World Vision Taiwan celebrated its 40th anniversary yesterday by rewarding its long-time sponsors and donors, and the parents and children who were given the chance to achieve excellence thanks to the charity.
"We thank the friends who have worked with World Vision Taiwan to create hope for poor children in the past 40 years. More than 500,000 people have donated money or their time to help improve children's lives," World Vision Taiwan director Hank Du (杜明翰) said.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Minister of Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (
One such child is now a 23-year-old man called Wen (
Wen's father died last year, and to take care of his mother, who is both physically and mentally handicapped, he and his brother choose a school close to home. Wen also works part time to earn money to help with the family's living expenses.
Wen has been sponsored via World Vision Taiwan since he was in elementary school and he is still accepting help from a World Vision Taiwan donor.
"I feel moved that some people are willing to help strangers like me," Wen said.
"Without my past sponsors, my academic career would not have been very smooth, and perhaps I would have given up at some point."
To return the favor, Wen also works as a volunteer at World Vision Taiwan to teach children English.
Huang Tai-ti (
"One time I saw a World Vision promotion in the newspaper, so I phoned up and asked to donate, and I decided to help 12 children in one go," said Huang, who has been giving money for 12 years.
She is now sponsoring 16 children from World Vision programs.
Huang said that she was most touched by an Indonesian boy she sponsored, who would write to her every year about his family, his study and his dreams.
"He wants to become a teacher," Huang said proudly as if she had been talking about her own son.
World Vision Taiwan started work in 1964 with the establishment of Bethany Children's Home in Taipei City's Mucha district.
In the early days the organization sought help from foreign sponsors to help Taiwanese children.
In the mid-1980s the group began seeking sponsors domestically and in 1990 the organization raised all its funds from Taiwan and began helping children in other countries.
World Vision Taiwan now operates several programs to help Aboriginal children in remote areas, abused children and teenage girls in need.
The organization is also involved in humanitarian aid, and its famous Famine Camp (
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