World Vision Taiwan, the local chapter of the international Christian charity, yesterday launched its 20th 30-Hour Famine 2009, with 15,000 participating to promote public awareness of the need to fight global hunger.
This year's rally carries special meaning in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, which devastated southern Taiwan. The participants will be praying for the typhoon survivors and appealing for more funds for relief and rehabilitation efforts.
Artists from major record labels are supporting the event, which is part of the group's global movement to increase public involvement, especially among young people, who fast for 30 hours to raise money for people suffering from famine in poor countries.
The program is one of World Vision Taiwan's three principal fund-raising activities, the other two being a child sponsorship program that helps poor children in Taiwan and abroad and a program that assists local and overseas development projects.
Three African beneficiaries under World Vision Taiwan's sponsorship program have traveled to Taiwan to express their appreciation and share how Taiwanese have helped them change their lives.
Two of the visitors said in a recent interview that the assistance they received from Taiwan not only brought hope to their devastated lives, but also helped them get back on their feet and out of danger and poverty.
“It is very difficult for me to tell my story. I owe so much to the Taiwanese people who helped me and every day I pray for God's blessings for them,” said Alex Gahigi, a survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Gahigi, who was only eight when the genocide occurred, was forced to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of his nine-month-old brother and two-year-old sister after his parents were killed.
Hunger was a common occurrence for Gahigi, who said that a single meal a day for him and his siblings would be considered a luxury. They could only beg for food or do simple chores in exchange for food, he said.
“I could not see what my future held after losing my parents, but God was so merciful that I and my brother and sister survived the humanitarian disaster by fleeing to Congo,” said Gahigi, whose expressionless face bears testament to his harsh and difficult past.
After joining the Orphan and Vulnerable Children project under World Vision's Buliza Area Development Program six years ago, Gahigi trained to become a carpenter and now makes a living making furniture. He is now married with two children of his own.
Mohamed Tamba Kambo, a 19-year-old from Sierra Leone, ran into a delegation from World Vision Taiwan in May while he was looking for diamonds to eke out a living.
Because of poverty, he was forced to drop out of school and spend 10 hours a day in a deserted diamond mine looking for something valuable. However, he found only one tiny rock worth just US$3 in two weeks.
Kambo said World Vision Taiwan not only helped him go back to school but also set his life on the right track.
“Education is very important because it brings hope to people for a better future,” said Kambo, who is majoring in English and aspires to become a teacher or doctor.
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