Taiwan-based Bjorgaas Social Welfare Foundation has teamed up with FamilyMart to ask people to donate their spare change to help the impoverished in Malawi.
The Living Together campaign runs until the end of August. It was introduced by Pingtung Christian Hospital Superintendant Joseph Yu, who is leading PCH in partnering with Bjorgaas in the mission.
Yu worked with the PCH team as part of the Republic of China medical mission in Malawi, until it was forced to leave the country after the southern African nation switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 2008.
“We had only a month to wrap up our work and hand over unfinished projects to local and international counterparts,” Yu explained. “So I promised my friends in Malawi that I would return.”
To fulfill his promise, Yu joined with other medical professionals, predominantly from PCH, to establish the foundation in 2013. It was named after Norwegian medical missionary Olav Bjorgaas, who came to Taiwan more than 50 years ago to work at PCH and was at the forefront of the national campaign to eradicate polio.
Taiwan-American TV host Janet Hsieh accompanied Yu on his trip to Malawi in June, and shared her experience of the organization’s work to alleviate poverty in what the U.N. classes as the world’s fourth poorest nation.
According to the foundation, one of its main projects focuses on widows, who face discrimination because of the loss of their husbands and live on NT$30 (US$1) per day—the cost of a cold drink in Taiwan.
The foundation also teaches the widows how to make such staples as soya milk and green onion pancakes, and provides enough startup funds for them to operate a stall and make a living. (SSC-SDH)
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