■ Society
Aboriginal volunteers leave
Seven Aboriginal college and graduate students will head to Thailand today to engage
in volunteer service in tribal villages and refugee camps
in the Thai-Myanmar border area, the Chinese Association for Human Rights (CAHR) said yesterday. It is the first time that the organization has arranged such a trip. CAHR president Hsu Wen-pin (許文彬) said the dispatch of the volunteers is part of the group's efforts to encourage young Aborigines to take part in international humanitarian relief work and expand their international perspective. During the 11-day visit, Hsu said, the group will hold seminars with Aboriginal inhabitants in the Thailand-Myanmar border region on subjects related to indigenous peoples and minority ethnic groups. The group will also visit remote tribal towns, Hsu said, adding that it will share the nation's experience in promoting indigenous culture.
■ Education
Youth camp opens
The King Car Education Foundation and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission announced the beginning of its "2004 Overseas Chinese Youth -- ABC Schwietzer English Teaching Camp" yesterday in Taipei. The camp, which seeks to bring American-born Taiwanese to remote areas of the country to teach English, will run from Monday through Aug. 14 in two schools in Chiayi and Hualien. Organizers stressed that they hoped the camp would facilitate a culture and language exchange between the students and volunteer teachers, while giving
student teachers a chance
to give back to their mother
culture. The teachers were
mostly recruited from
the commission's recent "Overseas Compatriot Youth Summer Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan." While over 100 students applied to teach in the camps, said foundation general director Morgan Sun (孫慶國), there were only room for 24. He said it was planning a one-year teaching program for overseas Taiwanese next January.
■ Diplomacy
Village opened in Paraguay
The Luque Village, a Taiwanese-funded residential complex for low-income families in Paraguay, was inaugurated on Thursday in Asuncion, with Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte presiding over the ceremony. Ambassador Yen Pin-fan (顏秉璠) and other members of the diplomatic corps attended the inauguration ceremony. Duarte said he has delivered on his campaign promise of using Taiwan-donated funds to built housing units for low-income families. He said he will continue to build housing units with Taiwanese funds during his tenure to benefit impoverished people. Yen said the inauguration of
the village epitomizes
the transparency in the Paraguayan government's
use of Taiwanese donations
and the solidity of relations between the two countries. Yen said Taiwan will continue to help Paraguay improve the living conditions of its people.
■ Diplomacy
Yu to visit Latin America
Premier Yu Shyi-kun will be President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) special envoy at the inauguration ceremony of Dominican President-elect Leonel Fernandez Reyna, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Yu will depart on Aug. 12. The premier will transit in Los Angeles and arrive in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 14. Yu
will also visit Honduras
and Nicaragua, two of
the nation's other allies in
Latin America. He will stop
over in New York on his
way back to Taipei. His delegation is scheduled to return here on Aug. 25. A number of top government officials will accompany Yu in the delegation.
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