17 Taoyuan Summer International Volunteer Groups Participate in Flag Presentation Ceremony
Department of Youth Affairs, Taoyuan encourages schools and the youth to team up to engage in the international volunteer service in South East Asia in winter vacation. This summer vacation, a total of 17 groups would depart successively. A half of the groups have engaged in the service for the second year or for the first year. This afternoon, Mayor Cheng Wen-Tsan of Taoyuan City presented the flag in person, and encouraged the youth to develop their vision and train their care for the society.
Among these groups, CYCU “13 Classes in Cambodia” and “5 Classes in Myanmar” have contributed resources to the rural areas with very limited educational resources and received solid experience in overseas services. The “13 Classes in Cambodia” even had to deal with such difficulty as “there were books but no teachers”, because English teachers were so rare in Cambodia.
Therefore, CYCU “13 Classes in Cambodia” initiated the “Village Seed English Teacher Workshop” plan to train the local experienced teachers and upgrade the teachers’ self-confidence in teaching by diversified teaching materials and creative teaching methods, and help them find back their passion in English education. CYCU hoped to contribute something to the rural area education in Cambodia by means of the volunteer service.
The international volunteer group of Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, which always develops its overseas service no matter in summer or winter, has started its volunteer plan since 2011, and would head for Lao for twice per year. It founded the “SABADI Service Team” in 2017. “SABADI” means “Hello” in Lao language, symbolizing the bound with the land of Lao.
The Chang Gung University of Science and Technology group leader, Chiu Ya-Chi, revealed that the medical resources in rural areas of Lao were so poor that the volunteer group needed to start from the basic health education and strengthen personal health education, such as brushing teeth, washing hair and treatment of wound, to correct the children’s personal health habit via courses and activities. Meanwhile, the student volunteers also experienced the impact and introspection rendered by the knowledge gap.
In order to train the youth and students to have global views and accumulate the experience in caring education, the Department of Youth Affairs invited the Director of Vision Youth Action (VYA), Chien Chia-Hsin, before the flag presentation ceremony. The Director of Waker Welfare Action Association, Chu Yung-Hsiang, and the Secretariat of Glocal Action, Lai Shu-Sheng, analyzed the future trend of international NPOs and precious experience in international volunteer service through talks and sharing of experience with each other.
This year, a total of 19 groups received the subsidies for international volunteers from the Department of Youth Affairs in Taoyuan City. A total of 199 students from Taoyuan participated in the groups. The authorized total subsidies amounted to NT$1.9 million. The groups headed for 8 countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao and Malaysia to provide services to more than 5,000 service recipients.
Since 2016, the subsidies have helped more than 500 young students with passion in service provide services overseas successfully, continue participating and contributing to international volunteer affairs, pass on their experience to their juniors, and encourage more young people to participate in the international volunteer services.
