While rapid advances in technology have seen people replacing their electronic devices more frequently than ever, a group of Taipei Medical University (TMU) students have found a new sense of purpose for their used, outdated digital cameras — broadening the perspectives of orphaned children in Swaziland and giving them an opportunity to climb out of poverty.
The student members of TMU’s Flyoung Services International flew to Swaziland earlier this year for a five-day exchange visit under a voluntary program called the Innocent Hearts of African Children.
One of the members, Yang Hsiu-wen (楊琇雯), a graduate student at the university’s School of Healthcare Administration, said their plan to bring pre-owned digital cameras to the African nation was inspired by the US documentary film Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Medical University
The film, which won several awards including an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005, centers on a New York-based documentary photographer who teaches photography skills to children of prostitutes in the red-light district of the Indian city.
The cameras allow the children not only to depict scenes from their daily lives, but also gave them the opportunity to go to school using money made from the sales of their works.
“We received nearly 20 donated digital cameras within just two weeks. The instruments were later brought to Swaziland by 11 voluntary members and were used to teach photography to local children sheltered at the Amitofo Care Center,” Yang said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Medical University
Flyoung Services International deputy head Chien Wei-ting (簡瑋廷) said that in addition to teaching the children how to operate a digital camera, the volunteers also took the kids back to the houses they lived in before they were orphaned by poverty or disease.
“By teaching them how to take pictures, the children were allowed to capture and record the places they grew up in from their own point of view,” Chien said.
Tu Yun-hung (涂昀吰), a senior at the university’s School of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, said that while most children at the care center had never laid their hands on a camera, they turned out to be surprisingly talented.
Citing as an example a 10-year-old Swazi boy nicknamed Ching Ssu (清思), Tu said the boy learnt to take pictures of others and himself, and within just five days most of his photos were on a par with that of professional photographers.
“Most of the children there have great potential. All they need is someone to guide them and show them how to fulfill their dreams,” Tu said.
Yang said she was impressed with the talent of an 11-year-old girl nicknamed Ching Lan (淨蘭), who, despite appearing to be extremely introverted and self-alienated, took as many as 200 photographs in just half a day and even figured out how to turn on the anti-shake function on her camera by herself.
Yang said they planned to hold a charity photography exhibition for the children at the end of this year before they make another exchange visit to Swaziland next year.
The volunteer group is raising money for the planned exhibition and people who would like to make a donation can call (02) 2736-1661, extension 2080, Yang added.
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
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
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