Text and photos by Mohammed Nimr AlJamal and Ahmed Seyhi
Translated by Wu Hsiao-ting
“It’s finally time for us to give back!” exclaimed students and faculty at El Menahil International School in Turkey. They were referring to money they had donated to help Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan purchase COVID vaccines. Such vaccines would help accelerate Taiwan’s vaccination drive. The students and teachers had raised the money to thank Tzu Chi for helping them after they had fled the war in their home country Syria.
When students at El Menahil International School returned to school in September 2021 after the pandemic had eased, they donated their pocket money to help Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan purchase COVID vaccines to help speed up Taiwan’s vaccination program.
September 6, 2021 was payday for the teaching and administrative staff at El Menahil International School in Istanbul, Turkey. A significant event was also taking place on this day: faculty members were making donations to help Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan purchase and donate COVID vaccines, which would in turn speed up Taiwan’s vaccination program. Teachers expressed their happiness and joy at being able to repay the foundation for helping them and their fellow Syrian refugees over the years. Magd Mohammed Bagdadi, one of the teachers, said, “Tzu Chi has shown so much care for us over the years, providing us with free medical treatment and financial aid and helping us with our education. We must repay them for their kindness to convey our deep feelings of gratitude to them.”
Zekeriya Fustik, another teacher, had taught in Syria for over 40 years. He felt a range of emotions at being able to work as a teacher again in Turkey. “No matter how much we donate,” he said, “we can never adequately thank Tzu Chi for standing with us over the years.”
The amounts of money teachers and administrative staffers at El Menahil donated ranged from 200 to 600 lira (US$16 to 48). Faisal Hu (胡光中), the head of Tzu Chi Turkey, said that the average pay of teachers at the school was 3,000 to 4,000 lira (US$242 to 322), so the money they donated was not a trivial amount. They felt the need to donate because “having experienced love from Taiwanese people, they must seize every chance to give back.”
Making charity a habit
El Menahil is a school for Syrian refugee children from elementary to high school. It was established by Tzu Chi and the government of the Sultangazi district of Istanbul in January 2015. Tzu Chi pays students’ tuition and hires and pays qualified Syrians to teach. The school was renamed El Menahil International School in 2018 after it was accredited by AdvanceED, an American accrediting agency. Graduates can obtain diplomas acknowledged by the United States and Turkey.
In addition to supporting the school, Tzu Chi regularly helps 6,000 Syrian refugee families in Turkey. Faisal Hu said that large crowds were prohibited from gathering due to social distancing guidelines after the coronavirus pandemic started, but volunteers never stopped distributing monthly financial aid to the families Tzu Chi was helping support. Instead of holding distribution events, volunteers delivered the aid directly to the homes of the needy.
Tzu Chi reinstated on-site distributions in September 2021. By that time the COVID vaccination rate in Turkey had reached 70 percent, and many precautionary restrictions had been lifted. Volunteers completed 29 distribution events in two weeks, giving out cash cards to 6,000 families. Besides helping the households Tzu Chi had already been supporting, the foundation offered aid to refugee families who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
Zi Shan was a school principal in Syria, but that career was cruelly ended by the civil war. Her house was destroyed and her husband was kidnapped. Sadly, he’s not been heard from since. She and her two children fled illegally to Turkey in 2013. Because no school would hire her as a teacher, she was forced for a time to work as a cleaning lady. In 2017, she learned about Tzu Chi from a neighbor, and has since been receiving financial aid from the foundation. In addition to providing her with monetary assistance, volunteers prepared a wardrobe, cupboard, and cooking stove for her and her children and moved the items into their nearly empty rental unit. Zi Shan said, “My children have no memory of their father; the Tzu Chi foundation is like their other parent.”
Zi Shan is in poor health and has no steady income from work, but she still teaches her children to save their spare change in a coin bank to donate to Tzu Chi. When she took the coin bank to a Tzu Chi distribution to donate the money inside, she encouraged her fellow refugees to make charity a habit and help make a difference in the lives of other needy people. Touched by her words, many donated to Tzu Chi as well.
Her younger son, Sameh, transferred to El Menahil International School in 2021. He excels in school and dreams of becoming a dentist. “My second dream is to become a volunteer at El Menahil,” said Sameh. “I want to do good things, just like what Mr. Faisal Hu has been doing for us.”
When the faculty at El Menahil learned about Tzu Chi’s effort to purchase and donate vaccines in July 2021, they expressed their wish to help by donating money to the foundation. They fulfilled their wish on September 6, 2021—the very day they were paid.
Students contributing
The Turkish government instantly ordered all schools to close after the first confirmed coronavirus case appeared in Turkey in March 2020, with the exception of those catering to students with special needs. Teachers at El Menahil went to school as usual to teach, but students stayed home and started learning remotely. After 18 months of online learning, El Menahil students returned to school to resume in-person classes on September 7, 2021. The children were excited. One said, “Using a cell phone to attend classes is bad for the eyes. I’ve also missed my teachers. I love my school. I’m also glad I can finally see my friends.” Another said, “I’m thrilled to be back in school after one and a half years and see my teachers. I feel they have become more beautiful.”
Students returned to school with more than just their school bags—they brought their coin banks as well. They donated the money to support Tzu Chi’s effort to purchase COVID vaccines for Taiwan. “I want to repay Tzu Chi for what they have done for us,” said Ahmet. “What I gave is nothing compared with what they have done to support us, but I’ll keep doing what I can.”
Fatima Betul is another student at El Menahil. Her father was killed in the war. She now lives with her mother and two younger sisters. Her family receives long-term aid from Tzu Chi too. She said that though they do not do well financially, they have learned from Tzu Chi the importance of giving. “We hope to convey a message of love and peace through our giving,” the girl said. “We embrace sincere love and stand by members of our Tzu Chi family. We hope to help purchase vaccines for our dear brothers and sisters in Taiwan.” She stressed that Tzu Chi has been helping Syrians and others in need around the world. “Our love is given in response to their kind help to us.”
Since they started, teachers and students at El Menahil have donated more than 20,000 U.S. dollars to help Tzu Chi purchase vaccines. Faisal Hu said, “Some might wonder why we solicit or accept donations from refugees, given that they have their own economic struggles,” said Hu. “But the message we want to send is that the heart behind the gift is what matters, not the amount donated. When they drop money into a coin bank to donate, they change from people who receive to people who give. This can transform their lives.”
This was not the first time teachers and students at El Menahil had donated to Tzu Chi to help with its work. They’ve also donated to help victims of major natural disasters in Taiwan, as well as survivors of Cyclone Idai, which devastated parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi in 2019. What’s more, they took the initiative themselves to donate on those occasions.
Cuma Serya, the principal of El Menahil International School, is from Syria. He said that the donation for the vaccines this time had a special significance for them. “Since we met Tzu Chi seven years ago, we’ve been eagerly waiting for a chance to repay the kind-hearted people in Taiwan for never leaving us on our own and for doing all they can to help displaced Syrians.” This was the chance they had been waiting for.
“Our small donations carry our love and gratitude for Tzu Chi,” said the principal. He remarked that they willingly parted with their money because they cared for the lives and safety of their fellow brothers and sisters in Taiwan. “Your lives are our lives, and your safety is our safety because we are brothers and sisters, because we are family.”
Students in Taiwan receive Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT) COVID-19 shots donated by Tzu Chi, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), and the Yonglin Foundation. In the doses is love from Syrian refugees who donated to Tzu Chi to help with the foundation’s purchase of BNT vaccines. Tzu Chi, TSMC, and Yonglin together donated 15 million BNT doses to Taiwan. Huang Xiao-zhe
