![Volunteers make every effort to ensure each assistive device serves its purpose well, continuing to benefit more people through the Tzu Chi Assistive Device Service Centre. [Photo by Teng Pick Cheang]](/images/Articles/CS/2025/KL20250920_dyx01_019.jpg "Volunteers make every effort to ensure each assistive device serves its purpose well, continuing to benefit more people through the Tzu Chi Assistive Device Service Centre. [Photo by Teng Pick Cheang]")
When an assistive device is no longer needed, many see it as waste. For Tzu Chi volunteers, however, every wheelchair, hospital bed, or walker holds the promise of easing another family’s burden. At the Tzu Chi Assistive Device Service Centre in Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur, volunteers repair, clean and restore used equipment, giving each item a second life and passing care from one home to the next.
On September 20, 2025, Echo Chien, CEO of Tzu Chi KL & Selangor, visited the Tzu Chi Assistive Device Service Centre in Jinjang, Kuala Lumpur. Sixteen dedicated volunteers who manage and run the centre gathered to reflect on their year of service. Echo Chien listened attentively as they shared milestones, challenges and heartwarming encounters.
What began with one volunteer repairing assistive devices in a corner of a recycling centre has grown into a committed team. Today, the centre celebrates a meaningful first anniversary, its work reflected in the comfort and grateful smiles of countless families.
In its first year alone, the centre recorded 368 hospital bed loans and 612 wheelchair loans, supporting more than 1,700 cases.
◎ Care flows from one family to another
Over the years, volunteers at Tzu Chi recycling centres often receive assistive devices, either damaged or no longer in use. Couldn’t bear to see them turned into scrap metal, they salvage what they could, repairing those fit for reuse and dismantling irreparable ones to reuse parts.
At the Jinjang recycling centre, wheelchairs, hospital beds, walking frames, and other equipment are repaired, cleaned, disinfected and quality-checked before being loaned out. When families return the equipment, volunteers ensure it is in good condition for the next household. This simple cycle reduces caregiving costs and offers practical relief to patients and their loved ones.
During a meeting at the recycling centre, community team leader Tan Wei Han asked if anyone would take on coordination responsibilities for the service centre. Chen Hoi Chong raised his hand without hesitation and quietly held the role for years, embodying steadfast commitment and Master Cheng Yen’s teaching: “Know your blessings, cherish them, and sow more blessings.”
Sourcing parts was not always easy. Once, when suitable wheelchair tyres could not be found at physical shops, Hoi Chong searched online. Unfamiliar with online shopping, he enlisted the help of his dependable partner, Wong Kang Jiann. When the wrong tyres arrived, he did not give up. He sought solutions online, learned installation techniques from YouTube, and after repeated trials, succeeded.
Over time, he developed his own repair methods, becoming increasingly adept at restoration. His spirit of “overcoming difficulties and not being overcome by them” has become a driving force for the centre.
◎ Volunteers who are always there
The centre loans out hospital beds, wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, commodes, air mattresses, oxygen concentrators, suction machines, and more. The greatest challenge, however, is manpower.
Hoi Chong joked, “I’m the ‘resident volunteer’. If there’s a problem, I fix it; if it’s too big, I pass it to our ‘ever-present volunteer’, Brother Kang Jiann.”
Introducing the centre with pride, Kang Jiann shared, “Some items can be loaned endlessly. For example, when we loan out 10 wheelchairs, 12 are sent to our centre. We never run out!” The sparkles in his eyes revealed the joy found in helping others.
The loan process begins with an application form. Volunteers enter the details, invite family members to the centre for assessment, adjust the equipment, test it, and ensure suitability. Administrative volunteers document each case and medical condition for follow-up. A chat group serves as a live logbook – every item loaned or returned is recorded with a photo for transparency and efficiency.
Families often arrive anxious but leave with relief. Seeing that is the volunteers’ greatest motivation.
◎ A year of compassion and wisdom
During her visit, Echo Chien reflected on the team’s journey, from learning from counterparts in Taiwan to implementing the model locally. She expressed deep gratitude to volunteer Lim Haw Sek, whose donation of his ancestral house enabled the establishment of Tzu Chi’s first assistive device service centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Located in a Chinese new village and easily accessible, the centre became fully functional in less than a year. Echo Chien said, “Thank you for letting the public learn about what Tzu Chi does. While collecting recyclables, you are giving reused items a new life, and even donating extra units to hospitals. It’s truly wise and compassionate of you.”
◎ Stories of dedication
Lim Jit Han, who lives across the street from the centre, often reports for volunteer duty on his day off. In June this year, after his father’s demise, he decided to dedicate himself fully to the centre. Despite having no prior experience repairing assistive devices, he learned patiently from Hoi Chong.
“Excellence is achieved by being mindful,” he said humbly. “As long as you’re willing to learn, there’s nothing you can’t learn.”
Whether repairing equipment, answering calls, or assisting visitors, he simply serves where he is needed. Whenever a patient’s family arrives, he sets aside his tasks and helps them select suitable equipment, always with a warm smile.
Another volunteer, Khong Koon Khiew, is skilled in repairing bicycles and motorcycles. After caring for his ill wife for six months, he understood caregivers’ struggles deeply. When he returned the assistive devices after his wife’s recovery, he saw Hoi Chong working alone and immediately offered his help. Since then, he reports to the centre three days a week, assisting with repairs.
Although the work leaves him drenched in sweat, he laughed, “That’s detoxing!” His body grew stronger, and so did his spirit.
“Being able to do meaningful work you’re capable of in the second half of life – that’s a blessing,” he shared joyfully.
Volunteer Yap Kwee Lan was involved in a car accident in 2024. Before being discharged, she confided in fellow volunteers that it would be challenging for her to climb the stairs at home. They then suggested that she borrow assistive devices from the centre. Besides crutches and wheelchairs, she also borrowed a hospital bed.
The day she returned home, she felt immense gratitude upon seeing the comfortable bed. “It made everything so much easier. I recovered well over those three months.”
Her experience inspired her to join the centre’s administrative team. Viewing things from a user’s perspective, she understands patients’ needs and often shares her recovery story while providing care.
“At the centre, I truly witness suffering and realise how blessed I have been. Many people face challenges far more serious than mine. The fact that I’ve recovered safely is truly a heavy karma blessed with lighter retributions,” she said gratefully.
The centre even once received an offer of 30 wheelchairs, but since they were not needed, the donor happily switched to providing three hospital beds instead – an uplifting moment for the team.
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The centre is like a “Blessings Hub” filled with love and warmth. From receiving help to giving help, from an individual effort to a team, kindness flows continuously. One year on, the volunteers are looking forward to an expanded centre, one that will continue carrying compassion throughout the community.
