The medical members of Tzu Chi 3rd Disaster Relief Team to Myanmar returned on 27 June 2008. They were interviewed by RTM2 upon their return and it is hoped that through media broadcast, the spirit of humanitarian relief will be widely spread. Picture: Dr. Liang Jian Kuan said besides providing medication to treat sickness, they had also given hygiene education on scabies' prevention.【Photograph by Ho Wen Yee】

Two of the doctors, a Pharmacist and a Tzu Chi staff being interviewed by RTM2 at Tzu Chi Kuala Lumpur Office.

Tzu Chi's Song "One family" had comforted many at the disaster relief missions carried out by Tzu Chi internationally. Dr. Lim Lian Cheoo, a TIMA doctor from Malaysia, sang this song with sign language to show his care before leaving the victims' homes during his home visits in Myanmar. Dr. Leong Kin Fon, a Paediatrician, said his eyes would turn teary whenever the song was sung.

Miss Htwe Tra Nandi, who is the niece of a high-ranking official (Advisor to Myanmar Ministry of Defence), had followed Tzu Chi volunteers in several aid distribution activities. Initially, she just learnt the sign language for the song "One family", but after several presentations, she started to understand the meaning of this song and was moved. She took the initiative to translate the lyrics of "One family" and "The Three No's" into the Burmese language which took her two days to complete. Then she approached a local singer, Nilar Winhtut, to record these songs, with her father, Kay Tu Winhtut, a composer, singing the male part of "The Three No's".
 
Just as Dr. Leong had said, "One family" is a simple song, but it has a healing power. It connects the givers with the recipients, and makes everyone feel that they are under one �roof'. Even though the locals are resilient and ask for very little, they still need comforting strength. As such, it was timely that Tzu Chi volunteers arrived with the songs that warmed and bonded their hearts together.

RTM2's producer and news editor, Tan Ean Nee, was puzzled as to how the volunteers could interact with the locals so well within a day. However, from the sharing by the doctors and the things that they had done, such as, singing and performing sign language for the victims, not to mention, the love spread by the first and second relief team, one already knew the answer!

The relief updates

Tzu Chi's Medical Relief Team, comprising of 11 members (7 doctors, 3 pharmacists and a documentary staff) from Penang, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur, returned after the first wave of free medical outreach activities on 27 June 2008. Several volunteers from Taiwan and Malaysia are still in Myanmar.

Dr. Lim Lian Cheoo, Dr. Leong Kin Fon, a Pharmacist, Chin Kim Lin and videographer, Oo Chin Shen, went straight to Tzu Chi Kuala Lumpur Office from KLIA to be interviewed by RTM2's Tan Ean Nee.
 
Upon receiving the official permission to carry out relief mission from the Myanmar government, Tzu Chi had already sent three relief teams to Myanmar. The 3rd team consisted of mainly medical personnel whose mission was to extend medical care to the locals and to assist in the aid relief activities.

From 21 to 25 June, a total of 436 people (volunteers and medical personnel) had carried out 7 sessions of aid distribution and 9 sessions of free clinic at Twantay, Pyatathait, Kanbe Village and Tamangyi. A total of 9980 10-kg bags of rice were given out to 3106 households, comprising of 12,707 people. A total of 2881 patients received medical consultations.

Dr. Leong found that many children were malnourished, and there were one-year old children who were underweight, weighing only between 7 to 8 kg. This problem has been compounded after the cyclone disaster.

It was lucky that the children generally suffered from fever, cough, diarrhoea and scabies. As such, medication would suffice. However, Dr. Leong also held two sessions of hygiene education for parents to prevent and reduce the scabies problem.

Relief team members' feeling

Team members have a general opinion that the Burmese people are simple and resilient.

Dr. Leong said, "We did not specially use oral anesthetics when treating scabies. We just held their bodies firmly and quickly removed the pustules. They would smile immediately after that."

This was Dr Lim Lian Cheoo's first visit to Myanmar and his first participation with Tzu Chi Disaster Relief mission. He said the local residents used plastic sheeting as roof covering and bamboos as beams for their homes. Despite this, they have no complaints about their homes and received Tzu Chi volunteers happily. Dr. Lim said he could feel their inner strength and their simplicity.

Videographer, Chin Shen, said that the path they took when they went for an assessment trip was very muddy after rain. On seeing this, the locals, who accompanied them, took the difficult path and left the easy section for the volunteers to walk on so that they would not fall.

The free clinics set up at a fixed point were well accepted by the locals. The doctors and medical personnel were very grateful for the opportunity to serve the victims albeit for a short period of time.