For Imelda Constantino, practicing typing for hours on end in a cramped computer lab is her idea of a perfect Sunday.
With her eyes fixed on a computer monitor, the Filipina caregiver tried hard not to look down at her fingers as they danced across the keyboard while typing words as fast and accurately as she possibly could.
? am here because I know learning more about computers will help me in the future,?she said shyly, whipping her body around to get back to her typing.
Constantino is one of the 50 of overseas Filipino workers enrolled in E-PC, a data processing and computer literacy center established in 2003 by Roy and Heidi Villaluna, who said that knowing their compatriots are benefitting from the class is all the reward they need for the painstaking efforts of maintaining the center.
Roy is a project manager at the notebook division of one of Taiwan? best-known computer companies who speaks with a soft yet determined voice, especially when talking about the center.
?y wife and I just want to help our compatriots. This is something we can do to help them. These people are like family to us,?said the computer engineer.
Nestled in the heart of Little Manila off Zhongshan N Road in Taipei, the 30-plus ping (100m? second-floor center is located a block away from St Christopher? Church, a home away from home for many Filipinos.
The center is divided into three sections. In the back is a small makeshift mini mart full of Philippine treats and items. Next to it is a lecture area where Roy can often be seen standing in front of a white board scribbling down computer jargon.
Then the most popular hangout: the computer area, lined with 20 computers all assembled by Roy, bustling with eager students who can? wait to get on the Web cam to chat with their friends and families.
The center is open on Sundays from 8:30am to 6:30pm and offers an array of courses ranging from computer fundamentals to Windows to troubleshooting all for NT$1,800. The fee includes a lifetime EPC membership and unconditional hospitality from the Villalunas.
For those who can? pay, Roy smiled, shrugged his shoulders and said, ?hat? okay, what we really ask for is their dedication and sincerity. If they want to learn, then I will teach. They can pay whenever they can. If they can? pay, then never mind.?br />
?e really see them as our families. I always cook enough so anyone who doesn? have lunch or dinner is welcome to eat with us. Many of them also tell me about their troubles at work and I give them advice and encourage them not to give up,?said Heidi who holds a bachelor of science in information technology
Caregiver Norma Benevista, who has been coming to the center for two years and is learning about spreadsheets, said her dream was to open her own business when she gets home.
? know what I learn here will be very useful for me in the future to help me and my family,?she said.
Heidi said that a former student who has since returned to the Philippines had opened an Internet caf?in her home town. Several others, thanks to their computer knowledge, had found better jobs in Taiwan, Canada and Hong Kong, she said.
The next step for the Villalunas, she said, was to follow the suggestion of Representative Antonio Basilio of the Manila Economic and Culture Office to organize a volunteer group with the skills to teach computer literacy to Filipinos who cannot travel to Taipei.
In addition to tutorials, the center also offers computer services at a low price such as Windows OS and software installation, personal computer upgrading and assembly, network layout and laptop and PC repair.
For more information on the center call (02) 2592-5926 or e-mail epcdpc2003@yahoo.com
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary