A sausage thief has made nine-year-old Chiayi resident Tsai Shu-ting (蔡淑婷) want to study harder so she can become a prosecutor one day.
Tsai is among 32 students who received commendations and stipends from the Chiayi City God Temple (嘉義市城隍廟) on Sunday.
Tsai has been raised by her grandparents since she was eight months old, after her father reportedly abandoned the family and her mother died of illness.
Photo: Wang Shan-yen, Taipei Times
Speaking at the award ceremony, she said her grandparents operate a food truck and do odd jobs to make a living.
Someone broke into the truck in April, stealing 300 sausages and the freezer, which made her determined to become a prosecutor one day so she could help provide justice for the downtrodden, she said.
“The thieves are despicable. I hope to become a prosecutor when I grow up to catch those bad guys,” she said.
Her grandfather, Tsai Mao-yuan (蔡茂源), said the theft was a blow to the family because they did not have enough money to be able replace the stolen and damaged equipment and they are surviving on government subsidies.
However, he said he had told his granddaughter that the thief might be even poorer then they are and they should not mourn the loss of mere possessions.
His grandchild is smart and hardworking, he added.
She had previously been commended by her school, Chongwen Elementary School, for good conduct and reading competency.
Temple manager Yeh Yuan-chu (葉源助) said the temple’s education fund prioritizes children from single-parent and low-income families or those with elderly breadwinners.
Elementary students receive NT$2,000, junior-high students receive NT$4,000 and those in senior-high receive NT$60,000, Yeh said, adding that a total of NT$200,000 was given out.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS