The nation's only public leprosy hospital, the Lo Sheng Sanatorium (
The book, entitled Outside the World (
"This is a book that has life in it," said Minister of Health Chen Jian-ren (陳建人) yesterday at the launch. "We see how the patients can live more optimistic, positive lives than people who don't suffer such physical problems."
"It teaches us at the Department of Health a lesson," Chen said. "We cannot put labels or stereotypes on patients with debilitating diseases, ignoring their humanity."
The bilingual edition features interviews with longtime sanatorium residents along with historic photographs and pictures by China Times photographer Lin Guo-chang (林國彰). Journalist Chang Ping-yi (張平宜) interviewed the residents and edited the text.
"Our lives as humble citizens are preserved as history," said sanatorium superintendent Huang Long-de (
Leprosy patients from Leseng met invited dignitaries yesterday at the launch ceremony.
Chen Zai-tian (陳再添), a resident at Leseng, thanked the writer and photographer for their honest reporting, and shared some of his painful experiences. Leprosy patients are often shunned, even feared, because of their deformities, said Chen.
Chang and Lin are members of the Wings of Hope Charity Group (
The photographs used in the book won a first prize at the In-ternational Dong Gang Photography Festival in South Korea. Lin himself will also receive a prize for his work, and promised to donate the prize money, estima-ted at US$10,000, to aid leprosy patients in Taiwan and China.
Vice Chairman of Academia Sinica and former education minister Tseng Chi-lang (曾志朗) helped auction off ten copies of the new book and its photos.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS