Doing house chores is a weekend routine for 8-year-old Tan Cher Lin and her brother in Malaysia. Upon seeing on TV how people suffer from disasters, they decided to help. For every 50 cents they each receive for doing a house chore, they'd each donate 25 cents to help the needy.

Born with congenital kidney failure, 7-year-old Sai Sai is a Burmese refugee living in Malaysia. As his condition worsens, his parents told him that he could have three wishes, and Sai Sai's wishes were donating to a senior home, visiting a hypermarket, and becoming a monk.

Despite his livelihood being impacted by Covid-19 and his house burned down by a huge fire, 38-year-old Rommel Sergio, a pedicab driver in Manila, Philippines still finds the heart to save up coins every day to help the needy.

This is Don Cecilio Montiel in Paraguay, born with muscular atrophy. Despite his condition, he is energetic and married with four kids. A mechanic genius, he was able to build his own "car." Complete with a steering wheel, the car is fully functional and serves him pretty well.

A man in the Dominican Republic used his donkey to carry vegetables to Tzu Chi volunteers. To thank Tzu Chi for bringing them food supplies every year, people in his community donated the vegetables they grew so the volunteers can cook them for the elderly under Tzu Chi's care.

The Slow Food movement embraces a comprehensive approach to food that recognizes the strong connections between plate, planet, people, politics and culture. It is now a global movement involving thousands of projects and millions of people in over 160 countries.

In Myanmar, 12-year-old Mg Chit Oo (left, waving) is like a parent to his siblings. Every day, his mother leaves him 3,000 Kyats (around US$2), and he splits the money between grocery, snacks and milk. He keeps his siblings tidy and well fed. His biggest wish is to go to school.

In Lapland, Finland, many of the indigenous Sami people survive on ice fishing and reindeer herding. However, their ancient way of life is under threat as a battle over plans to build a railway to exploit the natural resources in Lapland rages on.

After Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, many people lost their homes and moved to Thaketa, Yangon. At first, they could still rent a house. After their savings were used up, many would end up in the shacks they built along a river. With the pandemic, life is tougher for them than ever.

Having been in and out of prison six times due to drug abuse, Zhong Jiong-yuan (left) has changed for good and is earning a living helping local farmers sell and deliver their fruits. In his free time, he also provides support to other former inmates.

By introducing art and creating installation artworks in a rural town in southern Taiwan, a group of college students have transformed an ordinary village into a beautiful community that both residents and visitors enjoy.

Tzu Chi volunteers in Beijing, China bring aid to a village in a remote area of Hebei Province in the midst of harsh winter weather. As the villagers are waiting for the distribution to begin, they massage each other to keep themselves warm. Most beautiful are the smiles of those who receive aid in their time of need.

A Tzu Chi recycling volunteer in China leans into a garbage bin to salvage recyclables. "The work isn't dirty if you do it with a pure heart," she said. Tzu Chi Foundation has over 112,000 recycling volunteers in 19 countries around the globe.

Affected by psoriasis for 16 years, Luo Yonghua in China finally smiles after a Tzu Chi volunteer gave him a haircut. Luo said that his friends all pretend they don't know him when they see his skin conditions. Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition, not an infectious disease.

Tzu Chi recycling volunteers in Taiwan help recycle boxes for a new model of electricity meters. As online shopping has become more and more popular, this pile of boxes serves to remind us of how our actions can impact the environment.

Children in Sri Lanka make sambol, spring rolls, pizza, etc. and sell them on social media to fundraise for Typhoon Rolly and Ulysses victims in the Philippines. All containers are recyclable, and each meal box is completed with a thank-you note and a Jing Si aphorism bookmark.

On the first day of a new semester, students of a school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti receive face masks and rice from Tzu Chi volunteers. Most of the students come from very poor neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. This girl's sweet smile is the best reward for the volunteers.

Children in Sierra Leone smile as they carry home the blankets and multigrain powder they've received from Tzu Chi. Most of them come from poor families and often don’t have anything to eat for breakfast.

The queues for food outside the church of Missionaries of Charity in India are getting longer, as COVID-19 pushes more and more people into poverty. Tzu Chi Foundation donated three months' worth of supplies to the church to help others.

This 38-year-old woman in Sierra Leone has five children, one in her arm, one on her thigh, two flanking her, and one with arms crossed over her chest. According to WHO, Sierra Leone has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world.

In South Africa, volunteers of Tzu Chi Foundation, an international NGO based in Taiwan, traveled 200 km from Ladysmith to Thabo Mofutsanyane to deliver food for 60 families in need after the country went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learning that the Philippines were hit by two typhoons, the Syrian refugee children from the school Tzu Chi set up for them in Turkey sent their well wishes to the victims by drawing pictures and donating the spare change they have on them.

These beautiful flowers are actually made from recycled plastic bags and raincoats. The artwork is to remind people to think about how they can reuse what they would otherwise throw away and learn to cherish what they have.

Peddlers balancing goods on their heads are a common sight in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Across the entire country, such peddlers can be seen roaming the streets, looking for potential customers. A large percentage of the population make a living this way.

Kampung Titingan, Malaysia is where many illegal immigrants and stateless people call home. They live in illegally-built stilt houses with heartbreaking living conditions, and most children there do not go to school.

This girl in Mozambique beams with delight after receiving Jing Si Aphorisms for Children that were translated into their local languages from Tzu Chi Foundation, an NGO under the UN umbrella based in Taiwan.

Cutouts from recycled PET bottles are used creatively to make the butterflies come alive in this piece of artwork.

This 6-year-old indigenous girl (standing) in Taiwan with a congenital immunodeficiency disorder meets her bone marrow donor (first from right), who happens to be indigenous as well, at an event organized by Buddhist Tzu Chi Stem Cells Center.

Eunice's husband left her one day before Zimbabwe was locked down due to COVID-19. One of her children asked her, "Dad took everything with him. What are we going to sleep on tonight?" Learning of that, Tzu Chi volunteers brought them two foldable beds.

As prices of food and necessities skyrocket due to the country-wide lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers at the Tzu Chi Home in Maputo, Mozambique expand their vegetable farm to prepare for possible food shortages.

During rush hours, waves of scooters swarm the streets of Taipei. Despite a staggering ratio of 93 scooters to 100 people in Taiwan, the number of private vehicle ownership is still growing.

This is Norah, a 3-year-old girl who is also a Syrian refugee living in a slum in Beirut, Lebanon. She went up to a volunteer and asked for an application form to apply for aid. After being told that the form was for adults to fill, she replied, "But I'm hungry, too."

This coral near a nuclear power plant in southern Taiwan is bleaching because of warmer waters. However, research has shown that the corals there are slowly adapting and adjusting to the warmer temperature.

This wind chime is made from recycled materials. The frame at the top is made of fan blades, and the hanging decorative discs are cut from the bases of recycled PET bottles.

In Sanasomboun District of Champassack Province, Laos, local people have slowly rebuilt their lives after their homes were destroyed by floods in 2019.

Staff at Tzu Chi Culture and Communication Foundation donate their coin banks to help those affected by Typhoon Goni in the Philippines. Saving a little in a coin bank every day to help the needy is a common practice of Tzu Chi members worldwide.