On a December morning in Bodh Gaya, India, two very similar hopes quietly took shape. Both belonged to mothers—Nirmala Devi and Sahnaj Khatoon—who were working hard yet still struggling to keep their families fed. Each had the same simple wish: a sturdy pushcart they could use to earn a living with dignity.
The cost of one iron pushcart, however, was almost 20,000 rupees (about 218 USD)—far beyond what either family could manage.
Through local community connections and a chain of people willing to help, those carts finally arrived. For both families, this represented the start of a different future.
Mothers planning new beginnings
Nirmala currently works as a cleaner, earning about 6,000 rupees (about 65 USD) a month. The long hours and low income make it difficult to care for her children, and her husband works far away in another district.
She had a plan. If she could buy a pushcart, she would get up before dawn to buy vegetables, sell them outside her home in the morning, then push the cart to nearby neighborhoods in the afternoon. With more income, she hoped her husband could return home so the family could live together again.
But when she learned the price of an iron cart, she had no way forward, even after borrowing from relatives.
In another part of Bodh Gaya, Sahnaj and her husband were facing a similar wall.
Both live with serious visual impairment. Her husband lost most of the sight in his left eye after smallpox; Sahnaj went blind in her left eye after surgery for an eye tumor. They have five children.
For now, the couple walks by foot, carrying trays of hair accessories and simple jewelry to sell. On a good day, they earn around 250 rupees—just over two US dollars. As demand for low-cost jewelry has dropped, they began thinking of adding cooked food, such as fried noodles, to their offerings. Without a cart, that idea could not move beyond conversation.
That was when Rajesh Kumar, a community volunteer in Bodh Gaya and head of a local NGO, stepped in. Seeing both women’s determination to work, he reported their situations and asked if there was a way to help them start small businesses of their own.
Building the right kind of help
Rather than offering one-time cash support, the local Tzu Chi charity team decided to provide the very tools that Nirmala and Sahnaj needed to work.
On December 15, after a charity visit and discussion, the team reached a consensus: they would fund two iron pushcarts—one for each family.
To keep the cost as low as possible, local volunteer Amit Singh coordinated with his colleagues Anud Upadhyay and Shiv Shankar to negotiate with a nearby iron workshop, Pindu Vishva Karma Shop.
The shop owner, Pindu Vishwakarma, understood that the carts would help families in need and agreed to lower the price to 14,000 rupees (about 153 USD) for each cart.
LEFT: The charity team entrusted local volunteer Amit Singh (left) to work with his colleague Anud Upadhyay (right) in arranging the pushcart orders and prices with the metal workshop. | Photo: Hsiang-Ling Tsai. RIGHT: On the afternoon of December 23, two factory workers pushed the brand-new carts along the road until they reached the Tzu Chi Bodh Gaya Office. | Photos: Feng-Chu Chen (陳鳳珠)
Two carts arrive, and with them, relief
On December 20, Tzu Chi volunteer Mee Chwong Chin (陳美聰) visited the workshop with the team to confirm the production progress and delivery date. Pindu promised to rush the job so the carts could be handed over in a small ceremony on December 24.
On December 23, shortly after 4 p.m., two workers appeared on the main road, steadily pushing the gleaming iron carts toward the Bodh Gaya office. The trip from the factory had taken nearly an hour on foot, but the workers showed no sign of frustration—only quiet focus.
Anud and Shiv also came in person to inspect the carts and make sure every detail was sound. Their care and reliability moved the volunteers, who then tied bright red ribbons onto each cart to add a touch of celebration.
LEFT: Volunteers tied red ribbons on the carts as a blessing for a prosperous new start. RIGHT: Vice President Pi-Yu Lin (left) encouraged both families to run their new businesses without selling meat, honoring the compassion behind the support they received. | Photos: Hsiang-Ling Tsai
A ceremony of dignity, not pity
The handover took place on December 24 in the courtyard of the Bodh Gaya office, during a visit by Tzu Chi Foundation Vice President Pi-Yu Lin (林碧玉).
Around 9 a.m., Rajesh arrived with both recipient families and Pindu, the factory owner. Volunteers welcomed them into the main hall, offered hot tea and biscuits, and then invited everyone outside for the ceremony.
Standing in front of the ribbon-adorned carts, Lin explained that the aim of such support is not only to solve immediate needs but also to help people grow in confidence and self-reliance. She emphasized that every donation entrusted to Tzu Chi is used carefully, for the right people and the right purposes.
She also gently asked the families, as they begin their small businesses, to commit to selling only vegetarian food. For her, this was part of honoring the kindness of people around the world who wish to reduce harm to all living beings.
Before the ceremony ended, each family received a small bamboo coin bank—a reminder that even those who are struggling can still give, little by little, when they are able.
Learning about “bamboo banks” and global kindness
After the carts were officially handed over, everyone moved back into the hall. Local staff member Rinku Chakma introduced the story of Tzu Chi’s “Bamboo Bank Era”—how, more than fifty years ago in Taiwan, women saved just a few coins a day in bamboo tubes, which eventually funded clinics, schools, and disaster relief.
She shared that today, similar coin banks are found in homes and shops across the world, quietly turning small daily savings into practical help for people in need.
Those stories deeply resonated with Sahnaj’s husband. Although his sight is weak, his resolve was clear. He said they came from a very poor background, and seldom received attention from others, but now they wanted to follow this method: dropping in small coins day by day to help others, while working hard to earn more and improve their own living conditions.
LEFT: Factory owner Pindu (front row, right) was moved by what he saw and asked for a bamboo bank of his own, wanting to join the circle of giving. RIGHT: After hearing about the bamboo banks, Sahnaj and her husband said they would save what they could and work hard, so they could one day help others as well. | Photos: Hsiang-Ling Tsai
Nirmala, who attended with her three children, shared that her husband could not come because he works in another district. She had already called him with the news: the cart was ready. Now she hoped he could finally return home so they could work side by side.
She said she was grateful for the chance to work harder and believed her family’s life could truly change.
Rajesh, who first reported both households, also spoke about what he sees daily in the community: many residents want to be self-reliant but have no way to obtain the tools or starting capital. For him, support that enables people to stand on their own is especially meaningful. He also promised to keep reminding Nirmala and Sahnaj to keep their stalls vegetarian.
When help continues to move forward
The spirit of giving did not stop with the two families.
Listening to the stories and seeing the care from so many people, factory owner Pindu told the recipients that finishing two heavy iron carts in just two days had not been easy, and he hoped they would work hard and not waste the opportunity. Then he asked for a bamboo bank himself, wanting to save and give as well.
For the volunteers present, it felt as if goodwill was traveling from hand to hand: from donors far away, to local volunteers and workers, to the two families starting anew, and now back out again through people like Pindu.
Pushing the carts home
When the ceremony ended, it was time for the most practical step: getting the carts home.
Sahnaj and her husband placed their youngest child carefully on the cart and, shoulder to shoulder, began pushing it down the road. As they passed Mee Chwong Chin, they suddenly bent down to touch her feet—a traditional Indian gesture of deepest respect and gratitude.
Nearby, Nirmala stood behind her own cart with three children at her side. The iron frame was heavy, and it was clear that pushing it all the way home alone would be difficult.
At that moment, volunteer Gaina Manjhi, a local resident who himself once relied on begging but has since turned to helping others, stepped forward. Without being asked, he offered to push the cart with her all the way home.
LEFT: Nirmala shared that she had already told her husband about the cart and hoped he would soon return so they could run the business together. RIGHT: On the way home, Gaina Manjhi (left) volunteered to push Nirmala’s cart, adding a final, quiet act of kindness to the day. | Photos: Hsiang-Ling Tsai, Mee Chwong Chin
On that Bodh Gaya street, two heavy carts moved slowly forward—loaded with cooking pans and dreams, vegetables and children, worries and newly found courage.
For both families, the road ahead will still hold work and uncertainty. Yet now, they are not standing still. They are moving, step by step, with their own hands on the handles.
Written by Tina Wang (王瀅琇), Ling-Chu Tsai (蔡玲珠)
