November 12, 2024
Tzu Chi Taiwan CEO visits BTCC
By Joy Rojas
Tzu Chi Philippines volunteers were privileged to host Tzu Chi Taiwan CEO Po-wen Yen at the recent Diligence Camp, held from November 7 to 10 at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus (BTCC) in Sta. Mesa, Manila. CEO Yen, who was joined by Dharma Masters De Bei and De Pei and a group of Tzu Chi Kaohsiung commissioners, gave a series of talks that covered various aspects of Tzu Chi life, from conducting disaster relief and home visitations to documenting reports and inviting new members while encouraging longtime volunteers to stay the course.
Last in the Philippines in 2018, CEO Yen took in the undeniable changes at BTCC with awe. Admiring the developments of the campus—from Unity Hall’s clean, minimalist interiors to the upcycled features of Tzu Chi café—he was pleased with the participation of Tzu Chi’s younger volunteers and moved by the stories of scholars under the foundation’s educational assistance program.
At a meet and greet with Tzu Chi’s staffers, he enjoyed the light and natural delivery of reports from representatives of different departments, and delighted in the performance of employees who serenaded him with the inspirational “When You Believe.” (“Are they singing live?” he asked at one point.)
Tzu Chi volunteers were just as impressed with the CEO Yen, who advocated for the use of technology and revealed a forward-thinking mindset.
“I don’t encourage people to work too hard. Maybe we can have some innovative ideas to see if we can work smarter, leveraging the current technology like Artificial Intelligence and the internet,” says the soft-spoken CEO Yen at the staff meet and greet.
In his talk “Charting a Path to Sustainability,” he reminded Filipino volunteers that Tzu Chi “needs social impact to remain sustainable” and left his audience with these thought-provoking questions. “What will Tzu Chi be in 100 years? What if Master Cheng Yen is no longer with us?”
Armed with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering, Po-wen Yen was living in Singapore in 2005 as CEO of semiconductor manufacturer United Microelectronics Corp., when he came to know of the Tzu Chi Foundation through his wife. “She had more spare time during our stay in Singapore,” he says. “One day, she asked me if she could do volunteer work. Through friends, we were introduced to Tzu Chi Singapore.”
Her stories of caring for a cancer patient and residents in a senior home piqued his curiosity. When she asked if he would like to join her for Tzu Chi’s Year-end Blessing, he agreed. Touched by the sharing of volunteers worldwide as well as many small yet significant events, “I gradually realized that Tzu Chi is really a great volunteers’ group,” he says.
Since 2017, Yen has been CEO of Tzu Chi Taiwan, which boasts 500,000 non-certified volunteers, and 90,000 certified volunteers. “Taiwan probably accounts for 85 percent of certified volunteers globally,” he says.
His designation makes him one of the few to work in close proximity with Tzu Ch founder, Dharma Master Cheng Yen.
“She works almost 24 hours a day, 365 days in a year. She’s the kind of person who pays close attention to small details, especially when it comes to people,” he says of Master Cheng Yen, now 87. “When we do reports on events, Master always asks, ‘Who is this person? What is his or her family’s condition?’ Master’s concern is the people—the people in need, in disasters, in suffering. For these people, Master will ask us to do anything possible to help them.”
Ultimately, it’s Master Cheng Yen’s unwavering commitment to ease the pains and burdens of the masses, that inspires not only CEO Yen but the 10 million volunteers worldwide to devote their days to simply doing good deeds.
“We will certainly encounter some frustrations and difficulties. But in Tzu Chi, there are a lot of volunteers that I would say are role models,” he says. “Every day, I am touched by their stories in education, medical treatment, and disaster relief. Their dedication and service inspire me to continue my work.”
Tzu Chi Taiwan CEO Po-wen Yen gave a series of talks during Tzu Chi Philippines’ Diligence Camp from November 7 to 10 at Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
Among those who accompanied Tzu Chi Taiwan CEO Po-wen Yen in his trip to the Philippines were Sean Tan, special assistant to the CEO (second from left) and Tzu Chi commissioners from Kaohsiung (third to eighth from left).
Dharma Masters (in gray) and Tzu Chi commissioners from Kaohsiung (in blue) also gave talks at Tzu Chi Philippines' Diligence Camp.
At a meet and greet with Tzu Chi Philippines staffers, Tzu Chi Taiwan CEO Po-wen Yen (second from right) suggested volunteers work smarter with the help of technology like Artificial Intelligence and the internet. Joining CEO Yen were (from left) Sean Tan, special assistant to the CEO, Tzu Chi Philippines CEO Henry Yuñez, and Peggy Sy-Jiang, director from the Office of the CEO.
The hours are long and the pay is small. What keeps Sean Tan at Tzu Chi? “Helping people,” says the special assistant to the CEO.
Tzu Chi staffers receive tokens from Tzu Chi Taiwan CEO Po-wen Yen and Sean Tan, special assistant to the CEO.
Tzu Chi Kaohsiung commissioner Yao-Ling Liao Hsin Yao (with glasses) teaches Tzu Chi volunteers Woon Ng and Pansy Ho how to use the Artificial Intelligence features in a mobile phone.
Staffers serenade Tzu Chi CEO Po-wen Yen with the inspirational song “When You Believe.”