Members of the private sector from Taiwan and Okinawa yesterday lent a hand to refugees in Liberia by donating tents, sleeping bags, water-proof jackets and used clothes to a charity group in charge of channeling the goods to the conflict-stricken African nation.
The embassy of Liberia yesterday held a donation ceremony at the Tienmu diplomatic quarters, with the private sector in a symbolic move delivering goods into the hands of a representative of the newly founded "Taiwan Liberia Emergency Relief Network."
Esther Torrents, a member of the "Family" missionary group that represents the network, then had the goods delivered to Liberian Ambassador John Cummings before he handed them to Dale Holmgren, a senior member of the Rotary Club of Taipei.
The Rotary Club in Monrovia, Liberia, has vowed to have these materials delivered to those in need of help, Holmgren said.
"They assured us that all of these gifts will be given to needy people," Holmgren said at the ceremony.
"Within the next two to three weeks we'll get these goods to be sent out," he said.
So far, 160 tents, 1,000 waterproof jackets, 500 sleeping bags and used clothes and shoes have been collected from the private sector in Taiwan, according to the embassy.
The financial help amounted to around NT$60,000 from various individuals and agencies, aside from the US$10,000 donated by the Rotary Club of Luchou (蘆洲), Taipei County, which was organized by DPP Legislator Lai Chin-lin (賴勁麟).
Half of the US$10,000 has been spent on the purchase of the 160 tents, while the rest of the amount will pay transportation fees, a staffer at the embassy said.
Humanitarian aid also came from Okinawa through the missionary group, sources said.
"Through Esther's cooperation, some of her friends in Okinawa sent an e-mail saying they've got a 40-foot container of used clothes to be sent to Liberia," Holmgren said.
The US Air Force might help with transporting the used clothes from Okinawa to Liberia, he said.
According to Ambassador Cummings, a firm in Taichung has promised to donate three water purifiers to help people cope with sanitary problems in Liberia.
A Baptist Church in Yangmingshan, Huang Lung Engineering Co Ltd as well as Shiann Hann Plastics Manufacturing Co Ltd also contributed to the donation, organizers said.
Aside from representatives from various private agencies involved in the effort, Ambassador of Malawi Eunice Kazembe also attended the ceremony.
Further donations can be made through the Liberian embassy. The contact number is (02) 2875-1212.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
RSS