While most Taiwanese were celebrating the arrival of the new year at home, a group of Taiwanese experts were gearing up to conduct technical assistance 8,000km from home, in the Horn of Africa.
Members of the Taiwan Technical Mission in Somaliland had a simple dinner on New Year’s Eve, said Mars Shiue (薛烜坪), who heads the mission.
“The spirit of New Year’s celebrations is hardly felt in Somaliland, as the country follows the Islamic calendar,” Shiue said, adding that New Year’s Day was a working day.
The mission formally opened its office in the capital of Hargeisa on Dec. 1 last year, a few months after a Technical Cooperation Framework Agreement was signed between Taiwan and Somaliland — a self-declared state which many governments around the world consider part of Somalia.
The agreement was part of the establishment of closer ties between the two nations, including the opening of the Taiwan Representative Office in Somaliland on Aug. 17.
The mission comprises experts on healthcare, information and communications technology, and agriculture.
Its four members arrived in Somaliland after having gathered considerable hands-on experience in international projects, and would work with local partners to improve local agricultural production, e-government services, and healthcare for pregnant women and newborns, Shiue said.
A demonstration farm would be the centerpiece of the agricultural support program, Shiue said, adding that the mission aims to introduce food crops suitable for production in the local drought-prone semi-arid climate.
The farm would also conduct training and workshops on field management techniques, he added.
Despite the members’ extensive experience abroad, the team still needs to get used to the new environment, and work to overcome cultural and technological barriers, Shiue said.
While fast, wireless Internet is available in urban centers, connectivity in rural areas is weak, he said.
Outside of their work, there is not much to do, Shiue added.
“Foreigners living in Somaliland have to adapt to a monotonous and simple lifestyle. We need to adjust our mentality,” he added.
Yet there are bright sides to living in Somaliland, a place that Shiue describes as full of surprises.
“There are many tank trucks carrying water to Hargeisa, while donkey carts with containers of water are a common sight in small alleys in the city,” Shiue said.
Most households in Hargeisa, a city of more than 1.2 million residents, are not connected to water lines, as infrastructure development has fallen behind population growth, he said.
Water costs are up to 30 times higher than in Taiwan, Shiue added.
Shiue, an agricultural expert, said that he is grateful to work abroad and see how his work can change people’s lives for the better.
Before heading the mission, Shiue held posts with Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund in Palau, Eswatini, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Solomon Islands.
Shiue said that challenges lie ahead for the new mission due to the region’s political instability and lack of economic development in certain areas, making comprehensive planning an utmost necessity.
“Luckily, through extensive discussions and on-site surveys with the Somaliland side, challenges have slowly turned into driving forces for the three project areas,” he said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked