Switzerland: Two Swiss Ladies’ Love for China

Ursula and Ingeborg have never dreamed of talking about their own stories in front of nearly a thousand people. They felt nervous at the thought of making a speech. However at the European Falun Gong experience sharing conference in April 2006, they happily opened their hearts and shared with nearly a thousand people their experience of six years of cultivation in Falun Gong.

Ursula and Ingeborg in Lucerne

The story of their car tour in the Berne plateau and Wohlen to let people know about Falun Gong moved many people. How did they start their cultivation in Falun Gong? What motivated them to cover such a large area to deliver Falun Gong information to people?

I finally found it

Before they started their cultivation in Falun Gong in 2000, Ursula, 57. and Ingeborg, 65, both suffered greatly through various illnesses. Ursula’s enteritis was extremely serious. Her doctor told her that she must undergo surgery to remove part of her intestinal canal because the situation was really bad. She tried many ways, including Taji, Yoga and other Qigong types from Asia, but with little effect. Before her cultivation, Ingeborg was hospitalised for seven years. The constant suffering from illnesses and looking after her paralysed daughter made Ingeborg very depressed and anxious.

As early as 1999, Ingeborg learned from her colleague that the teachings of Falun Gong could be freely downloaded from the Internet. But she had no access to Internet and she didn’t know how to download. In 2000, her nephew helped her to print out the Falun Gong book. In the course of reading, Ingeborg suddenly realised this was exactly what she had been looking for.

Ursula, who lives in the same village as Ingeborg, also learned Falun Gong. They started to practise together. After a short while Ursula and Ingeborg realised that their illnesses were cured. Moreover not only did they get back their physical health, they obtained significant changes in their spiritual well being. Ursula realised that before her cultivation in Falun Gong she always looked at others in unfriendly manner. After she started practising Falun Gong, the situation became better everyday. Ingeborg sensed that her appearance also changed, and she felt younger and younger. The most noticeable change was that she got rid of her anxiety and depression; the atmosphere at her home became very peaceful and happy. To them, it is without any doubt that they will continue to practise Falun Gong.

We must let more people know the truth about the persecution of Falun Gong

Not long after they started practising Falun Gong, they attended the one-day long Swiss Falun Gong experience sharing conference in Geneva. The film “The Real Story of Falun Gong” screened at the end of the conference left Ursula with a very deep impression. The movie had scenes of some Falun Gong practitioners being beaten up by the Chinese police while holding banners in Tiananmen Square as well as photos of Falun Gong practitioners taken after being tortured by the Chinese Communist regime.

After going back home, Ursula and Ingeborg decided to tell people around them about the brutal persecution suffered by Falun Gong practitioners in China. Later the area they covered to spread the truth became wider and wider. From the village they live to the whole Berne plateau, to the Wohlen state near Berne and to the mountainous area 2,000 metres above sea level.

Ursula works in a restaurant so her rest time is not fixed. Whenever it is Ursula’s rest day, the two elderly ladies drives Ursula’s car loaded with information about Falun Gong across the mountainous region to deliver them to people. The mountains they drive become higher and higher and the journey becomes further and further. Sometimes they have to drive for a long time before seeing any sign of life. Sometimes because of steep mountain climbs and narrow roads, their car loaded with over 2000 copies of Falun Gong newspapers is unable to move forward. In order to move forward, they had to unload the newspapers and put them somewhere. But regardless of how difficult it was, they have never stopped because they know that to people living in the remote mountainous area, this maybe their only chance to learn about the persecution against good people occurring in China and to stop the persecution. They wanted to do something to help their fellow Falun Gong practitioners in China who just want to practice Falun Gong like them, but are being tortured. Letting more people know the truth about Falun Gong and collecting signatures to support the counter-persecution efforts is what they can do outside China. This becomes their urgent desire.

Aside from delivering Falun Gong newspapers and telling people about their belief, they also held Falun Gong information days in many places. Every time they organise an information day, their car is loaded fully with various material. Each time it is like magic: they take out from different cloth bags many display boards made of various material, with some display boards even in Chinese. These display boards are all made by themselves after buying different material.

Ursula remembered the first time she used a computer. She had never used a computer before. But for the convenience of communicating with other Falun Gong practitioners, she asked another Falun Gong practitioner to help her buy a computer and set it up. The second day after the computer was delivered; she was very nervous and didn’t want to go home because the computer to her was like a big monster. However she is now very good at using the computer. She also bought two printers and other facilities. When I expressed my surprise at her skilled operation of two printers, she told me with a smile: I have the whole information database here. All information they used in their display boards are printed out from these printers, from the photos and explanation of the Chinese Communist regime’s self-directed act of “the Tiananmen self-immolation incident” at the beginning, to the demonstration chart of the torture methods used by the regime against Falun Gong practitioners in China and the introduction to the booklet “Nine Commentaries on Communist Party” who helps people to learn the true evil nature of the Chinese Communist Party, and many other materials in various languages.

The cloth bags in different sizes that protect the display boards are also made by Ursula and Ingeborg. They also made many eye-catching banners and designed and made many supporting frames that are easily disassembled, assembled and carried around. Every small part has symbols so that it can be quickly assembled next time. Leaflets in various languages are arranged in alphabetical order in a box so it is very quick and easy to search for information.

Each time when I help to set up the information table with them or to put back material at the end of the activity, I felt this is a well-organised project. The truth material are sorted in different groups and stored in travel bags of various sizes. Display boards and supporting frames are stored in cloth bags. The tent and small components are stored in cloth sacks. The table is loaded into the car firstly, followed by such things. When the loading is finished, the entire car is filled aside from the driver seat and the passenger seat and the driving seat. Ingeborg told me that she is used to sitting in the crowded seat for a few hours with a few small bags in the leg space. They are very used to this situation.

Nobody tells them to do these things. From their hearts they want to do something to help Falun Gong practitioners in China who are being persecuted and to help Chinese people to see through the Chinese Communist regime’s lies.

After starting practicing Falun Gong, they wanted to meet Chinese people and hoped to give them some information, letting them know the facts that are hard to know in China. They felt that they formed a closer connect with China.

From 2002, every year Ursula visits Hong Kong using her three-week vacation. She practises Falun Gong exercises at the Falun Gong information stall in Hong Kong’s tourist sites. Many people are surprised to see western people practising Falun Gong. Ursula hopes that through her western face she can tell tourists from Mainland China that Falun Gong has spread to over eighty countries and regions. They are many western practitioners like her. She told me, “When I see these Chinese tourists, I have a feeling that I seem to know them.”

She also witnessed changes in many Chinese people. “When I came to Hong Kong for the first time, I often practiced Falun Gong at one Falun Gong information site. Many Chinese tourists spit and yelled at me. Some people even tried to kick me and were quite violent. But since then, the Chinese tourists are changing continuously. They have never again treated me violently. It can be seen that in China more and more people learned the truth about Falun Gong. The Chinese tourists have started to take more materials from us, though sometimes the tour guide would rush them away. An elderly lady told me, "I don’t need your leaflets any more, I have eyes and I already see everything and understood the situation in my ten minutes stay here". Some tourists, after getting off their coach, told me arrogantly, "Your information is not real. But after I talked with them and after seeing all the photos and display information and the movies exposing the persecution as well as the “Nine Commentaries on Communist Party”, some of them started to change, even with tears in their eyes.”

There are many such examples. Ingeborg also had similar encounter. One experience gave her a very deep impression. There was a Chinese couple from Mainland China. The wife wanted to accept the material given by Ingeborg. The husband got very angry and ripped the material. The gentleman was very anxious all the time. Ingeborg called Ursula and Ursula started to practice the Falun Gong exercises. The gentleman suddenly became calm. When they returned to the coach again for departure, the gentleman accepted the information. “I cannot use word to describe my emotion from this experience. But the changes in Chinese people are very obvious.” Ingeborg said.

A harmonious living environment

Ingeborg also told me that her home environment became very harmonious since she started practicing Falun Gong. Her paralysed daughter needs attention all the times. When she and Ursula go out for various activities or deliver materials to mountainous regions and if they cannot return home the same day, her husband would look after their daughter. Her husband never complained. He is very supportive to Ingeborg. Her husband also helps her to prepare the truth material. Ingeborg once showed me her special multi-function shoes and told me that her husband specially purchased this for her so that she could walk easily in the snow and would not fall down when climbing the mountains.

Soon after Ursula started practicing Falun Gong, she started to work in a restaurant. For some unknown reason, her superior always became hot tempered at the sight of her and became very bossy. The working conditions were also very poor. Ursula thought of changing her job. But she also realised that to her this may be a better cultivation environment and she could find more of her attachments and shortcomings. In the course of cultivation Ursula found that she gradually changed her arrogant and unfriendly attitude. Colleagues around her also started to change. The working environment became more and more harmonious.

Listening to Ursula’s pure laughter and looking at Ingeborg’s innocent smiling face, I sometimes could not imagine they are over sixty years old. Just like Ingeborg said, they become younger and younger. This is all because they practice Falun Gong. Not only do they have physical health, their minds are greatly relieved and librated. Being considerate to others not only brings peace and happiness to their own life, it also moved many people.

There are more stories about Ursula and Ingeborg and increasing. In fact similar stories happen to all Falun Gong practitioners. Practitioners around the world follow the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance” in their living. In conflicts, they try to see their own shortcomings. They also use various ways to tell people the truth about Falun Gong and appeal to people to help end the ongoing persecution in China.