In Bolivia the recent intense rain, the overflowing rivers and landslides caused by the phenomenon “El Niño,” have brought about much suffering for the people. Due to the severity of the rains and floods the people must also deal with a series of diseases such as yellow fever, dengue, malaria; and other illnesses related to respiratory, skin, intestinal ailments, etc. Given the urgency of the situation in Bolivia, on April 14, Golden Year 4 (2007), under Supreme Master Ching Hai’s instructions, a small Rescue Team was formed. Two members left immediately from Florida, USA, and one from Costa Rica to go to this South American country.

First, we went to some remote affected places in Santa Cruz county and found that the worst situation had already past and it was in the stage of rehabilitation. So we flew by “Air Express” to the county of Beni and from there to the cities of San Ramón and San Joaquín. While flying we witnessed how 15 million out of 23 million hectares of land had been enveloped by the floods. It was like flying over green dirty wet carpets. There were many collapsed houses, upturned trees and people living tragically in plastic tents. Sports stadiums had been occupied by victims who, due to the overflow of Marmore River, had lost their homes.

Master contributed US$10,000 to finance medicine and mosquito netting in the devastated areas. Mosquito nets were a necessity because mosquitoes there, without exaggerating, kill.

With the Red Cross representative’s help, Dr. Cesar Ligeron, we had access to a list of urgent medicine to treat the most dangerous and common diseases, as well as vitamins to treat victims’ malnourishment. In approximately one week, we had meetings with mayors and inhabitants of every city. 150 kilos of medicine and 350 mosquito nets were delivered to the victims in San Ramón and San Joaquín.

In Guayaramerín, a city located on the border between Bolivia and Brazil, we delivered, on behalf of Supreme Master Ching Hai, 300 mosquito nets and 188 kilos of medicine. We were interviewed by several television channels and reporters from different press and communications media. They were very impressed by our Association and Master’s compassion.

The municipalities of every sector we went to wrote a thank you letter to Supreme Master Ching Hai; they all showed a lot of openness and gratitude, and they also let us know that we were the only private organization that went so far to deliver the aid they needed so urgently and in such a short time.

Appreciation letters from the municipalities of San Ramón, Guayaramerín, and San Joaquín.

It was a trip full of adventures and we met many pure and beautiful Bolivian people, including a taxi driver. He charged very little, without requesting anything for all his waiting. Even one night at 11pm approximately, he came to the hotel to give us a bag of cold coconuts because during the day we tried to get some coconut water to quench our thirst but had no luck. We didn’t expect such a special treatment without being charged anything. But we gave him good tips for his generous help and for his kindness. Finally, we gave him a pin with Master’s picture as a present and he put it on his shirt immediately.

Another beautiful aspect of the trip was to also bring Master’s love to the initiated brothers and sisters in Bolivia, who have never seen Master in person. They were very happy to meet us and on our last night in Bolivia we meditated together until sunrise. We felt a real brotherhood, the closeness of family, because we are connected by the same love of our merciful Mother.

Finally we want to express our gratitude to our beloved Master because during our trip we were amazed by the inexplicable miracles that only God could make possible in such a perfect way for us to complete such a mission in a country so unknown to us.

Expenditure for Flood Relief Work in Bolivia by The Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her International Association

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