Two documentaries were screened in Taipei on Sunday to honor US surgeon and missionary Samuel Noordhoff, who provided medical care in Taiwan for decades.
The documentaries Long Vacation (長假) and Long Vacation Thereafter (長假過後), produced by the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation, tell the stories of Noordhoff’s 40 years of life and work in Taiwan, as well as his life after retiring.
Andrew Huang (黃達夫), president of the Koo Foundation Sun Yat-sen Cancer Center, who attended the screening, said Noordhoff embodies the spirit of love, hope, faith and forgiveness.
Noordhoff is a man who practices what he preaches, giving his patients — and Taiwan — hope, Huang said, urging the public to have faith, if not religion, which enables people to do their best without worrying about personal gain.
Acer founder Stan Shih (施振榮) said the 88-year-old surgeon provided medical services throughout Southeast Asia and touched the lives of many people.
Noordhoff first came to Taiwan as a medical missionary in 1959. While serving as president of Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei, which he did until 1975, he set up a center to help people with polio, and a lifeline for suicide prevention and medical services in mountainous areas. In 1976, he became the founding superintendent of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taipei. In 1981, he was named Chang Gung’s superintendent emeritus.
He established the foundation in 1989 to help people with craniofacial deformities receive holistic care, sponsor research to advance the quality of medical care, and improve public awareness and social acceptance of patients.
Noordhoff retired and moved back to the US several years ago. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and underwent brain surgery in 2012. He last visited Taiwan in 2013.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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