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further spreading the virus. The violence against women in
the Zulu culture is the result of a lack of education, fuelled
by the spread of misinformation in the population perpetu-
ating the notion of submissive women and dominant men.
Tzu Chi’s long-term humanitarian project first began in
1995 in South Africa, with the mission of providing health
care for those suffering from HIV and AIDS and stopping
the spread of the deadly disease through education. Upon
witnessing the intimate care provided for the AIDS patients,
several of the Zulu locals in the Durban region no longer
feared the spread of the disease through touch, and ceased
to alienate their ailing brethren. Many of the Zulu women
became volunteer caretakers under the Tzu Chi name, and
the AIDS patients cared for by the volunteers retained their
humanity until the bitter end. The organization’s volunteers
that emigrated to South Africa were committed to empower-
ing the Zulu women, spearheading sustainable humanitarian
programmes such as sewing groups that would later develop
into sewing and other vocational skills training centres, as well
as vegetarian farms, all of which are by women for women.
These endeavours are an encapsulation of what is now Goal
5 of the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
The vocational training programmes have been crucial for
the betterment of the livelihood of the participating women,
challenging the Zulus’ traditional gender roles of the male
provider and the female caretaker.
Since 1995 more than 800 local community members,
most of them being Zulu women and girls, have become
Tzu Chi volunteers carrying out missions of compassion and
humanistic aid projects to those less fortunate; missions and
projects all led and operated by local women in the commu-
nity, many of whom were indigent and previously in need
of aid themselves. These Zulu women, who now don the
blue and white uniform worn by Tzu Chi volunteers world-
wide, have established more than 500 vocational training
centres in various communities, teaching more than 12,000
women how to sew and make other handicrafts and, further,
to sell their created products, generating a liveable income
for themselves and their families.
The growth in capacity, quantity and quality of this
programme is a testament to Cheng Yen’s vision of women’s
empowerment, and a testament to how effective humani-
tarian projects actually are if they place the agency of the
community first. As stated, although the provision of aid is
important, it can only be the first initial, if not the last, step
to humanitarian projects; and Tzu Chi’s Zulu volunteers are
learning this as well. In addition to empowering themselves
and other women in South Africa, these volunteers have,
since 2012, begun to implement humanitarian projects to
help communities and individuals in neighbouring coun-
tries. The volunteers that plan, coordinate and carry out
missions of charity and compassion know full well the situ-
ation of those they are giving aid to, understanding their
plights and often sharing the same pain and struggles,
giving them the knowledge and will to enact humanitarian
missions. This encapsulates and distinguishes Tzu Chi’s
relief programmes and mission of charity: the empower-
ment of those that already do not have much to lead, take
control of their lives, and then give back to those even less
fortunate, thereby encouraging those who have been given
aid to give back and, perhaps one day, become Tzu Chi
volunteers themselves.
Another reflection of the success of the programmes in
South Africa is the display of courage among its own contin-
gent of Zulu volunteers. In response to the surge of rape and
violence against women in Zulu culture, the native volunteers
found the courage to form an anti-rape group, provid-
ing psychosocial support to victims of sexual violence and
encouraging legal action against their oppressors. Through
the realization of their own inherent power, they were able
to find the courage to face some of the darkest and cruellest
aspects of humanity, which had affected many of them on a
deep personal level.
It is in this situation that the meaning of empowerment, at
least to that of Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi, can be revealed. It is
not a single thing to be given, just as courage cannot be given
or provided; rather, it is a mindset, or even a state of being,
that is realized internally. Through the operational perspective
of empowering women by way of programme projects, it is
important for humanitarian actors to remember that dignity,
agency and power are not things or material possessions that
can be given, but rather inherent and universal human rights
to be realized.
In line with the Paris agreement and climate action (SDG
13), the Venerable Dharma Master Cheng Yen initiated a
global movement to combat the nature of large agribusiness
and the effects of factory farming on the changing climate,
all of which contribute to roughly 17 per cent of anthro-
pomorphic greenhouse gases. Termed Ethical Eating Day,
participants of this global movement, such as the female
Zulu volunteers in South Africa, commit to a day of meat-
less meals on 11 January, empowering them to take action
through conscious eating habits in the household and
helping to create a better world.
Zulu women are taught employable sewing skills, challenging the traditional
gender roles of Zulu culture
Image: Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation
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