Nobel Prize-winning children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi said he is looking forward to his upcoming trip to Taiwan, where he expects to reunite with many of the young Taiwanese volunteers who he worked with in the past.
The Indian campaigner will be in Taiwan next week for a five-day visit, his second trip abroad since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in October last year, along with Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai.
In an interview with the Central News Agency, Satyarthi said he was honored that the government invited him to visit Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
The 60-year-old founder of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), or Save the Childhood Movement, said he sees Taiwanese as being “like family” and is happy to get the chance to see his “sons and daughters,” referring to the hundreds of young people who have taken part in BBA volunteer programs over the years.
Over the past five years, the Waker Group and the Eden Social Welfare Foundation have sent about 100 volunteers to India each year for short-term stints at a BBA-operated children’s shelter and a rehabilitation center for children rescued from child labor.
Satyarthi is to arrive on Wednesday next week. During his visit, he is scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂).
He is also to visit the offices of the Waker Group, the Eden Social Welfare Foundation, the Child Welfare League Foundation and the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, as well as deliver two public speeches, one in Taipei and the other in Hsinchu.
The planned highlight of Satyarthi’s visit is a dinner with Taiwanese volunteers who have worked for BBA.
The Waker Group has said that it will send 85 volunteers to India during the upcoming winter vacation to assist a movement there that works with children.
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