Nov. 20 was International Children’s Rights Day. In view of frequent reports about cases of child abuse, World Vision Taiwan has helped students transform into children’s rights advocacy ambassadors. They rode bikes from Yuanchang Township to Gukeng Township in Yunlin County and along the way advocated for four main children’s rights, including the right to life, development, participation and protection.
Taiwan World Vision supports about 2,000 students in Yunlin County. Because the parents are too busy working to take care of their own kids, after the children come home from school, they either roam the streets or stay at home and indulge themselves in television, computers and video games. Noticing this, Lin Kuan-liang, a social worker at the organization’s Yunbin branch and a cycling enthusiast, has used his time outside of work to take children cycling, nurturing the habit of exercising, training in teamwork and cooperation and challenging themselves.
Lin says the bike team consists of six people at the moment. The bicycles are those the children ride to school every day. The only equipment is a safety helmet, and one team member’s bike is a second-hand one given away by someone. The gears are broken and the handlebars and frame are rusty, but the kid still rides it happily.
Photo: Huang Shu-li, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃淑莉
Early one the morning when the sun was shining, the team members set out from Yuanchang Shannei Elementary School and passed through Tuku Township and Dounan Township before reaching Gukeng. The round trip was over 60 kilometers. Although sweating and with aching bottoms and feet, not one child complained of tiredness and along the way many people cheered them on.
(Liberty Times, translated by Clare Lear)
上週五是「世界兒童人權日」,有鑑虐童案件頻傳,台灣世界展望會扶助學生變身倡導孩童人權大使。他們從雲林元長騎單車到古坑,沿途宣導兒童四大權利,包括生存權、發展權、參與權及受保護權。
台灣世展會扶助雲林學生約兩千人,有鑑孩子因父母忙於工作無暇照顧,放學後返家在街頭閒逛或宅在家沈迷電視、電腦和電動玩具,愛騎單車的雲濱中心社工林冠良利用工作之餘帶著孩子騎單車,培養運動習慣、訓練團隊合作及挑戰自我。
林表示,單車隊現有成員六個人,腳踏車是孩子平日上學騎的車子,安全帽是唯一的裝備,其中一位成員的腳踏車是別人淘汰的二手車,變速器壞掉,手把及車身都生鏽,但孩子還是騎得很開心。
一早艷陽高照。車隊成員從元長山內國小出發,經過土庫、斗南到古坑,來回約六十多公里,雖然汗流浹背、屁股及腳酸痛,但沒人喊累,沿途也有許多民眾為他們加油打氣。
(自由時報記者黃淑莉)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
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