A 16-day photography exhibition on the beauty of Taiwan held in the Johannesburg Zoo closed Friday with Jane Goodall, one of the UN's most influential peace-makers, sharing touching stories about the persistence of Tai-wanese pursuing the nation's future sustainability.
At the closing ceremony, Goodall told hundreds of people gathered at the zoo about Taiwan's fight for a more sustainable future.
Showing the audience an iron hook used by the King of Kinmen (金門王), a popular blind Taiwanese singer who passed away a few months ago, to play his guitars, Goodall said the hook symbolizes the singer's struggles.
Displaying a golden necklace, Goodall told listeners a touching story about two young brothers in their late teens, who were trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in Taipei for six days after the the devastating 921 earthquake.
Goodall said that while the two were trapped, "the younger brother took off the golden necklace on his neck, which was the only thing he had, gave it to his brother as a birthday present and encouraged him never to give up his hopes."
The story about the two brothers was widely reported around the world after they were rescued, because of their courage to hold onto hope even in the face of such danger.
The 921 earthquake, which registered 7.3 on the Richter scale, claimed more than 2,400 lives.
Goodall also praised Taiwan's efforts to preserve endangered animals, such as the sika deer (梅花鹿) in Kenting National Park.
Minister Without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (
"We should work together. There must be target-oriented actions leading us to a sustainable future," Yeh said.
Activities taken by Taiwanese delegates to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) have captured the attention of the international media.
The Summit Star, a daily publication of the summit, published a short piece entitled, "Taiwanese expertise for Africa," yesterday, which was part of a special interview with Taiwan Water Resources Agency spokesman Chen Shen-hsien (陳伸賢) carried out by the Water Media Network, an initiative of the Netherlands and the Worldbank Institute.
The article quotes Chen as saying that Taiwan would like to offer African countries that suffer from a lack of access to clean drinking water assistance with not only water resource management, but also with civil engineering technologies.
On Tuesday Yeh was interviewed by the Japanese public television service NHK. Yeh told the Japanese media that Taiwan had to be seen at global events like the summit, even if it is not a UN member.
"We work through NGO channels to reach out when we are having diplomatic difficulties," Yeh said.
The 10-day summit has been focusing on ways to get water, electricity, education and health care to the world's poorest while protecting the environment.
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