Saint Christopher’s Church in Taipei is urging the government to help international students who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Many of the students who have lost jobs are having trouble supporting themselves, Father Gioan Tran Van Thiet said on Monday as he helped with the weekly free food handout program at the Catholic church.
Since the food program began in late April, close to 170 students have come to the church for assistance and to collect food such as fresh vegetables, fish and meat, and other daily necessities, he said.
“Hopefully the government and universities will look more closely into the difficulties of the students and are able to provide some sort of assistance, such as reduced dormitory fees and food prices,” Dang said.
Father Hendrikus Arianto Ukat said the church has “seen students from the Philippines, Indonesia, from all parts of Asia and also Africa” taking part in its food handout program.
Twenty-one-year-old Vietnamese student Anna Dang said she lost her job at a night market that had helped cover her living expenses of about NT$7,000 a month.
“Living expenses are higher in Taiwan” than in Vietnam, she said. “And it is also rainy season now, so the prices of vegetables have increased.”
To assist foreign students during the pandemic, the government and universities should help recommend part-time jobs, Dang said.
A university senior from Vietnam, identified only as Sophia, said she lost her job about four months ago and has been unable to find a new job since.
“I used to have a job selling fruit at a night market, but when the pandemic came I lost my job. I have tried to look for a new one, but it is too hard,” she said.
She has expenses of at least NT$9,000, but she cannot ask her parents for money too often, because they have their own hardships, Sophia said.
She said she hoped the government would include foreign students like herself in the Triple Stimulus Vouchers program that starts next month to help them pay for living expenses, which are now only available to Taiwanese and their foreign spouses with residency permits.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
RSS