When teacher Tsao Mei-lan (曹美蘭) told her teenage class on the small island of Matsu about an AIDS-afflicted boy in Nairobi, Kenya, it was more than just a catchy tearjerker from a remote corner of the world. It was about action: getting teens to help children living with HIV.
After joining the teacher training program "Lesson for Life" initiated by World Vision in Taiwan, the 26-year-old Tsao is looking forward to sharing with her students more stories of children with HIV/AIDS around the world. She will talk more about the stigmatized disease and the plight of AIDS orphans, and encourage her students to help by making a donation.
With the help of World Vision's education and fundraising campaign, Tsao believes that everyone can make a difference.
"Every day, 14,000 people are infected with HIV," said Hank Du (
According to statistics from the UN Special Mission on Children, 14 million children have lost their parents to the disease in the past 20 years. Last year in Africa alone, the deadly virus took 3 million lives.
Du cited these numbers as part of a call for immediate action to help orphaned children in Africa.
"AIDS is a disease that enters a country without a visa," Du said. "Since we all live in a global village, no one can afford to ignore the disease."
One alarming trend is that an increasing percentage of young people are contracting HIV. Almost half of those infected with HIV are between the ages of 15 and 24.
In his trip to the AIDS-plagued countries of Rwanda and Lesotho, Du saw many parentless children who skipped school to work and support their even younger brothers and sisters.
As the annual Dec. 1 World AIDS Day nears, World Vision in Taiwan's "Lesson For Life" campaign has offered teachers nationwide a free DVD to share with their students, which contains stories of children living and struggling with the disease. Teachers are advised to discuss what can be done to help needy children and stem the pandemic. Students are encouraged to predict what would help ameliorate the AIDS situation and to write an imaginary "good news" report on the global epidemic.
The children's vision of an AIDS-free world, the organization said, will be put on the Web site of the UN's Global Movement for Children.
Currently, 257 schools have joined the program. The organization is aiming to have 300 schools and 300,000 people participate.
"Our goal is to achieve care from womb to tomb," said the Director of the Department of Health Chen Chien-jen (
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai