Senior High School Students from Taiwan Engage in Volunteer Service in Schools of Taiwanese Businessmen’s Children in Dongguan
The senior student of CYCU Department of Bioscience Technology who are going to head for Dongguan to provide volunteer service, Chen Yu-Chen, accepted the interview by CRNTT and said that the cross-strait political situation might change this year, while the core part of the cross-strait exchange would remain unchanged. She believed that passion should be taken as the largest motive for volunteer services and hoped that Taiwanese businessmen’s children in the district of Pearl River Delta and even the local children could know more about Taiwan’s cultures, and this would be helpful for both sides’ exchange.
This year, CYCU Service-Learning Center guided 5 overseas volunteer groups. This summer vacation, the 5 groups would head for five countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Salvador, Thailand and Mainland China to engage in various characteristics Service-Learning plans. CYCU President, Samuel Chang Kuang-Cheng, presented the flag to the groups personally at the overseas Service-Learning volunteer flag presentation ceremony in the morning and encouraged the students to practice the spirit about “holistic education” upheld by CYCU, hoping that the world may be changed through Service-Learning.
A total of 8 students are going to head for the Taiwanese children’s school in Dongguan on July 8 to take part in the volunteer group “Taiwan Summer Camp”, including Chen Yu-Chen, Wu Chi-Chin, Hsieh Po-Ya, Huang Hsiao-Yun, Tu Wen-Ting, Lai Yi-Chun, Chiu Yu-Ting and Tu Wei. All of them were encouraged by Teacher Chung Chi-Yang of the Center for Teacher Education to work with National Taiwan University of Sport. The Group has headed for Dongguan to guide Taiwanese businessmen’s children for the second time this year.
The senior student of CYCU Department of Bioscience Technology, Chen Yu-Chen, has participated in the activity last year. She told CRNTT that she would teach the Taiwanese businessmen’s children studying in elementary schools and junior high schools in the district of Pearl River Delta to know “Taiwan’s local cultures” through diversified and vivid theme-oriented courses, e.g. Taiwan’s baseball, paper umbrella and classic night market activities, in order to strengthen coherence and sense of identity of Taiwanese businessmen’s children toward Taiwan’s cultures.
According to Chen Yu-Chen, she felt impressed when tutoring Taiwanese businessmen’s children in Dongguan last year, because China adopted the one-child policy and many children were treated as “little princes” and “little emperors”. These children participated in the group activity and had to live together. At the first very beginning, they could not get used to such lifestyle and cried to call their mothers that: “I missed home” every night. Nevertheless, at last, all of them learned how to take care of themselves on their own.
When teaching Taiwanese businessmen’s children and local children in Dongguan, Chen Yu-Chen admitted that they would inevitably talk about the sensitive topic about politics between the cross-straits. Some children would ask about the “relations between Taiwan and Mainland China”. She said that such question had to be answered with care. This year, it is the first time for “Taiwan Summer Camp” to open after the party alternation, and basically, all of them know how to answer such sensitive topic about politics.
Chen Yu-Chen explained that the point they cared resided in education, instead of politics. The cross-strait situations might vary, but “human beings” should be still identified as the core. She hoped to introduce Taiwan’s cultures locally and make these children have stronger coherence and sense of identity toward Taiwan through the summer camp. Meanwhile, she also revealed that she could experience the local cultures in Dongguan, contact the two sides’ cultures to engage in the cross-strait exchange through the activity.
