Thailand is a popular backpacker destination, but for a group of Taiwanese university students, the southeastern Asian country is more than just a tourist spot. It's a place they go to utilize their talents and contribute something to the world.
"Before becoming a volunteer, the only kind of lifestyle I knew was taking tests, attending a good college, getting a decent job, and making a living," said college student Hsu Ming-chang (
"But now I realize there are many different ways to live your life," Hsu said as he shared his experience of spending one month volunteering near the Thai-Myanmar border this summer.
Hsu is one of the seven students from Youth E-Service, a non-profit organization that focuses on providing computer and information technology services to people in developing countries. The group also promotes international volunteer work among Taiwanese youth by organizing volunteer trips abroad. Since 2000, over 50 students have traveled to Thailand to participate in the project.
This year the group went to Mae Sot, a busy town in the northwest of Thailand bordering Myanmar. Because of its close proximity, the town has become a haven for thousands of Burmese refugees to escape from their oppressive military government.
The YES volunteers hope to bring the refugees out of poverty by teaching them basic computer skills and providing educational training for teachers.
Lin Yi-ming (
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would
Starlux Airlines on Tuesday announced it is to launch new direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Ontario, California, on June 2. The carrier said it plans to deploy the new-generation Airbus A350 on the Taipei-Ontario route. The Airbus A350 features a total of 306 seats, including four in first class, 26 in business class, 36 in premium economy and 240 in economy. According to Starlux’s initial schedule, four flights would run between Taoyuan and Ontario per week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Flights are to depart from Taoyuan at 8:05pm and arrive in California at 5:05pm (local time), while return flights
Nearly 800 Indian tourists are to arrive this week on an incentive tour organized by Indian company Asian Painted Ltd, making it the largest tour group from the South Asian nation to visit since the COVID-19 pandemic. The travelers are scheduled to arrive in six batches from Sunday to Feb. 25 for five-day tours, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The tour would take the travelers, most of whom are visiting Taiwan for the first time, to several tourist sites in Taipei and Yilan County, including tea houses in Taipei’s Maokong (貓空), Dadaocheng (大稻埕) and Ximending (西門町) areas. They would also visit
HOSPITAL VISITS: Shin Kong Mitsukoshi pledged to give the families of the four people who died NT$11m each and provide support for staff working at the time The central government would assist local governments to enhance public safety, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as he visited people in hospital who were injured in an explosion at a department store in Taichung on Thursday. A suspected gas explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang department store in Taichung at 11:33am on Thursday, killing four people and injuring 36. Of the 40 casualties, 39 were hospitalized, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed. Three died after out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, the data showed. As of 6am yesterday, 25 of those injured had been discharged from hospital, leaving 11