On the early morning of March 31, Golden Year 3 (2006), an earthquake shook the western part of Iran, in an area filled with small villages. As the construction of village homes can be very poor, with no iron or steel used to reinforce them, houses in up to 300 villages surrounding the earthquake’s epicenter were 30% to 100% damaged.

The good news was that on this same night, many smaller earthquakes rattled this area before the major one struck. As a result, the mayor of the state was able to warn people by radio and TV. He organized cars with loudspeakers to go to the villages and warn the people. He also encouraged them to sleep outside that night. Many people followed his instructions and slept outside despite the cold weather. The result was despite the major destruction, few people died.

On the morning of April 2, initiates went to the area to collect information about the supplies that were needed to respond to the disaster. Since we didn’t know anyone who lived in the earthquake area, a sister initiate had recommended that we contact a person who lived nearby, although this sister did not know him personally.

After our arrival, we contacted this person, who had already been informed that we would be coming to render aid to the victims of the earthquake. He and his family greeted us warmly and offered to accommodate us in their home, which because of its location in the city had not been damaged. Later we learned that our gracious host was indeed the best person to help us in this matter. In his position as a wealthy farmer, he was well acquainted with the surrounding area and immediately after the earthquake had already voluntarily investigated all the nearby villages to determine where help was needed most.

After our arrival he took us to the villages that had sustained the most major damage. He also had much information about the income of the villagers and who had the greatest need. He had a pure heart and worked with us day and night while maintaining his good mood during the entire project. We investigated the damage for one day and then informed the other initiate team in Tehran (the capital city) so that they could buy the necessary items and transport them to the disaster area. Since it would take one-and-a-half days to buy and transport all the needed items, we first purchased 6,000 bottles of water from nearby cities the following day, April 3rd, and distributed them in villages where the pipe systems were damaged and the people were in urgent need of clean water to avoid any disease.

After everything was purchased, we prepared large bags with the most necessary items to give to those less fortunate. Thanks to God’s grace, we received help from seemingly everywhere. Our host’s family, their neighbors and friends all came and suddenly we had nearly 40 people helping so everything went very quickly. In addition, two factories lent us their trucks, free of charge. They were loaded, one after the other, and driven to the disaster areas.

During our stay, the two teams were in contact by cell phone and organized where the next truck should meet the distributing team. In this way we didn’t lose any time. After distributing 1,000 bags of the relief items, we started distributing big plastic rolls to be used for protecting tents from rain and cold. On the last day, April 7 at noon, we finished distributing everything, including warm blankets.

Everyone thanked us for our help; when people asked where we were from, sometimes we told them this assistance is from a lady who lives abroad and does charity work. All of them were amazed and surprised that a foreign lady was thinking of them and asked us to give Her their thanks and gratitude.

Another amazing story came out of our stay. On our first day there, our host and his wife, who were practitioners of Islam, were surprised when they learned we do not eat meat. Since vegetarianism is an unknown word among most of the Iranian people, they didn’t understand its meaning or our reasons. After we gave a brief explanation, our host said, “But I enjoy killing a sheep and cutting its head using my hands. I was even a hunter some time ago.” So I thought to myself that he was just a hopeless person and it wouldn’t do much good to talk about this subject anymore. But one of the neighbors who was present was very interested and asked many questions, so we explained more deeply about vegetarianism.

While we were talking, our host was mostly silent. Suddenly he picked up an ant which was walking on his little son’s pants and took it to the back yard and released it there. Coming back, he said, “Now I cannot kill this ant anymore.” Since he was smiling, I thought he was maybe making fun of us. However, the next day, he told us he wanted to become a vegetarian. Again, thinking he could not be serious, I was surprised to see that he was not eating meat at lunch. That evening, he said he didn’t want to eat eggs anymore, and we began to realize that he was serious. He said, “Everything you said is so true.” He then began asking about meditation and many other things whenever he found an opportunity, especially during the times we spent driving to the disaster area. On the third day, he learned the Convenient Method and was very eager to continue learning as much as possible during our stay at his house. His wife was also happy that he became a vegetarian. She said, “I think it is good for him.” She went on to stop her little son when he wanted to kill an ant, saying, “We don’t do those things in our house anymore.” At the end of the fifth day, our host asked us how he could get initiation!

We couldn’t believe that a person who said he enjoyed cutting off the heads of animals became a strict vegetarian and wanted to get initiation in such a short time.

Seeing this man’s pure heart while working intensely with him over the five days we were there, we knew that one of the reasons Master sent us there was because he was ready for all of this. After accommodating seven initiates in his house for six days, he was so sad when we were ready to leave, and said, “I don’t want you to go; it seems that I have known you for a long time.” When we thanked him for all his help, he said there was no need to thank him. Rather, he said, “I cannot thank you enough for the spiritual gift you gave me, you changed my life.”

When we were first there, he mentioned that sometimes he sees the future in his dreams and that the things he sees do happen exactly that way in the future. One day he said, “I had a dream last month which I didn’t dare tell anyone until now. I dreamed that I became a friend of the future Prophet,” (Moslems believe that the last prophet will come in the future and rescue humanity) “and I was going up and up in the spiritual realms, and I became so holy...” Then, he stopped talking about his dream because he thought we might think him arrogant. So this dream was a kind of sign to him that his decisions about doing the meditation and becoming vegetarian were right.

We left feeling grateful for the success of the project, with no major obstacles. It was also a wonderful experience for Iranian initiates. Since most of them are new, it gave us an opportunity to work closely with each other, strengthen our relationships and learn a lot from each other. It seemed that we had come to help the victims of this disaster, but we were sure that this was only the surface of the story. We initiates and the many people who helped us received so much benefit and learned so much. All the non-initiates who worked with us were amazed and motivated by our spirit and Master’s power. Of course, many villagers also received packages filled with Master’s love, which will elevate their souls.

Expenditures for Relief Efforts Rendered
to Earthquake Victims in Iran
by The Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her Association

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