PART I Records of Hope's Humanitarian Footprints in 2025 服務現場記實 壹
話說從頭
How Things Have Begun
I should begin by describing how the people from my own homeland had done certain things to move all of us first; however, without some other preparatory stages, to go directly into that part of the story would be too abrupt. Consequently, I ask you to please be patient and to keep reading this entire piece that will be continued in the days to come. I am positive that once you chew the words in this piece of work, our joint roads will be filled with more sunshines and positive forces!!
原本，我應該先描述今年到達東非的人士，是如何充滿愛心及使當地人士無比動容，不過，如果不能先做一些預先準備就讓讀者直接跳進那些今年度令人感動的場景，似乎過於急促；是以，希望您耐著性子讀完這個仍然待續的文章，咀嚼裡面的意念，以增進我們彼此生命的價值，使大家發光發熱!!!
Early in the morning, I went to the local
traditional market to get some tofu, curds made of out of yellow beans,
carrying with me containers to hold these tofu. Owner of the store in her 70s
greeted me as usual. Upon seeing me taking those two containers out of my bag
intended for the two squared tofu, she blurted out,
"Wise people do wise things! Smart
ladies do things smartly!"
清晨，我到當地的傳統市場去買豆腐，並隨身帶著裝豆腐的容器。對著那位七十多歲的店主，我像往常一樣和駐顏有術的她打招呼。看到我從包裡拿出兩個容器，準備裝那兩塊方方正正的傳統豆腐時，她脫口而出：
「有智慧的女性所做的，就是超級有智慧的事！」
A small part of this gigantic piece of tofu on a plate was the part I bought. 木板上的傳統豆腐中的部份，即為本文中所提，吾所購買的豆腐。
賣豆腐媽媽這位主辦會計掌握著豆腐攤的金流，她的兒子經營著豆腐攤生意的外場送貨，她原本在豆腐攤收帳的、當時常常與我閒話家常的媳婦在工作穩定之後，跳槽到一個寵物店裡工作。這家豆腐店生意之好，他們必須請另外兩位婦女來幫忙攤位的營運。年年這個豆腐攤不斷茁壯與成長，展現出無比的生命力，令人佩服她們婆媳的智慧，這也令我常常幻想著那位媳婦所希望栽培琴藝的小女兒、也是賣豆腐的媽媽的小孫女拉琴的樣子……因為豆腐媽媽的媳婦常常在過去我們談天說地時提及自己幼年沒有學習樂器的機會，但她非常希望自己的女兒有這樣的音樂素養。
賣豆腐媽媽所說的話，將我拉回現實；她想強調的是我的環保與惜物，而我所珍惜的是一位菜販的睿智從其待人接物中輕輕流瀉。
在故里傳統市場中的這番交流使我動容，那一塊塊工整、可親的、可解鄉愁的豆腐，協助了我將今夏在服務過程中的幾椿要事具體化，那就是：
得以見識十分願意助人者的現場行動力、
徹底鼓舞更多地點相對蠻荒公校中的教職人員、
以及得到原本以為不會助益於我的服務工作人士的挹助。
The tofu-selling vendor, who serves as the
chief accountant, oversees the cash flow of the tofu stall. Her son runs the
delivery side of the stall’s business. Her daughter-in-law, who originally
handled the stall’s bookkeeping task and with whom I’d chatted with frequently
when I bought things from that stall, has since moved on to a more stable job
at a pet store. The tofu stall thrives so well that two other women are hired to
help the mother and son pair with daily operations. Year after year, I watch
their growth and vitality, and I often imagine the sight of that
daughter-in-law’s little girl—the tofu mother’s granddaughter—playing the
violin, or the cello, something the mother of this daughter would like her to
be able to do, something I heard her mention again and again, that she herself
was not able to learn how to play musical instrument but how much she wishes
her daughter would be able to do so…
What the tofu-selling vendor wants to
highlight is my sense of environmental sustainability and frugality. What I
cherish even more, on the other hand, is the graceful wisdom of a vendor at a
traditional market place: her wisdom is gently revealed through the way she
treats others.
This interaction in my hometown’s
traditional market place has really moved me. Those very traditional tofu, in
their little rigid lines inside that bigger, squared size of tofu, remind me to
systematically analyze several milestones of the service work I have continued
to do during July and August, 2025:
To have witnessed the immediate initiatives
of those who are kind-hearted,
To thoroughly inspire those in public
schools at areas which are relatively underdeveloped, and
To have received unexpected support from certain
individual(s) I thought would not be helpful during my journeys towards serving
more.
凝望那幅由我的服務世界邊陲地帶社區人士而成就的織錦，其跨越不同時區、以無法完全相比的經驗值、和與各種背景的人類乃至其他物種交織，這時我才更進一步地明白，憑著那份笨拙但充滿著小卻幸的機緣，我才能一路向前，度過所有可能艱難的分分秒秒。
As I behold the tapestry woven from the
footprints of my humanitarian journey—stretching across diversified time zones,
layered with varied encounters, and interlaced with human beings and other
beings alike—I come to understand that it is through that naïve yet
providential chance that has transcended me through the most arduous passages
of these journeys.
Like those tofu, I can be so tender and yet
so tough that even with such shaking, violent power during its creative
process, it forms itself into that piece after piece of many squared lines.
Little squares merge into bigger ones and in the end, they are left there on
the wooden pads for the vendors to cut for sale; however, originally we are all
like that, all in that once piece. Understanding these makes me want to trace
back to those milestones more carefully so that how little pieces can be
generated into a whole can be glimpsed.
如同那豆腐一般，我可以柔順至極，卻又堅韌非常；就算在生成過程中經歷劇烈的搖晃與猛烈的力量，它仍能凝聚成形，化為一塊又一塊方正的格子。小方塊彼此拼合成更大的整體，最終被留置在木板上，由販賣者切割販售；然而最初，我們原本都是那同一整體。
對於這一點的領悟，使我更想仔細追溯今夏那些令人印象深刻的里程碑，因而能一窺那些看似微渺的片段如何化整為零，彰顯服務眾生本身的價值與立場。
愁雲慘霧 It Couldn’t Be Worse
Sitting across from me, he’s about to cry
and he ‘s a headteacher, a principal, not some learners from any school
district or random people whom I have met.
他坐在我對面，眼眶泛紅，幾乎要哭出來了。他是一位校長、一名學校的負責人，而不是某個學區裡的普通學生或我偶然遇見的陌生人。
“My wonderful better half, you know her
very well, right? I do not dare telling her the situation in exact terms. How
can I let her know about the horrible condition there?”
「我那賢慧的妻子，妳也認識她，對吧？我完完全全不敢把真實情況原原本本地告訴她。我怎麼能讓她知道那裡的處境是如此可怕呢？」
Here I am reminded that even inside the heart of a strong, middle-aged man as a white collar, there are places of vulnerabilities needed to be catered to. To respond to his vulnerabilities which are honestly demonstrated in front of me, I can measure and decide what to do in so many ways possible.
此時此刻我再次被提醒，即便是身居要津的白領階、看似堅強的中年男子，心中依然存在需要被關懷的脆弱之處。在此，面對這位校長坦誠展現出的脆弱與無奈，我可以從許多種方式來抉擇我想作的回應。
While most of those novice volunteers
and/or people who are exposed to such circumstances for the first time would
opt for, like what I would have done in the old times of my journey on this
road thrusting this principal with countless cash, if they/we are financially
capable, I decide I cannot choose this path, for I do not want to see those
people guided by this gentleman who is extremely capable in my eyes to become those
financially relying on the others endlessly.
誠而，大多數初出茅廬的義務工作者，或是第一次接觸此類情境的人如當年的我自己，若在經濟條件上萬事俱備，往往會選擇以金錢去填補這位校長的需求，當然，我也因為深知金錢的力量無遠弗屆，這些年下來已經不知動用多少經費於相關事宜之上，只是我清楚知道自己在這名如此有能力的校長面前，不能走上這條對大多數人而言再熟悉不過的路數—直接而立即掏出足以應付當時情境的款項，因為我不願看到那些受他帶領的人，逐漸淪為無止無休仰賴他人的個人及社區整體。
If a principal were to live with palms
turned upward, then in the face of countless lives entrusted to his
guidance—lives multiplied by a soaring birthrate—how could he serve as an
exemplar, rather than collapse into a beggar within, secretly dependent upon
the mercy of others?
Admittedly, the word “beggar” strikes the
ear harshly. Tourists, indulging in itineraries of pleasure and luxury, seldom
glimpse this side of reality. Yet my own experience has always been forged in
the poorest of conditions, where I have the privilege to witness two kinds of
choices: in such harsh, physical, apparent financial conditions, some become
givers whereas the others beggars. And my observation has led to but one
conclusion: those who, from the beginning, choose to be givers—even in the
direst poverty—eventually find a day to rise again, for their will and dignity will
not be submerged forever.
Conversely, when we place ourselves in the
position of the ‘giver,’ the manner in which we bestow—whether through trifling
favors or profound benefactions—becomes a test of our wisdom. For the way, the
angle, and the spirit with which we extend our generosity does not merely
measure our own happiness, but rather also opens or narrows the horizons of
others. More than that, it is in the subtle relation and exchange between the
giver and the receiver that the future is shaped for both parties.
如果一位校長都手心向上，那麼，在生育率極高而導致無以計數受其帶領的人的面前，他將如何作為典範，而不淪為於內心深處仰賴他人的乞討者呢?
誠然，「乞討」二字聽來刺耳，行走觀光行程坐擁奢華享受的觀光客也多半由於並不與真正物質條件極為欠缺的人口大量接觸，而看不到這一面的真實景況，只是，我的個人經歷從來都在外在條件最為貧苦的處所，這讓我親眼見識到在同樣生活環境、具有同等社會經濟地位的人士，有人選擇手心向上、也自然有人選擇手心向下，而我的觀察始終都只有一個結論，願意在初始選擇手心向下之人，即便再如何窮困潦倒，終究有翻身的一天，那是由於一個人的鬥志與志氣不容小覷；
而當我們把自己放在「施惠者」的立場時，我們如何施予他人小恩小惠、大恩大德，也在在考驗我們每個人的智慧，那是由於我們施恩於他者的方式、角度、態度等等，關乎的不是我們自己本身的幸福指數，而是他人視野的大開大闔，更是這兩者中間的微妙存在關係與交流的事實將如何於未來(繼續)舖陳。
Thus I often remind my students:
“Parents may provide for us, yet we are not
bound to take what is given since once we grow accustomed to receiving, we may
lose the tendency to stride forward relying on ourselves.”
Due to these words, those who know me well
are often the ones who secure scholarships early, or become their own bread
earners. As for those who slip into what society calls the ‘parasite generation,’
they either dare not or stop keeping contact with me as they know well my
philosophy of life has mentored them otherwise.
所以我常常告誡學生：
「父母可以供給我們，但我們不一定要拿取他們所供給之物，因為一旦習慣拿取，我們就不習慣自力更生或者力爭上游。」
因此，與我相熟的學生們，要不就是早早獲取了獎學金、或者開始工作以養活自己，他們當中變成所謂「啃老族」的人，應該是不敢也不會與我連繫，因為他們知道那與我的人生哲學和理念，完全相左。
While serving in remote regions of this
global community, I would often rely on translations my middle class
counterpart would conduct so as to speak with the indigenous residents who,
having had little access to education, could not communicate in English, the
only and one language I often utilize when I handle these voluntary tasks.
My words would be like the following:
“Please do not become those who demand
material goods or financial supports from others. The reason is simple: none of
you would wish your children to grow into people asking others for help or even
worse, beggars. I believe you share the same hope as I do—that we may
continually cultivate our own potential rather than leading a life depending on
the others, whoever they are. Thus, let us turn inward through developing our
potentials, offering our prayers to spirits and to the divine, rather than requesting
outwardly for anything.”
而在蠻荒地帶服務，我則常常透過能夠幫我將言語轉換的中產階級人士，與較缺少教育機會而無法使用英語的原鄉居民溝通：
「請不要成為與人索討任何物質及金錢的人，這個原因很簡單，相信你們都不希望自己的孩子成為乞討者，相信你們都和我一樣，期許自己不斷開發潛質而非仰賴他人而活，所以，我們寧可向自我的內在潛質開發、向靈性及神衹祈願，而非向一切外在的種種催討。」
This is one of the major reasons in
communities where I have worked the longest—and with those residents who have
engaged with me most deeply—I often find them in a state of spirited resolve,
striving upward with renewed energy and going about their lives without asking
the others for favors. For when I see their efforts with my own eyes, I am
moved to design rewards and encouragement programs to stimulate them to
continue unlocking the vast potentials within themselves.
這也是為何長期與我合作的社區當中、與我作過深刻交流的社區居民們，常常處在精神振奮的發奮圖強的過程裡面，並且已經了解不需要向人伸手索求的事實，這是由於當親眼所見的是他們的努力時，我甚至會提出獎勵、激勵計畫，以促使他們持續開發自我的潛質!
All in all, my previous experiences have
led me to the presumption that when confronted with requests, appeals, or even
desperate pleas for financial aids, I must proceed with caution: it is
necessary to gather as much information as possible in order to distinguish the
facts and to weigh whether the offering of financial assistance can perhaps, in
the long run, lead only to unpleasant consequences which are not a piece of
cake to be resolved. In my view, such embarrassingly agonizing outcomes most
often arise when individuals plant themselves onto long-term dependence on
external funds. In the long run, the above-mentioned attitudes will stretch
into all the fabrics of the social web of these individuals choosing to count
on the others; in the end, all such people’s relatives, kids, and even many
communities far and beyond overhearing related stories can be tarnished with
the reputations of being “a bunch of beggars,” something apparently in tragic,
gloomy existence in many parts of the world where we live.
總而言之，我的經驗值提醒著我在面對他人於財務上的要求、企求、乞求時，必須以最慢的步調來進行，原因是我們需要大量搜集資訊以了解當事人的所言真實與否，我們也必須評估如果提供財務上的援助，是否將導致種種後患無窮的景況，而在我看來，產生令人感到不堪結果的景況，往往來自於當事人決定長期仰賴他人的金援，甚至這樣的觀點影響到他們的下一帶、下下一帶、整個人口眾多的社區中的鄰里，導致我們這些有能力至世界各地觀光的人們所見到的「一群又一群乞討者乞討文化」之存在，於某些社區、地域，是如此自然。
Through the years, the conclusion I have
drawn can be disarmingly simple:
whether I am aiding myself or supporting
others, whether my companions are those in extreme poverty material-life wise, or
those in the middle class ensnared by their mindset and worldview, the sheer
positive force is never dependence. What matters is the tireless excavation and
awakening of the strength within each of us, and the learning of how to practice
the essential values of altruistic love, loving kindness. Tests often exemplify
themselves in front of our eyes, like the moments we are face to face with a
person with no possibilities in the wellbeing of his/her material life, and/or
a beggar who leads a pathetic life, how possibly we can make an impact on this
person’s life to make him/her convinced that asking the others for anything
cannot be as well as providing for him/herself out of his/her capabilities. It
is the later that sees life open toward transformation, toward the radiant
glimmering blossoms of a better future.
所以這些年下來，我所做出的結論非常簡單：
無論是幫助自己，還是扶持他人，不論我的對象是那些身處極端貧困的人，或是雖屬中產階級卻因其心態與世界觀而坐困愁城的人，最重要的始終不會是「手心向上」的力道，而是透過不斷挖掘並喚醒彼此內心深處的力量，並且學習「慈悲」二字的真實樣貌，甚至在必要的時候，像是面對一個看似一無所有的物質條件欠缺者、乃至於乞討者，如何使這一個單一個體看到生命的一線生機不在他人的施捨，而在自立更生的實踐，這樣的生命才有轉機與開花見佛的一線曙光。
Yet so often, the distance between merely
“observing” service work and truly “entering into” its reality becomes not just
a difference, but a chasm—the very reason why so many hesitate at the threshold
as it is always easier to turn one’s head aside, to remain unseen, and to dwell
within a more advanced or progressive region—a place that, in the eyes of many
who cannot enjoy the advanced living standards material-wise, is nothing less
than paradise.
And thus I often hear people say to me,
“Their lives are so bitter; it pains me to
watch.”
只是，很多時候當我們「觀望」著服務工作，和「真實」進入服務工作的本身，兩者之間所產生的差異、甚至鴻溝，或者是使許許多多人士駐足不前的主因，畢竟，撇過頭去視而不見，活在某個比較先進、進步的區域裡面、並且是在許多居住在物質條件落後地區人眼中的天堂裡面，比較自在，所以我常常聽到人們跟我說：
「他們的生活好苦，我看了於心不忍。」
不過，我們所不知道的，是這樣的「環境」清苦之人，亦有所別，正如我們的「環境」也養了千千萬萬種不同的人。或許我曾經面對許許多多人的乞討，但我也面對更多環境淒涼人士的向上之路，而在這中間的所有環節，就是我必須誠意正心學習的課題，而我也必須清楚理解及觀察到，坐困愁城從古至今，從不間斷，就像「江楓漁火對愁眠」的愁字一樣令人觸目驚心，那種愁或者不是由於物質上的極度匱乏，那種愁，甚至來自於擁有極高物質享受的人群之間，尤其從來沒有任何人保証得了物質生活的富足，可以對等換取精神層面的自由。
“What often remains unseen is that even
among those living in hardship, there are distinctions—just as our own
environment, too, has nurtured thousands upon thousands of different kinds of
people. I may have encountered many who begged, yet I have also witnessed far
more who, from within the bleakest conditions, carved their own upward path.
And it is within all these intervals, between despair and striving, that I must
learn with sincerity and with a steady heart.
Equally important is that I must recognize the
state of being besieged by sorrows even when people are in material sufficient
places, from ancient times until the present. In many literary works, such
miseries are etched in people’s lives although material-wise, things are
sufficient. As can be observed, such sorrows do not always go hand in hand with
material destitution, and from time to time, it can be the opposite. Indeed,
those sorrows can be even prevalent among those who possess the highest forms
of material comfort. After all, no one has ever guaranteed that abundance in
the physical realm can be exchanged for freedom in the spirit.
我的個人旅程——既是自我提升，也是扶助他人，無論是那些身陷極端貧困之人，還是屬於中產階級卻被自身的心態與世界觀困住之人（我自己曾經也是如此）——都教導我一件事：必須不斷喚醒與深耕彼此內在潛藏的、無遠弗屆的力量。
My personal experiences in uplifting myself
and the others, particularly those in extreme poverty or those who are also the
middle-class but suffering from their mentality, their worldview, like I was at
once, have taught me to keep digging each others’ inner strengths.
To reach that goal, after he elaborated in his tragic tone his side of the story, I told this principal, headteacher, a story,
which, in my vision, is the kind of story worthy to touch millions, and here is
how I would like to narrate such a story.
為了達到這個目標，在聽完了他充滿悲憤之情的故事後，我也給這位校長講了一個故事。在我看來，這個故事的價值，在於它有得以觸動無數心靈的動能，而以下，是在此文中我希望詮釋此一故事的角度。
“Recently, we’ve counted the time our joint
friend and I are working together. We cannot believe I have come to work in
Africa for decades in total. With him, we have also worked for more than ten
years. When I first saw our dear friend, he was feeling as tragic as you due to
the then situation of his school. As a principal, he was melancholic. The truth
is, he was so blue I literally sensed he might be shedding tears in front of me
as we met for the first time. He was introduced to me by an elderly person who
knew I was here in your nation in the wish to do something good for the needed
who’d not received any outside assistances at the moment; since he, however,
did not hold any hopeful prospect for the future of his career or his school, I
could tell from his words and his body language that he did not believe such a
single person like me who’s female could have made too much a difference for
his then very shabby school, like that of yours.
By and by I learned to accept the fact that
in east Africa, there could be schools as desperately isolated as that one he
used to manage. When I met villagers in his school district, everybody looked
very serious, as if the sky was collapsing in an instant. I was not aware of
how still things there were until I was informed later by the villagers that ‘Thanks
to you, we have begun to move and people are very active in meetings for
discussions regarding things you have encouraged us to do.’”
「最近，我們算了算我和那位我們共同的朋友共事的時間。真難以置信，我竟然在非洲總共工作了數十年。而與他，我們也已合作超過十五年以上。還記得我第一次見到我們這位親愛的朋友時，他的心情和你一樣低落。當時作為一名校長的他，也因為校務方面的發展而十分憂鬱。事實上，他那時的低落讓我強烈感覺到，他隨時可能在我面前落淚。當時，我是透過一位你們當地長輩的介紹，才認識這位校長的。這位長者知道我在你們國家，希望為那些當時沒有得到任何外界援助的極度貧困者做點事。然而，當時與我面對面的那位校長對學校的前景感到希望渺茫，從他的言辭和肢體語言中，我看得出他根本不相信像我這樣一個隻身抵達當地的女性，能為他那所當時十分破敗的學校帶來多少改變。
看到你，我就像看到當時的他，情況一模一樣。
漸漸地，我學會接受這樣一個事實：在東非，確實可能存在像我們這位老友當年治理的公立學校，那樣孤立無援的公立學校校區、與其鄰近的社區。當年我在見到他學區裡的村民時，發現每個人的表情都十分凝重，仿彿天空隨時會塌下來一般。我當時並未意識到那裡的一切是多麼死寂，直到後來村民們告訴我：‘多虧了你，我們才開始有所行動，人們開始積極參與各種集會，以討論妳鼓勵我們去做的事情。’」
All the time when I was talking, this
principal listening to me was paying much attention.
這位現在與我面對面的校長，非常認真聽著我的談話。
待續 To Be Continued~~~
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