Amid jovial laughter and heartfelt greetings, 78 ladies of all ages from the Taipei International Women’s Club (TIWC) gathered last Tuesday to celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Ox at a special luncheon featuring the Lucky Money God.
“We are indeed like sisters here,” said Ling Chang (張玲玲), 80, who has been a member of the TIWC for 30 years, recalling the times when she was a young dancer performing at charity events with another member, Jane Lin (林改莊), now 90.
Founded in September 1951 by Roberta Auburn, a wife of a USAID officer, TIWC has become one of the most important all-female charity groups with the foreign community.
Its principal goals are the promotion of education, cultural exchange and philanthropy.
“The club was established with the purpose of allowing foreigners, especially women, to give something back to Taiwan. The demographics of the membership might have changed throughout the years, but the goal remains the same,” Chang said.
She said the club was originally composed mostly of diplomats’ wives and wealthy Taiwanese women.
But the number of foreign members quickly dwindled after the US severed relations with Taiwan in 1979.
“What we do here at the club is a form of soft diplomacy by holding activities with women from other nations and learning about each other’s cultures,” TIWC president Ruby Sung (宋美玉) said, adding that her organization was an affiliate of the Washington-based General Federation of Women’s Club.
Ida Meyer, the wife of the South African representative to Taiwan, said she had learned a lot about leadership skills and how to motivate others in her role as the first-vice-president of the women’s club.
This year, the goal of the club’s social service committee is to raise at least NT$400,000 in donations to be given to the TWIC Education Foundation, the Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders and to pay school fees for 410 elementary students in Taitung County.
The donation will be presented at an annual Charity Gala in April.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
PUBLIC TRANSPORT: As some roads would be fully or partially closed, people are advised to take the MRT, with services expanded to accommodate more riders This year’s Taipei Marathon, which has obtained its first gold label certification from World Athletics, is to be held from 5am to 1pm tomorrow and would have 28,000 participants. The race is to start from the Taipei City Plaza and would go through major roads throughout the city, with traffic control implemented from 6am to 2pm, officials said. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system and New Taipei City MRT Circle line would start operating at 5am on the day of the race, they said. The race would cover Renai Road, Xinyi Road, Hangzhou S Road, Aiguo east and west roads,
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
RSS