), Sister Xiu Zhu prepared lunches for the volunteers on duty without a second thought, although this was in addition to her duty of preparing meals for volunteers involved in the “Spreading the Seeds of Love” exercises.

At the factory where Sister Xiu Zhu is working in, ‘defective’ buns that do not look presentable are sometimes available, which prompts the boss of the factory to order workers to extract the buns’ filling and dispose of the outer dough layer. Sister Xiu Zhu is unwilling to indulge in food wastage as she feels that, “There are many people in the world who don’t even have food to eat, but we throw away our food just because it doesn’t look attractive enough on the outside.” Instead of throwing away the rejected buns, she eats it instead. In time, she suggested to her boss that she would pay for those buns out of her own pocket, and distribute them to Tzu Chi volunteers instead.

Sister Xiu Zhu’s boss was touched by her kindness, and he decided to donate the buns to the volunteers as a way of doing a good deed. In fact, because of Sister Xiu Zhu’s initial gesture, a large proportion of the workers in the bun factory are now members of Tzu Chi. On 1 September, the day that the blood donation drive was held, Sister Xiu Zhu’s boss Mr Huang Rong Fa lent out his kitchen to Tzu Chi volunteers, and together with his wife, personally prepared 150 sets of delectable lunches for the volunteers besides supplying buns for the day. The 5 Tzu Chi kitchen volunteers who helped out in the kitchen on that day had all joined Tzu Chi after the “Spreading the Seeds of Love” exercise. Mrs. Huang elucidated, “Fate has given us a chance to give back to the community, and that is what we must do. Xiu Zhu really has initiative; with her in our factory leading the other workers, everyone enjoys their work more than ever.”

After completing her duty in the kitchen, Sister Xiu Zhu arrived at JMC to register for blood donation. She had previously donated blood before in her youth, but had been rejected after that due to anaemia. Sister Xiu Zhu eagerly related, “I’ve been active for a whole morning in the hope that I’ll be able to participate in the blood donation today.”

However, it was still not meant to be – after the blood examination procedure, Sister Xiu Zhu was rejected, and thus had to postpone her hopes to another blood drive to be held 3 months later. Regardless of this, Sister Xiu Zhu did not allow time for herself to idle. She rushed home with a few other volunteers to prepare for the pending recycling activity that night, as her house is one of the recycling points to collect the recycled materials from.

65 years old Sister Looi Cai Feng (Ellen Looi) is the medical volunteer helming the receptionist post at the entrance of JMC. Sister Cai Feng is a professional nurse with three children who have already stepped into the working society. After retirement, Sister Cai Feng traveled to many places with her husband, leisurely enjoying life in her golden age. However, after a recent trip to Hong Kong, she felt an emptiness which was related to her thinking that breezing through life like this did not hold much meaning, and she yearned to catch a plane back to Singapore immediately. Under the encouragement of medical volunteer Sister Zhang Ai Yu, Sister Cai Feng started to help out at the Tzu Chi Free Clinic at Chinatown. This period as a volunteer has substantiated and enriched Sister Cai Feng’s life. With further encouragement from both her husband and Sister Ai Yu, Sister Cai Feng signed up for this year’s Tzu Chi International Medical Association’s Annual Conference at Tzu Chi headquarters in Hualien.

Newly-joined volunteer Brother Zhang Ai Zhong originally hails from Eastern Sarawak, currently resides in the Jurong area, and holds a job as a computer engineer. He first heard about Tzu Chi in his schooling days, but this contact was soon discontinued. Upon the stabilization of his job, Brother Ai Zhong had a strong urge to continue helping out in volunteering activities, and took the initiative to contact the Tzu Chi Singapore branch. He then attended the sharing sessions and eventually guided to help out in the recycling activities by Sister Gui Yan. Brother Ai Zhong has also actively participated in the “Spreading the Seeds of Love” exercise this time round. From 22 – 26 August, he participated in the exercise every night by educating residents about blood donation on a door-to-door basis. He was not very used to this at first, but under the accompaniment of many other Tzu Chi volunteers, Brother Ai Zhong found greater joy in this activity as it could let the residents of the community learn about Tzu Chi.

Sister Tan Li Yu, who is now an Attachment Commissioner at Tzu Chi, brought her daughter along when she was helping out in a streetwalking promotion campaign. Sister Li Yu had heard of Tzu Chi many years ago at a book exhibition, and later brought her daughter for classes conducted by the Tzu Chi Teenagers’ Group. Ever since the Tzu Chi Singapore branch had implemented a four-in-one community volunteering structure, Sister Li Yu became more proactive in participating in Tzu Chi. She was able to experience the activities of the large Tzu Chi groups and the solicitude of the small ones from the community recycling activity. Sister Li Yu is grateful to Sister Pang Xiao Lan, leader of the volunteer subgroup she belongs to, as it is her earnest concern and spurring that have enabled Sister Li Yu to be able to continue participating in Tzu Chi while letting her daughter (who is currently studying in a school for special children) tag along. Sister Li Yu relates that blood donation is something that can help to save people, and that encouraging people to donate blood is an activity that enlightens kindness and inspire love.

All in all, the four-in-one volunteering structure has enabled volunteers to step into the community, and cemented a greater sense of cohesiveness among themselves. 

Note
“Spreading the Seeds of Love”:
The Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States was a catastrophe to mankind that shocked the world. Alarmed and distressed by the tragedy, Master Cheng Yen initiated the long term “Spread the Seeds of Love” movement on Oct 13, 2001, emphasizing that “All of us should learn important lessons from the global disasters and be regretful about them. Everyone can merge the power of love to create a peaceful world.”

If each person, on a daily basis, speaks a good word, practices a good deed, and fosters a good thought, by end of each month, it will add up to thirty good thoughts and good deeds. This is the best blessing for oneself and for the world.

The present “Spreading the Seeds of Love” exercise involves spreading goodwill and information on charity events among the people. We sincerely invite everyone to join us and participate in this movement.