Ahead of Mother’s Day, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families honored 24 persevering mothers for what it called their exceptional dedication to and love for their families amid physical, economic and social hardship.
“I would like to express my gratitude to these mothers here today, whose perseverance is what keeps their families going without losing love or hope,” foundation executive director Betty Ho (何素秋) said at an event in Taipei on Sunday.
Most of the honorees were single parents, or parents of children with physical or mental disabilities, while there were also foreign spouses and grandparents raising grandchildren, the foundation said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Honoree Liang Chih-mei (梁枝梅) said she single-handedly raised her eight grandchildren after all of her three sons — raised by her alone after she divorced her husband in 1985 — contracted cancer and passed away.
Doubly beset by the deaths of her sons and the departure of her daughters-in-law, who were driven away by the family’s poverty, Liang said she had no time for tears and had to pull herself together to feed the struggling household.
With debts increasing and money running short, the family could have collapsed had it not been for the perseverance of Liang, who had to wake up at 4am every day to sell breakfasts before working another two shifts at a restaurant while delivering chili sauce in between shifts, she said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“The tragedies happened anyway. We should face the music and live well, because there is no point crying over spilled milk. We have to stay strong and work hard,” she said, adding that she has taught her grandchildren to humble themselves and make peace with life.
Some of her grandchildren are old enough to be able to study away from home, but they have never failed to call her every day to express their love, she said.
They are also working part-time jobs to ease Liang’s burden, which gratifies her, she said.
Single father Tung Hsin-yung (董新勇) from Kaohsiung was the only male honoree, and he accepted the honor wearing traditional Rukai clothing.
He said that he was devastated when his wife abandoned him and their two children, adding that he drowned his sorrows in alcohol until social workers from the city’s Social Affairs Bureau relocated his young daughter.
Then he realized that he had to change, he said.
He enrolled in the bureau’s alcohol abuse treatment and vocational training programs for Aborigines and worked hard to start a new career, he said.
Thriving under Tung’s care, his son is a promising young athlete and his daughter is “a sweet girl who helps her father with farmwork,” Tung said, adding that the family enjoys a harmonious relationship.
Paralyzed from the waist down in an accident years ago, Hung Su-chuan (洪素娟) said she took on the task of raising the three children of her brother, who has a mild intellectual disability and was unable to take care of the children by himself after his wife left.
“I do whatever I can do to the best [of my abilities],” she said.
Hung is like a mother to her nephew and niece, and they would write her cards to express their gratitude from time to time, she said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
RSS