PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – A number of Tzu Chi volunteers sacrificed their personal time recently to help clean the home of an elderly visually impaired man, who was unable to do so himself.
The 68-year-old man, a resident of Cay Hill, exhausted his savings to conduct an eye operation, which was unsuccessful leaving him visually impaired and unable to do many things the way he used to.
The man lives alone, has no family, and does his utmost to carry on day to day doing, whatever he could using his other four senses. As a result of his eye condition, he had been unable to clean his home for a while.
When Tzu Chi Foundation became aware of his situation, a number of volunteers were assembled and they sprang into action to assist the man.
After hours of scrubbing, sweeping, wiping, washing, sorting and packing, the volunteers were able to turn the unkempt home into a clean and comfortable place of abode for the elderly man.
The man thanked all the volunteers for their kind assistance in helping him to clean his place of residence. “I wanted to clean up, but I could not because I cannot see good,” the grateful man said.
One of the volunteers said he was happy to be part of the team to help clean the premises. “I am very happy that I was able to help to clean his house. With a group of hands together, we finally accomplished the mission,” the volunteer said.
Another person commented that the premises had a foul scent before the cleaning and following the cleaning it was fresh. “Thank you for the assistance Tzu Chi,” the person said.
Tzu Chi Commissioner Sandra Cheung thanked all the volunteers for their effort. She also thanked the resident for allowing Tzu Chi to assist him.
