It is said that in big cities, social welfare organizations assist the poor, but it is a fact that the poor are often ignored by the law simply because they only have a small amount of money in savings.
This is precisely why people like Huang Yi-hua (黃怡華) — who goes by the nickname “Sweet Potato mama” and is a member of independent Taipei mayor-elect Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) team of advisers — came out strongly in support of Ko, saying that he is their only hope of turning their lives around.
The humiliating and tragic life of poor people in the city is the result of the government’s heartless protection of predatory businesses, something that has been highlighted recently by the plight of the laid-off freeway toll collectors.
In 1982, I heard a tragic story of poverty combined with ill health.
According to the person telling the story: “An Aboriginal child with meningitis — who lived in Jianshi Township (尖石) in Hsinchu County — and the child’s parents walked for six hours over mountains, then traveled by bus for one-and-a-half hours and arrived at the emergency room at Taoyuan General Hospital, which was the best there was at that time, in the evening.”
“That evening, when I gave the father the prescription for his child’s medicine, which cost NT$76, the father hesitated. When I asked him why, he said that he only had NT$50 on him, so I immediately gave him a NT$100 bill and told him to hurry up and get the medication,” the person said.
“During the two weeks that the child was in the hospital, I helped the child’s father with money on two other occasions. On the day the child left the hospital, I could see the happiness in their faces and the tears in their eyes,” the person said.
This year, when providing free medical consultations in the Lala mountain area in Taoyuan County and poverty relief in Hsinchu County’s Jhudong Township (竹東), I met another two poor Aboriginal families where five of nine people were seriously ill and awaiting treatment.
Once again, because they had only a small amount of savings, they were ignored by authorities, and we had to send four shipments of supplies to each of these families to relieve their situation.
We must tear down walls and not forget the poor. We must stop limiting the poor by building walls around them based on a heartless piece of legislation and instead take a more tolerant, merciful and caring approach toward such families. We must treat families suffering from poverty and ill health with love and care.
In 1927, a doctor named Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水) said: “Compatriots must unite, unity is power.” The term “compatriot” includes the many poor Taiwanese.
Yesterday morning, the day after the nine-in-one elections, we took four students from medical departments and rice, noodles, milk powder, diapers, clothes, shoes and other supplies to the Lala mountain area.
We provided free medical consultations for Aborigines living there and experienced the power of helping the poor and sick, of not forgetting the poor and relying on love and caring in order to tear down the walls that divide the poor from the rich.
Mayo Kuo is a Taiwan-based pediatrician.
Translated by Perry Svensson
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS