Taiwan Today

Northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City Government promotes overseas volunteer work.
 

At the age of 16, Lin Yu-shan (林語珊) developed a strong passion for helping those in need, leading her to ­volunteer in India, Myanmar and Thailand. Through her experiences, she realized she wanted a career in aid work. After completing an education degree at National Chengchi University in Taipei City in 2017, Lin started a volunteer group to teach Mandarin in northern Myanmar’s ethnic Chinese communities.
 

“Our work attracted attention in Taiwan, and people wanted to donate to the cause,” the 28-year-old said. To receive donations, Lin needed to register with the government, so in 2018 she founded the Republic of China International Charity and Culture Association, which she currently runs as part of a team of five. Based in her native Taoyuan City in northern Taiwan, the association qualified for support from the local government because nearly all its participants are between the ages of 15 and 35.
 

“The city has a funding project that aims to help teens and young adults cultivate understanding and affinity toward different cultures while improving their teamwork and problem-solving skills,” said Shih Ling-pang (施鈴邦), chief of the local government’s Department of Youth Affairs (DYA) Public Participation Section. “It also boosts Taiwan’s international image through our young, ­enthusiastic volunteers as they pitch in to increase the well-being of ­communities abroad.” Last year six Taoyuan-based entities, including Lin’s association, received subsidies that helped send teams to countries in South and Southeast Asia.
 

“Students in Myanmar are eager to engage with our volunteers since ­opportunities for them to have contact with the outside world are rare,” Lin said. “We introduce students to Taiwan by incorporating our culture into the curriculum.” In the past local students learned Mandarin primarily due to heritage, but today many are also motivated by the potential to expand their career prospects, she added. To ensure the volunteer teaching program has the greatest ­possible impact, the association improves the learning environment by enhancing lighting in classrooms and providing color textbooks donated by publishers in Taiwan.

Education Enrichment

More Taiwan students are following in Lin’s footsteps as the desire to volunteer abroad spreads on college campuses. Among such schools is Taoyuan’s Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU), where its Service-Learning Center encourages students to help others both at home and abroad. Last year two teams organized by the center went to Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia and Mae Sot in western Thailand with support from DYA.
 

Each team drew up aid plans catering to the respective communities’ needs. The group in Siem Reap provided young locals with English language training in order to give residents the skills to provide tourist services in a town home to the world-class cultural legacy Angkor Wat. In Mae Sot, CYCU volunteers focused on arts education at Shwe Tha Zin School at the request of its principal. To ensure the overseas trips went smoothly and were well publicized, the Service-Learning Center organized pre-departure training sessions for the volunteers in subjects from emergency medical care to photography and social media strategies. Each team had lessons tailored to their specific missions. Those headed to Mae Sot, for example, had to learn how to play the recorder as the school had received a donation of the instruments and needed music teachers.
 

“The volunteers had help from nongovernmental organizations as well,” said Wu Ching-ying (吳靚瑩), account executive at the Service-Learning Center. In Mae Sot, the Taiwan team connected with local schools thanks to Glocal Action, a Taipei-based organization that has done charity work in western Thailand since 2015. In Siem Reap, the Khmer Akphiwat Khmer Organization similarly helped the CYCU group by selecting 10 disadvantaged youths to receive the training.

Medical Mission

Student volunteers are not alone in ­projecting Taiwan’s soft power abroad; religious groups also play a strong role. One such entity is Taoyuan Life Tree Leader Association, which sent 21 volunteers to central Nepal in the fall of 2023 with the help of DYA funding. Founded and managed by a local Baptist group, the association organized the multidenominational volunteer team to bring health care to medically underserved communities. The bulk of the mission was carried out at a boarding school in a mountain village about 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu and brought access to services ranging from pediatric medicine to dentistry.
 

Education on general nutrition and hygiene also formed an integral part of the mission. “Such knowledge is equally important because it addresses issues at their roots,” said 18-year-old Nepal trip volunteer Hu Hsin-en (胡信恩). Discovering that locals ­consumed too much starch and not enough ­protein, vitamins or minerals, volunteers ­emphasized the importance of healthy eating habits and taught the best sources of necessary nutrients. For Hu, the experience was enlightening, inspiring him to put more time and energy into pursuing similar future endeavors. “The ­mission made me realize how much still needs to be done to improve lives in other parts of the world,” he said. “I intend to actively seek out opportunities to lend a hand where it’s needed.” Thanks to the Taoyuan local ­government’s ­continued support for youth volunteer work abroad, Hu is not alone in his sentiments. “Humanitarian aid is well worth ­investing in,” said DYA’s Shih. “Sponsoring such opportunities benefits individual volunteers, Taiwan’s global image, and of course, the people receiving assistance.”

Write to Oscar Chung at mhchung@mofa.gov.tw