World Vision Taiwan (WVT) yesterday launched its 16th "30 Hour Famine" campaign in a bid to raise funds for people suffering from hunger, AIDS, war and natural disasters.
"It's kind of a virtual reality. You just can't believe what you see and you can't even imagine it," said pop singer A-Mei (
"People there are really struggling to survive," she added.
PHOTO: TAI TA-SHIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
A-Mei, the "famine ambassador" of the WVT this year, just concluded a visit to southern Sudan with the charitable organization. She appeared at a press conference yesterday to launch the campaign.
The "30 Hour Famine" campaign has been held by the WVT every year in countries around the globe since 1990. Participants of the campaign fast for 30 hours to experience what it's like to go hungry, and also to raise money to help the world's needy.
Since its introduction, more than 750,000 people in Taiwan have joined the campaign and have helped millions of people in 78 countries around the world, according to the WVT.
Hank Du (
"It's truly God's blessing to have come back alive," he said.
"Some mothers had been feeding their children weeds or tree leaves for three months. The need there is so immense that we definitely have to intervene before the situation gets out of hand," Du added.
A-Mei said that while in Sudan, she saw desperate people drinking muddy water.
"There is a water shortage almost everywhere in Sudan, and people don't really have a choice," the pop singer said.
"I met an 11-year-old girl named Mary who is so clever and speaks English fluently. She told me that she can't go to school every day because it is too far away, and the school is so primitive. She wants to leave there and go to a place where she can study," she said.
This year the "famine camp" will starve themselves from Aug. 13 to Aug. 14 at National Chung Shan University in Kaohsiung, with the theme, "Saving Lives at the Front." They hope to attract 8,000 people to participate in the event and raise NT$170 million to help people suffering from famine, AIDS, war, and natural disasters, and also to support the reconstruction of Taiwanese communities that were devastated by Typhoon Aere last year.
To participate in the campaign or to donate money, visit www.30hf.org.tw or call 02-2585-6300.
People can also donate by putting spare change in the donation boxes located at 7-Eleven outlets.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS