By Abu Alay Ajemy
Translated by Wu Hsiao-ting
Photo by Li Bai-shi
I had only one interest when I was in Syria: making money. The more money I made, the better. But then came the war, during which I ran through all my savings. When I came to Turkey as a refugee, I felt sad for all that money that was no longer mine—as if money was all that mattered. I only began to change when I started working at the Tzu Chi office in Sultangazi, Istanbul. It was there that I discovered that many things in the world are more worthy of my attention than money.
It was truly a sad day when we had to close our office due to COVID-19. Our office in Sultangazi is close to Arnavutköy, where one fourth of all Syrian refugees in Istanbul live. Having fled their homes to escape war, they had lost everything they had. They needed Tzu Chi!
At the Tzu Chi office, we had been like doctors who could give painkillers to patients. But now, when a patient had a heart attack and was in dire need of our help, all we could do was tell him, “Sorry, we’re closed. We can’t help you.” You can imagine how frustrating this was. When people met me on the street and asked when our office would reopen and be able to help them again, I had no answer for them. It made me very sad.
There was one particular incident I will never forget. A woman, holding a one-month-old baby in her arms, stopped me on the street and pleaded, “I have no milk to breastfeed my child, and I can’t afford to buy formula for her. Please help me!” Standing in front of her, I was momentarily at a loss for words. All I could say to her was that our office was closed due to the coronavirus and that I was in no position to help. At the end of her rope, she tried to give her baby girl to me, saying, “Please accept this girl. Find someone to take care of her.”
I cried when I returned home, and I couldn’t stop tears from falling whenever I thought of that baby girl. But then I learned some great news: our foundation had decided to provide emergency aid to those whose lives had become difficult because of the pandemic! I helped spread the good news and we received 1,026 phone calls asking for help. When all was said and done, we were able to provide 2,300 households with ten shopping vouchers each. Each set of vouchers was worth 500 lira (US$75).
Among those we helped, some had been told by their landlords that they’d be evicted if they didn’t pay their rents, which they were unable to do because they had lost their jobs. Some were even running out of food. Our work brought true comfort to the suffering.
I cried again when I returned home, but this time my tears were of happiness. I cried because I was finally able to do something for my fellow country people.
The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I’ve begun to care about many things in this world that I never cared about before. This change in my attitude has had a great impact on my life, and improved the lives of others. Now when I see smiles instead of sadness on people’s faces, I feel honored and happy to be a member of the Tzu Chi family.
