Australian a cappella group The Idea of North will give a special charity concert on Thursday to support the training of seeing-eye dogs in Taiwan. The Taipei Philharmonic Foundation and the Australian Commerce and Industry Office are organizing the concert, which benefits the Taiwan Guide Dog Association.
Taiwan, which has an estimated 50,000 visually-impaired people, currently suffers from a shortage of seeing-eye dogs. The Association estimates that there are just 20 trained guide dogs in the country, while at least 500 guide dogs are currently needed. Many people wait up to three years to get a four-legged helper of their own. To meet the demand, trained dogs are often brought in from countries including the US, the UK, Norway, South Korea and Japan.
The funds raised by the concert will contribute to the building of a seeing-eye dog training center in Taiwan, which will give the Association a safe and convenient place to train the dogs. “At the present, all we have is an office, so we have to train our dogs on the sidewalk or in parks,” says Joyce Feng (馮倩華), the Association’s spokesperson.
The group also hopes that eventually it will be able to increase the number of dog trainers in Taiwan and deepen their expertise. At the present, Feng says, the Association’s dog trainers must travel internationally and learn how to work with the dogs from instructors in different countries.
The concert by The Idea of North is part of the Taipei International Choral Festival, which runs from July 26 to Aug. 2 at the National Concert Hall and is sponsored by the Taipei Philharmonic Foundation. The quartet has been performing original songs and covers since 1993, and its cross-genre style combines influences from jazz, folk, gospel, pop and classical music.
The Idea of North, which consists of Trish Delaney Brown, Naomi Crelin, Nick Begbie and Andrew Piper, has produced several albums and was the first group outside the US to win The Harmony Sweepstakes, the largest international a cappella competition in the world. The group’s latest CD is The Gospel Project, a collection of spiritual and inspirational songs. The Idea of North tours for about a third of each year and has performed in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, the US, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and Malaysia.
When the weather is too cold to enjoy the white beaches and blue waters of Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁), it’s the perfect time to head up into the hills and enjoy a different part of the national park. In the highlands above the bustling beach resorts, a simple set of trails treats visitors to lush forest, rocky peaks, billowing grassland and a spectacular bird’s-eye view of the coast. The rolling hills beyond Hengchun Township (恆春) in Pingtung County offer a two-hour through-hike of sweeping views from the mighty peak of Dajianshih Mountain (大尖石山) to Eluanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) on the coast, or
Charges have formally been brought in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) bribery, corruption and embezzling of campaign funds cases. Ko was briefly released on bail by the Taipei District Court on Friday, but the High Court on Sunday reversed the decision. Then, the Taipei District Court on the same day granted him bail again. The ball is in dueling courts. While preparing for a “year ahead” column and reviewing a Formosa poll from last month, it’s clear that the TPP’s demographics are shifting, and there are some indications of where support for the party is heading. YOUNG, MALE
Her greatest fear, dormant for decades, came rushing back in an instant: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child? Peg Reif’s daughter, adopted from South Korea in the 1980s, had sent her a link to a documentary detailing how the system that made their family was rife with fraud: documents falsified, babies switched, children snatched off the street and sent abroad. Reif wept. She was among more than 120 who contacted The Associated Press this fall, after a series of stories and a documentary made with Frontline exposed how Korea created a baby pipeline, designed to ship children abroad as quickly as
Taiwanese persimmon farmer Lo Chih-neng stands on a ladder in his sprawling orchard using pruning sheers to cut the golden-yellow fruit still hanging from branches after enduring a tough season. Persimmons are popular in Taiwan where people travel hours to buy bags and boxes of the sweet dried fruit to take home to their families or give away to friends. But changing weather and an aging population are posing a threat to the century-old industry, forcing some farmers to look at alternative ways to maximize returns — or get out altogether. Lo’s harvest was down by more than a third last year, the
RSS