It's 1pm and the kids are coming home from a half day of school, talking excitedly at each other as they run down the driveway. They throw their bookbags inside and hustle back out to the front yard. They're going to an art museum at Taichung Harbor and, just like brothers and sisters always do, they're arguing about who'll get to sit where in the van.
But they're not brothers and sisters -- at least not biologically -- and the home they return to after school each day is unlike any other. It's the Taichung Christian Herald Children's Home (
COMMUNITY LANDMARK
Christian Herald was established a half century ago. The once-quiet neighborhood where it was built has since sprawled around the home but its tree-shaded campus remains serene. Most residents of Taichung are familiar with it, even if they've never seen past the security gate.
But many have visited to deliver gifts of clothing, books or toys. A Christmas tree currently on the front porch of the main building is partially obscured by sacks of rice and noodles and boxes of soft drinks. More than once, someone has shown up at dinnertime with a carload of McDonald's hamburgers.
What visitors see, once inside, doesn't resemble most people's idea of an orphanage. Instead, they see a place of caring and kindness that does a lot with very little.
The challenges the home faces aren't just the daily duties of feeding and clothing five dozen children, but doing so in a place that is suffering from 50 years of use.
The Taipei Times visited Christian Herald a year ago. At that time, the roof of one of the campus' half-dozen buildings leaked so badly that the building sat unused, forcing the kids to sleep 12 or more to a room in the remaining buildings. The roof has been repaired, with government help, but now the wood of the doors and windows needs replacing.
Chen Yan-bo (
"About 70 percent of our budget comes from the government," he said, "but the rest comes from the community and our foundation."
That budget, NT$10 million (US$308,000) each year, amounts to less than NT$14,000 (US$430) per child each month, not including the costs of paying salaries for the home's meager staff of social workers. It's an amount that barely meets basics needs, which apparently extend to replacing doors and windows.
Christian Herald is a world apart from other children's homes that are fully funded by the government, such as the Ministry of Interior's Central Region Children's Home (
There are buses to take them around town and young men serving their alternative military service to help out with heavy chores. Older kids at the Central Region home even receive a monthly allowance.
By contrast, Christian Herald is a study in resourcefulness. A chicken coop out back both provides the kids with a lesson in raising livestock and gives them something to put on the dinner table. A playground behind the youngest kids' building doubles as a place to dry laundry.
The small church at the center of campus no longer has Sunday services, but is used for meetings and special events, like the Christmas pageant the kids will perform in this Friday.
The home also benefits from Chen's other job as the vice president of the local Red Cross chapter. Christian Herald's kids have all been trained in first aid techniques and water safety. More importantly, because of Chen's connections, the home sees a steady stream of Red Cross volunteers, like the two men with vans who've come to take the kids to the museum.
`I CAN'T DO THAT'
"Has everyone gone to the bathroom? Is anyone going to get car sick?" Vicky wants to know as everyone piles into the vans, trying to get a window seat.
She's in her early twenties and is one of Christian Herald's few social workers. She's part parent, part teacher, and today is acting as an event planner, keeping the kids off one another while talking on her mobile phone with a representative at the museum.
"Whoever threw up last time has to sit by a window," she tells the kids.
"Yes, there's 13 of us," she says into the phone.
Chen explained that it's difficult to find qualified people to work at Christian Herald. "I'll leave a help-wanted ad posted in the newspaper for a whole month. Most people come in and ask about the work and then say, `I can't do that.'"
Beyond the difficulties of being a professional parent for a dozen children, the reason Chen gave as to why so few people are interested in the job is the hours.
Social workers at Christian Herald work 48-hour shifts followed by another two days off. Most of the qualified workers Chen finds, he said, have families of their own to take care of and aren't able to spend half of the week away from home.
"No New Year, no vacation," he said.
And while the work is gratifying, it's less than rewarding financially. Social workers first starting at a children's home like Christian Herald earn around NT$27,000 (US$830) per month.
"I have eight social workers right now," Chen said. "I need 10, at least."
Ten workers would mean each of Christian Herald's five "families" would have two adults looking after them. With resources stretched so thin, some things inevitably receive little attention. A common casualty are the kids' grades.
"The children in this institution are not so good with their academic scores," Chen said.
As such, he said, few of them will go on to attend college. The financial assistance they receive stops at living expenses and any of the children who wish to attend university must qualify for a scholarship. One girl who left the home after graduating high school this year has enrolled at a university in Taichung County.
"Others might work during the day and take classes at night," Chen said.
As Chen sees it, it's Christian Herald's responsibility to broaden the kids' horizons and expose them to a variety of experiences in order to let them discover what they might want to do when they grow up. Today's trip to the art museum is an example.
BEST BEHAVIOR
Before going in, a representative from the museum tells the kids it's very important that they remain absolutely quiet inside. His words stick for all of three minutes.
They enter the museum and listen to him tell them about different paintings. The paintings are interesting, but far more interesting is the floor; it's slippery, and if you get a running start you can slide halfway across the room.
Also interesting is the foreign guy who's come to the museum with them. Why is my nose so big, one girl wants to know. Do I see it all the time?
"If I cross my eyes," I tell her.
Soon everyone is crossing their eyes looking for their noses.
"I don't think it looks bad," the girl reassures me. Besides, she says, "all Americans have big noses ? and blue eyes."
In the next gallery, the kids are taken with huge photographs of lotuses. Several of them decide they're going to become photographers, then ask to borrow my camera. They take turns using it to take photos of the giant photos and of each other flashing V-signs.
When they get home from the museum, the kids will start into their homework, have dinner then rehearse their skit for the upcoming Christmas Eve pageant.
Already they've each received a box of gifts at the recent Kidzday sponsored by the local American Chamber of Commerce. Over 2,000 boxes were given to area kids to provide a bit of Christmas cheer.
But there's no shortage of cheer among the kids at Christian Herald and no lack of holiday spirit. One girl breathlessly listed all the things that came in her box, careful not to forget anything. Did she get everything she wanted for Christmas? No, she said.
"I wish I could give a box like that to Vicky and Mr. Chen and my family. Christmas is about giving."
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