Tzu Chi Year-end Blessing 2019: Welcoming A Hopeful 2020

Venda Sim was inaugurated as Tzu Chi Honorary Commissioner before Liu Su Mei, Head of Tzu Chi Indonesia.

There is always something special at the Year-end Blessing Ceremony held by Tzu Chi Indonesia, it was none other than the inauguration of the Honorary Commissioner or Rongdong. The Honorary Commissioner is a donor who donated 1 million NT$ or around 450 million rupiah for the construction of Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia. Even though the construction is scheduled to be done by the end of this year, any kinds of support are still needed.

At the Year-end Blessing Ceremony held on Sunday, January 12, 2020 in the Jing Si Hall, Tzu Chi Center, PIK, there were 17 Honorary Commissioners appointed. In total, there were 39 people, but some of them were unable to attend the ceremony. Venda Sim (28) said to be delighted for the opportunity to be able to donate to the construction of Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia.

Tzu Chi Honorary Commissioner donated 1 million NT$ or 450 million rupiah towards the construction of Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia.

“Being able to share blessings is such a happy experience. The happiness for the opportunity given to me so I could donate, especially for a hospital which vision and mission is to save people’s lives, and provide a service to the people,” she said after being inaugurated as Tzu Chi Honorary Commissioner.

Venda herself is already familiar with Tzu Chi because she is surrounded by relatives who have become Tzu Chi volunteers such as her cousins, uncles and aunts, namely Awaluddin Tanamas and Lynda Suparto, volunteers from the He Qi Timur community. Venda often hears their sharing about Tzu Chi's activities. Therefore, Venda who often commutes from Medan to Jakarta, sometimes join Tzu Chi's activities while in Jakarta.

"Then from those sharing, I became interested. Because I see Master Cheng Yen's teachings are very universal. Her vision and mission is clear, to help people and spread virtue, " she added.

Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia is scheduled to start its operation in November 2020. The hospital is equipped with advanced services such as bone marrow transplantation and palliative care.

The Head of Tzu Chi Indonesia, Liu Su Mei, expressed her great gratitude for the support of the Honorary Commissioners.

"We are very grateful for the Rongdong because they have been supporting us this far. The Tzu Chi Hospital can be built smoothly thanks to their love,  hopefully this will help a lot of people in Indonesia," said Liu Su Mei.

Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia is planned to start their services in November 2020. Dr. Gunawan Susanto, the President Director of the Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia, in this Year-end Blessing Ceremony re-introduced the advanced facilities in this hospital.

Dr. Gunawan Susanto explained the advanced facilities at Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia.

"Our hospital will provide optimal physical services, but we also have to pay attention to patient's psychological condition. Tzu Chi has a good service that is with its humanistic culture. To be honest, physical services is easy, by having sophisticated (medical) equipment, qualified doctors, but providing good service is the uneasy part. We will try to achieve this with continuous training," said Dr. Gunawan Susanto.

Sincere Prayers for A Peaceful Indonesia
The Year-end Blessing Ceremony was attended by 4,338 participants and this ignited gratitude to Liu Su Mei’s heart, as the Head of Tzu Chi Indonesia. She hopes that the sincere prayers that was said together at this blessing ceremony will bring peace, especially to Indonesia.

The Year-end Blessing 2019 was themed with ‘Sincerity, Truth, Faith, and Seriousness Like a Fertile Land. Love, Compassion, Joy, and Inner Balance are like a Cool Wind.’

“When I saw the sun this morning, my heart was calm. Since Indonesia has been rained since January 2020 that caused the flood, making everyone’s anxious. Today we are here together in this Year-end Blessing, gathering our love, in a hope to bring peace to Indonesia,” said Liu Su Mei.

For Liu Su Mei, 2020 is a very important year for Tzu Chi Indonesia. Where in 2020 Tzu Chi's missions in Indonesia will become more complete with the operation of Tzu Chi Hospital Indonesia in November this year.

The year 2020 for Liu Su Mei is an important year for Tzu Chi Indonesia’s missions.

"One of the four missions, the Medicine Mission, will be more complete with the operation of the Tzu Chi hospital this year. In addition to this, this year's TIMA Global Forum will also be held in Indonesia, so this will be a very important year. To raise Bodhisattvas, volunteer training, getting good doctors and nurses, these are our targets this year which must be achieved," she concluded.

Translated by Chrestella Budyanto (Tzu Chi School)