Taiwan Today

A line of patients had already formed at the orphanage in Hlegu Township by the time the seven members of the Taiwanese medical mission arrived at the dusty compound to the northeast of Yangon on a balmy afternoon last December. In the days beforehand, word of the visit had spread quickly among residents of the rural township, which is about two hours from Myanmar’s largest city. For many of them, as well as the two dozen children living in the orphanage, the makeshift clinic set up by the doctors, nurses and aid workers from the Overseas Medical Mission Center of Changhua Christian Hospital (CCH) in central Taiwan provided a rare opportunity to gain access to modern health care services. “The free medical treatment has really made a big difference to our community,” explains the Reverend David Biakkung, the orphanage’s founder.

Humanitarian missions such as this were rare in Myanmar prior to 2011, when the nation’s government began introducing political and economic reforms that led to the end of decades of international isolation. Now numerous foreign aid organizations, including several from Taiwan, have established a presence in the country, which is one of the least developed in Asia.

Aid and development assistance is badly needed in many areas of Myanmar, particularly in the wake of severe natural disasters in recent years. Biakkung founded his orphanage after learning of the numerous children who had lost their families as a result of Cyclone Nargis, which ravaged the country in May 2008. In particular, large areas of Ayeyarwady Region to the west of Yangon were devastated by the enormous storm, which caused at least 138,000 deaths and displaced more than 1 million people.

Biakkung first made contact with Taiwanese foreign aid groups after an associate, Pastor Peter Chan Hleih, accompanied a 9-year-old girl to Taiwan in 2010 so she could receive surgery from the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation, a Taiwan-based charity that provides free treatment to disadvantaged children at home and abroad with craniofacial abnormalities such as cleft lips and palates. Two years later, Biakkung and Hleih were invited to attend the 2012 Asian NGOs International Development Conference in Taipei, where they met representatives from a number of local humanitarian organizations, notably Nina Kao (高小玲), director of CCH’s Overseas Medical Mission Center, and Jay Hung (洪智杰), chief executive officer of Zhi Shan Foundation. Kao and Hung subsequently traveled to Biakkung’s orphanage in early 2013 to assess the feasibility of providing assistance, and CCH’s overseas mission made its first trip to the area a few months later.

Founded in 2008, the Overseas Medical Mission Center has to date sent teams to 14 nations around the world. The NGO first visited Myanmar in 2011, when it offered free medical services in the northeast of the country. “Many locals put off seeing a doctor until the pain becomes unbearable because they can’t afford health care,” notes Ho Pao-chih (何抱治), a gynecologist and obstetrician on the CCH team. Ho is one of two Myanmar-born doctors on the team who immigrated to Taiwan decades ago.

While the overseas mission cannot treat very serious ailments, it has improved the quality of life of many people in the communities that it has been to in Myanmar. “We used to rely solely on cheap medicine, which is often ineffective or even dangerous,” explains Hleih, who manages an orphanage in suburban Yangon that was also visited by the mission last December. On its seven-day tour of areas in or around the city, the medical team went to five orphanages, all of which had established connections with CCH’s overseas mission through Biakkung and Hleih.

Meanwhile, following its assessment trip, Zhi Shan also offered to help the reverend’s orphanage in Hlegu Township. In early 2013, the NGO arranged for Hsia Liang-chou (夏良宙), an emeritus professor of animal science at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology in southern Taiwan, to visit the institution to teach staff members animal husbandry techniques with a view to setting up a small pig farm. The organization subsequently spent US$25,000 on 100 piglets, vaccines for the animals and the construction of a pig house. “The Taiwanese experts taught us how to feed pigs properly and manage their health so we can raise them quickly and efficiently,” Biakkung says.

The orphanage began rearing the 100 piglets in February last year, and had sold all of them within a few months. Some of the profits from these sales, which were a major source of income for the orphanage, were then used to buy another batch of piglets. “The pig-farming project can help the orphanage become self-sufficient,” Hung says.

Last October, Biakkung and Hleih returned to Taiwan for the 2014 Asian NGOs International Development Conference. During the trip, Zhi Shan arranged for the pair to visit two large pig farms in southern Taiwan to learn about the most advanced techniques in the field. Due to the improvement in the finances of Biakkung’s orphanage, the NGO also flew one of its employees to Myanmar to teach accounting practices to staff members.

CCH’s Overseas Medical Mission Center and Zhi Shan are prominent examples of the recent expansion in Taiwanese foreign aid efforts in Myanmar. However, some Taiwanese groups were operating in the nation prior to its 2011 opening up. Taiwan’s Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation and Dharma Drum Mountain Social Welfare and Charity Foundation were among the first international humanitarian groups to enter disaster areas following the impact of Cyclone Nargis. And after concluding its initial relief efforts, Tzu Chi began addressing other pressing issues both in and outside disaster zones. For instance, the group has to date helped rebuild 15 schools in Myanmar, including three that were seriously damaged during the 2008 storm.

In addition, Taiwanese organizations have been providing assistance to refugees from Myanmar living in camps in northwestern Thailand. Since 1996, Taipei Overseas Peace Service (TOPS), which is part of Taiwan-based NGO the Chinese Association for Human Rights, has been administering humanitarian and educational programs for these refugees, who fled Myanmar due to ethnic conflicts. And since 2009, the Republic of China’s (ROC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has been working with TOPS and The Border Consortium, an international association of NGOs, to provide about 3,800 children in the refugee camps with nutritious daily lunches. MOFA had contributed US$360,000 to this project by the end of 2014, and has earmarked US$200,000 to help supply meals for approximately 4,000 children during this year and next.

MOFA has also played a role in boosting the well-being of people in Myanmar. In 2013, it contributed approximately NT$268,000 (US$8,500) to CCH to help fund the work of the hospital’s overseas mission in Yangon. And in August 2014, it donated NT$$300,000 (US$9,500) to another Taiwanese NGO, Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps, to help cover the cost of that organization’s medical outreach program in northern Myanmar.

One of the most significant Taiwanese contributions to health and welfare in Myanmar is the nonprofit Known-You Farmer Hospital, which was established by renowned Taiwanese agricultural scientist and entrepreneur Chen Wen-yu (陳文郁, 1925–2012). Chen opened a branch of his successful seed cultivation and distribution business, Known-You Seed Company, in Myanmar in 1994. It turned out to be a profitable venture, and in 2001 he established the free hospital in Ayeyarwady Region to give back to local society. “The hospital aims to help as many disadvantaged people as it can, which explains why it isn’t located in Yangon, which is comparatively rich in health care resources,” explains Chang Kuo-yu (張國裕), a staff member at Known-You Seed Company’s office in the country’s largest city.

With the opening up of the nation, a number of international development groups have set up facilities to help address Myanmar’s poor public infrastructure. Among these is the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF), an ROC government-supported foreign aid organization. In April 2014, the ICDF established an office in Yangon, the newest in its global network, and it is currently in the process of drawing up several programs to improve the lives of people across the nation. For example, the Yangon office is helping design a solar power project in central Myanmar, a nation that has long been plagued by blackouts. “We’re building trust with our local partners so our work can proceed smoothly,” says Clifford Li (黎爕培), the Myanmar-born director of the ICDF’s Yangon office.

While most of the organization’s initiatives are still in the research and planning stage, the Yangon office has launched some pilot programs. For instance, it has donated a small amount of solar energy equipment to residents in Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar. The number of projects such as this is set to increase significantly in the next few years as the ICDF and Taiwan’s other humanitarian groups expand the scale and scope of their aid programs. These projects will offer substantial benefits to the disadvantaged in Myanmar and help build a lasting bond of friendship between the people of both nations.

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