A Housing Project in Silaunja
By Zhu Xiu-lian (朱秀蓮) and Lin Jing-jun (林靜君)
Translated by Wu Hsiao-ting (吳曉婷)
Photos by Hsiao Yiu-hwa (蕭耀華)
A promise of a better living environment emerges with the launch of a housing project.
Silaunja was chosen as the site for the first group of Tzu Chi Great Love Houses in Bodh Gaya. The groundbreaking ceremony for this project, consisting of 36 houses, took place on February 25 of this year. In March, during a month-long stay in India, documenting volunteers from Taiwan visited Silaunja three times in one week — early morning, daytime, and evening — to understand and record villagers’ living conditions.
Early one morning, as the volunteer team arrived at the village entrance, they saw a woman wrapped in a thin blanket, sitting with three young boys around a fire outside a house, burning dried palm leaves for warmth. Most villagers were already up, engaged in their morning routines; some were brushing their teeth with toothbrushes, while others used twigs of neem, a common tree in India.
The village lacked taps or running water. Residents typically squatted by the water pumps outside their homes to brush their teeth, wash their faces, bathe, or do laundry. Despite the presence of two relatively clean toilets constructed with foreign aid at the village entrance, residents preferred to go outdoors, often walking to the Niranjana River nearby to relieve themselves.
Earthen stoves served as open-air kitchens in front of homes. Flatbread was prepared for breakfast by hand-pressing small dough balls into round discs, rolling them thinly with a rolling pin, and then cooking them on a metal griddle. Lunch and dinner usually consisted of rice or flatbread accompanied by curry cooked with beans and vegetables. With few job opportunities, villagers spent their days squatting by their doorways, engaging in idle chatter.
During an evening visit, volunteers observed the setting sun casting a glow on the earthen platform where the groundbreaking ceremony for the Great Love Houses was held. They noticed that the platform had become a spot where children played. One boy used a stick as a bat, while another picked up anything lying around to throw. Nearby, another child rolled a small, abandoned tire with a piece of wood. Though they lacked video games or store-bought toys, the children found joy in playing with natural materials or whatever else they could find, enjoying themselves just the same.
Stronger permanent houses
The site designated for the 36 Tzu Chi Great Love Houses is situated across a road from a school, Rajkiya Madhya Vidyalaya Silaunja. After the old houses belonging to the villagers set to benefit from this project were demolished, some residents built temporary shelters nearby, while others stayed with relatives. Initially, the villagers anticipated that construction would start immediately after the groundbreaking ceremony. This misunderstanding was based on their past experiences of constructing mud or thatched houses on any available land without formalities. They were unaware that building permanent brick houses involves numerous legal procedures and preliminary work.
On March 10, the construction company responsible for the project arrived at the Great Love Houses site to mark the boundaries of each home, drawing lines and erecting stakes. They also delivered bricks. On March 23, Pankaj Kumar, a lawyer appointed by Tzu Chi, read the contents of legal construction documents to the future homeowners, including housing specifications, interior layouts, and more, after which the households signed the necessary documents. Those who couldn’t sign used their fingerprints to confirm. Jayanti Kumari expressed her gratitude, saying, “I know we will have a brick house with two rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and lighting. We are so grateful!” She lived with nine family members in a mud-brick house before it was demolished for the Tzu Chi housing project. With the entire household relying solely on her monthly salary of 22,000 rupees (US$265), she never imagined she could own such a house as the one Tzu Chi was building for them.
Jayanti, a history teacher at Rajkiya Madhya Vidyalaya Silaunja, serves as an important contact for Tzu Chi’s work in Silaunja. When a massive fire occurred in the village last April, Tzu Chi volunteers first delivered food and drinking water to the village. Then they helped clean up, conducted a major distribution, and carried out health checkups. Jayanti assisted in the process and became involved with Tzu Chi.
More than half of the adults in Silaunja, a village of 800 residents, were unemployed. Tzu Chi initiated a work relief program for the construction of the Great Love Houses, hoping that villagers could increase their income by taking part in the program.
During the signing of documents, Sio Kee Hong, deputy CEO of Tzu Chi Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, reminded villagers to keep the houses Tzu Chi was building for them clean after they were completed. He also urged them to use the indoor toilets and dispose of garbage properly to maintain a healthy, sanitary living environment.
Sio’s reminders were not made without reason. In Bodh Gaya and the surrounding villages, from streets and alleys to ditches, ponds, and the Niranjana River, piles of garbage emit bad odors, attract swarms of mosquitoes and flies, and can become scavenging grounds for stray cattle, sheep, pigs, and dogs. The only places that remain clean are the Mahabodhi Temple and temples established by various countries.
For this reason, when Tzu Chi volunteers held a “Stories Told by Dharma Master Cheng Yen” event in Silaunja in late March, they chose to share a story that focused on the merits of sweeping. Over a hundred adults and children sat on blue plastic sheets under trees, listening intently to the story about how the Buddha taught his disciples that keeping the environment clean can help purify one’s mind, bring joy to others, and more. Later, children followed the lead of volunteers, picking up and bagging trash lying around. “Cleaning away the trash,” said Kunal Kumar, a young boy, “will help my village become cleaner, and my mind purer.”
Night fell afterwards, lit only by the faint glow of a few light bulbs, reflecting the distant starlight. All of a sudden, the power went out, plunging the village into complete darkness. With that, Silaunja quietly bid farewell to the day. The sun would rise again the next morning, and volunteers hoped that the purity they had instilled in the villagers’ hearts would endure.
Tzu Chi Culture & Communication Foundation
English website→http://tzuchiculture.org
YouTube→https://tinyurl.com/y4mhhm9e
