Make Poverty History-
what Taiwan has been doing for 40 years

In 1961, Taiwan sent its first Agricultural Aid Team to Liberia. Since then, the Taiwanese people have kept going to different continents, especially Africa and Central America, to give support in terms of agricultural and medical capability building. In addition, more than ten thousand people of Taiwan’s allies had been offered funds or scholarships to go to Taiwan to gain training and education in various subjects, especially agriculture, medical science and sanitation, and have taken their knowledge and skills back to their homelands and people. At the moment, there are Taiwanese medical aid teams in Chad, Burkina Faso, Malawi, and Sao Tome and Principe. More than 12,000 people receive medical treatments every year. On the other hand, several Taiwanese Non-government Organisations (NGO) are eagerly participating in international humanitarian aid and disaster rescue. Between 2000 and 2002, Taiwan forwarded its advanced IT competence to Senegal and Burkina Faso to train local teachers to use IT on teaching, trying to narrow the IT gap between African developing countries and those developed ones. As a member of the global community, Taiwan has been carrying out its responsibilities in all aspects of humanitarian aid. We, the Taiwanese government, and people, know it’s still not enough and therefore we are willing to do more. Unfortunately and shamefully, Taiwan can’t fully perform its willingness to contribute to the world because it is not recognised as an independent country by most countries and is shut out of most of the international organizations, eg. United Nations, World Health Organisation( WHO), which constrains it from having a more active role. We are able and willing to turn our compassion, passion, competence and love into practical and direct help. My friends, no matter where you are from, please don’t leave 23 million Taiwanese in despair of being neglected and isolated. Most important of all, on this great occasion we would like to voice our sincerity and enthusiasm and join hands to Make Poverty History.



Memories from the Kou River

Chang Han-ching, a nearly seventy-year-old former member of an Agricultural Mission who once worked at the Kou River Reclamation recalls that thirty years ago, the Kou River basin in the central African state of Burkina Faso was nothing but barren wilderness- as far as the eye could see there were only bushes, shrubs and groups of monkeys. Today, however, the eye is confronted with the sight of more than 1200 hectares of rice paddies. Other than the difference in the skin color of the farmers in the fields, the scene, with its golden waves of rice, looks like something straight out of a southern Taiwanese farming village. Some 58 people, the third-largest group in the history of the Agricultural Missions, worked at the Kou River site, digging out over ten kilometers of irrigation channels. By turning the barren wilds into fertile fields in only three years, they made it possible for over a thousand farming families to settle down and earn their livelihood from the land. Even though Taiwan and Burkina Faso severed diplomatic ties in 1973, the 1000+ hectares of rice paddies have never ceased supplying their yearly harvest to the people there. Three years ago, Taiwan and Burkina Faso restored diplomatic relations, and an observation team had the opportunity to return to the Kou River Reclamation. After having been away for more than thirty years, the team was greeted by over 500 people of the farming village upon arrival, singing, dancing and lining the roads to welcome them. Hsieh Sung-ching, Executive Secretary to the Committee of International Technical Cooperation(ICTC), his voice bursting with excitement, commented, "What touched me most was a farmer who gave me an old, faded drawing that he had kept with him for thirty years- that drawing was an original design blueprint for the Kou River Reclamation project." Today, the new generation of Agricultural Technology Missions (ATM) are beginning another project in Burkina Faso at the Bagre Reclamation, where the environment is even more challenging than that at Kou River. Liu Chun-hsiong, local ATM head as well as leader of the Bagre construction project for two years, explained, "In addition to working in 40 to 50°C heat and having to dynamite 6 cubic meter solid rock, 90% of the workers have contracted malaria or dysentery. It's really extremely difficult. But, faced with the needs of the people here, we have to do everything we possibly can."
Quoted from Sinorama Magazine, July 1997.

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ps: Taiwan:Lying off the south-east coast of China, Taiwan is a small island, half the size of Scotland, which used to be known as Formosa- Beautiful Island. At the moment, there are 700 missiles pointing to it from China.

More about Taiwan:
1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/asia_pac/04/taiwan_flashpoint/html/introduction.stm
2) http://www.roc-taiwan.org.uk/about_us.html
3)  http://www.gio.gov.tw/
What we have been doing :
Governmental:
1) http://www.icdf.org.tw/english/e_index2.asp
NGO:
1) http://www.worldvision.org.tw/english/ep1.html
2) http://www.tzuchi.org/global/
Taiwan’s struggle to become a member of the global community
1) http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/ct.asp?xItem=11309&ctNode=780
2) http://english.www.gov.tw/WHO/WHO/index.jsp
3) http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/un/2003/inun3.htm
4) http://www.mofa.gov.tw/webapp/ct?xItem=16399&ctNode=761