The Companion Study Buddies of College Years, Hand-in-Hand, Helping the Children in the Distant-Regions

A story of hope, something we’re, lacking in this day and age now, off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

For the past weeks, it’d been, very cold here in Taiwan, but, there was something heartwarming in Taichung worth mentioning.

This was started by the students of Fengjia University.  The students were preparing for the finals week, with the temperatures dropping down, and they’d, made the time, to go to the mountains of over 2,000 meter above sea level to bring the kids studying in the elementary schools up in the mountains to the cities, to experience life in the cities, and university life, opening up the eyes of these young elementary school age children.

Lishan is 160 kilometers away from the Fengjia University it’s the largest, least densely populated, with a large area location in the city’s districts, the land area ranked fourth, and there are only about 10,904 people who live there locally.  From before, when the only road was the crosspath of the locale, but since the earth quake of September 21^st, the foundations of the entire passage had been severed off sectionally.  And currently, there were the three opening times for the locals of Lishan to go in and out.

“Companionships from University, Bringing Kindness to the Distant Regions” is a social responsibility project set up by the Fengjia University, two years ago, the program started helping with the transportation of elderly people in Lishan to the hospital, and set up the work stations in the local communities.  In the field researches that the university conducted, they’d found, that the greater Lishan Region had the “ten days on, four days off” scheduling that was very unique in Taiwan.  And so, the teachers of the schools in Lishan all climbed up the mountains to give the lessons, and because of the way being too far off, the schools and the parents decided, that the teachers should hike up the mountains, teach for ten days, then, hike back down the mountains, have four days off, and yet, the parents of the area mostly worked in farming, and for the four days off (usually from Friday to Monday), the parents couldn’t find the time to watch over their own young, nor could they keep track of where their children are, and it’d, caused the students to not have anything constructive to do, exposed in the dangerous conditions, and causing the troubles for the communities, as well as the families too.

The Fenjia Team after discussing with the local communities and the church, they’d decided to combine the Hoping Elementary, the local church, the Wenhwa Health Station, as well as other parties, pushed forth the “Work-Stay program”, inviting the college age students to accompany the children in Lishan afterschool, and, as the teachers take their time off and hiked down the mountains, the college students would, hike up to stay and keep the children company, to use the group activities, and the character education courses, to guide the students to behave themselves right.  While the tribal churches would, provide the college students with the room and board programs, and the students get to have a firsthand experience of the lacking of the distant regions at the same time.  Last week, this group of college students hosted a fundraising for this group of children in the Lishan Elementary School to come down the mountains for a trip, hosting the two days one night, city and university experience, and found the enterprises that will help with the room and board of these children during the time.

In the company of the college students, the children got to experience the city for the very first time in their lives.  They’d visited the Natural Sciences Museum, the Opera House, the Fengjia University campus, as well as the Taichung city hall too, and at the same time, the kids had a steak lunch with the city councilpersons.  This sort of a city tours, other than immersing the children into life in the big city, to experience different ways of life than what they are accustomed to, it’d also given the kids a better understanding of their environments, as well as giving them a deeper understanding of the occupations available to them too.  The next stage, we’re thinking of how to lead the college students into the tribes to conduct the field researches, and the community designs, using the university as a base, to push forth the revitalization of the tribal regions.

There are so many needs from the distant regions in Taiwan, that the local governments can’t look after on their own.  We hope, that in the near futures, there would be, more college instructors who are willing and able, to go to the distant regions, to accompany the children, to utilize the passions of the college students, and the energies, to open up the roads of these distant regions, to instill hope, in these, tribal areas.

And so, this, is a great program that the university had, started up, and the key is to make it last long-term, that it won’t be just for three minutes, until the heats cooled down, it’s a great plan, and, the steps to making this work is slowly taking place, and we need more people who are, willing and able, to give to the children living in these, distant regions.

The Department of Education Shall NOT Give Up on Any Child

The government’s not well-thought-out ideals of reforms in education here, off of the Front Page Sections, by a university professor, translated…

When I was in school, elementary years and middle schools are mandatory education, and this sort of making education available should be commended, because even for the kids from the poverty stricken backgrounds, they get the chance to get educated.  But what we can’t deny is, a lot of the children didn’t get educated enough.  Some had entered into the universities, and still can’t write out all twenty-six of the English alphabets.  Some had entered into high school, and still can’t do the addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division of fractions.  And there are those in high school who can’t understand the most basics of English words such as: not, at, in, with, there, who, when, etc., etc., etc.

For students who are on this level, staying in school getting an education, it’s, a waste of time.  For the country, it’s, a waste of money.  The kids don’t have the basic levels of education, and they’d, lost their competitive edge on the most fundamental levels, and it’s more than likely, that they will be on government assistance in the futures.  This is painful for the individuals, but even more a heavy burden for our country.

We need to track back to the systems of education in the elementary school years.  There’s no holding a child back in the elementary years, as the child falls behind in the first grade, and after that, the kid just sits and can’t understand what the instructors saying in the class, but all the way, they still, get higher in the grade years, and there’s nothing that teachers can do about this.

Don’t know when it was, that this country did away with holding the children back a grade, and, this is out of kindness, with the goal of helping the children keep their senses of dignity, and hoped, that children can somehow, be interested in learning.  A motto for the education reforms is “Happy & learning” it’s from the same beliefs.  But, this sort of not watching the gates, it’s actually, harming the students, because as they found, that they can’t understand anything, they can’t possibly have an interest in learning, and would lose faith, self-confidence over their own futures, and start giving up on themselves.  Some of the kids dropped out of middle school, all because they can’t make the grades.  And the government’s way, is giving up on the students.

We need to know, that only a tiny portion of kids hated studying.  I have the experiences myself, that so long as the instructors are compassionate, and patient, then, the child CAN, learn.

Maybe, we won’t go back to holding students back a grade, but we can’t, give up on the students either.  The first thing that needed to get tackled is, to set up a fundamental curriculum for the classes in the elementary school levels.  Meaning, that as the children is in the first grade, they should be mastering the skillset during that grade level, the government should set it up in black and white, same for all other courses too.  With this basics of curricula, all the teachers across the country should be more in tune with whether or not the students are matching up to the requirements of the governments.  Of course, children are smart in different ways, some kids may be slower to learn, and the elementary years definitely need to device separate education plans for the children.  Setting up of individualized education plans is a written rule in the legislation regarding education, but the sad part is, now, it’s no longer, used.

We don’t need to go back to the ways of keeping a child back a grade, but we need to set up the different materials to teach the students with varied learning styles.  The Department of Education should ensure that every normal child can learn the fundamentals well.   I hope that everybody can understand, that I’m NOT asking the government to guarantee that every child makes the good grades, I just believe, that the government should NOT give up on any child.

And so, this, is under the current system of education reform, because this country tries to follow the methods that hard worked for the western countries, without realizing, that hey, this is a country on its own, and what works elsewhere, may NOT work here, and so, the system of education is still, not fully developed, and that’s why the students are, not learning what they needed to succeed in their lives in the futures.

Temporarily Escaping from the Volcanoes the Neighbors Became a Key Helper to Prevention of Domestic Violence

The ABSOLUTE necessary SAFETY net that needs to get set up that’s for sure!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The associate professor of Minchuan University’s Crime Prevention Major, Dai pointed out, that the American scholars conducted a survey of up to a thousand individuals who bore witness to child abuse, found that a-third of males are inclined to model after their fathers and become abusers themselves, two-thirds of females modeled after their mothers, became victim/enablers.  There’s a lacking of this sort of research data here in Taiwan, what’s worrisome is, that even though there’s more focus on women’s rights, the Taiwanese women still couldn’t break away from the traditions, and, the young children who bore witness to abuse still continued to hide behind their helpless mothers, trapped in fear.

Dai said, the American child neurologist, Perry discovered, that children as young as two years and nine months can feel the conflicts in the atmospheres, and this will affect their frontal lobes, which is in charge of focus and cognition the most, as well as the hippocampus, responsible for interpersonal relations and intimacy.

Dai found that for children who bore witness to violence develop that sense of shame, and as adolescents, they wanted to escape from home, and would act out by becoming truant.  The more the children bore witness to violence, once they get lost, it’s easy, that these children will join gangs.

photo from UDN.com

the way the neighbors can help keep a child safe…

Two yeas ago the case that shocked the entire society in Chien-Zhen District, Kaohsiung, with the bodies on ice, the ignition point was the man, Ting’s long-term abuse on his wife and children, his wife got so furious, told their son, “you need to make him (her husband) disappear from our lives for good”, and in the end, the mother and son murdered the man together.  Dai stated, that in recent years, the cases of murder by children are mostly caused by domestic violence, the children saw their mother get abused by their father, and, accumulated the anger or in a moment of anger, crimes were, committed.

The Kaohsiung Teachers’ College associate professor, Wei told, that when parents used violence to control everything, the children will learn, that violence is the only way to resolve things, and some of children raised in such an environment become abusers.  The social workers needed to give counsel to those who bore witness to these acts of violence, but currently, there’s only, limited resources the government puts into this.

Dai suggested that the schools, the communities, the medical facilities can all work together, to have a stronger effect, to set up an attachment relationship of trust.  The teachers should NEVER carry the attitude of “once you’re out of school you’re not my responsibility!”, they are the keys to keep the children’s minds and bodies safe.

A lot of people would turn a blind eye to the neighbors’ business, but the protection of children exposed to abuse, the neighbors can step in at the right time, when the parents start fighting, the children can temporarily head over to the neighbors to work on the homework, and the neighbors would do a great job in protecting these children.

And so, because of the prevalence of these domestic violence cases, and children being raised under such an environment, it’s not healthy for the children, this is why the neighbors need to be a sort of a safety net, because if you don’t look out for someone who’s in need, when you’re in need, nobody’s going to care about you either, and it still, goes, both ways!

The Parents & the School Instructors Not on the Same Page on Using the Surveys to Stop Bullying

How do you think conducting a SURVEY can end bullying in school, huh???  I…dunno!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

The Department of Education amended the wording of the Anti-Bullying Laws in July for the schools from “student to student” to “Principal, teachers and students to students”, and mandated the schools needed to conduct surveys regularly for the students.  The Head of Department of Education held a press conference on the matter, stated that the definition of bullying isn’t clear cut enough, the students may misinterpret discipline into bullying, and the schools get turned into the prison system, and the teachers are, teaching within the jail cells of wording correctly.  But the parent groups believed, that the law will help improve the situation of the victims’ fearing to speak out, that it can, help prevent bullying in school.

The department pointed out, this legislation will mandate that all middle schools, fifth, sixth grade classes in the elementary do a survey of life on campus every April of each year, and follow up on the cases to give the needed counseling measures.  And the related statistics will be sent to the managing units of education and the Department of Education to review over.

Half of the survey is on the bullying of students by peers, and the other half is on the teachers bullying the students.  The questions included, “the teacher had told other students to pick on me”  “The teacher had taken a mean tone with me, or the teachers mocked me”, “I was publicly humiliated by the instructor in front of everyone”.  And all of these questions are quite vague, it’d affected the ruling of the teachers in the classrooms, and it can, make the instructors live in fear.

The C.E.O. of the Parenting League, Peng advocated this amendment, she’d stated, that there’s an unequal distribution of power between the students and teachers, the questionnaire can be used as a voice for the students, as the children come face to face with trouble, we can, offer our help to them immediately.  And even if the students are exaggerating in their claims, the teams of investigators can differentiate between discipline and bullying, to not hurt the instructors’ right to work.  She’d also suggested to the Department of Education to set up the rules, to file the questionnaires into the computer, and using the data on a grander scale, to prevent bullying in school.

And so, you can see, how this can be, problematic, right?  I mean, these are teenagers, and you know these teens have the tendencies to take everything too serious, like how they would interpret things too personally, even IF it wasn’t directed against them as people, and so, under this system, I imagine, that a TON of teachers would get called into the Department of Education, for reviews of their teaching qualifications, and yet, this, is what the government is currently doing, because they want these children to have a voice, to have more right, to decide how they’re being taught.  They believe this is a step toward democracy, but it’s actually N-O-T!  The teachers’ jobs are hard enough, and now, they risk getting reviewed by the board of whatever, for getting LOUD when the classroom get too loud, uh, yeah, this is when democracy turned into, demoCRAZY!!!

The Hsinbei’s Hope Sprouting Plan Helped Nearly a Thousand Students to Go to School

A helping hand, for those children who want to get educated but are having difficulties affording it themselves, off of the Newspapers, translated…

The city of Hsinbei implemented the “Hope Sprouting Education Plan” last year, matching the hundreds of cram schools in the districts, to give the students from elementary to high school who are from bad economic circumstances a whole year’s worth of tuition free learning help sessions, including the academic subjects as well as music, abacus, mental calculations, and many other skills, this year, there were, close to a thousand students who’d signed up for it.

Yu who graduated from middle school because of this free tutoring program was successful in getting into the art track in high school, Ming who graduated from elementary school received free English help sessions, and gotten into the G.T. programs of middle school, and received a full scholarship.

The Department of Education pointed out, that any students who have a household registry in Hsinbei City, and qualified for low income sustenance, or other qualifications, can all apply for the “Hope Sprout Education Plan”, and the period of assistance lasts from September of this year to June of next year.

The head of Social Services agency under the Department of Education, Huang stated, that since the first year of this plan, it’d helped 500 students, and this year, it’d, almost doubled to 964 children, and other than the academic help, the system also included dance, chess, piano, music theory, and art, along with other forms of talents, and one student can apply for one course.

Yu who just graduated from middle school this year, showed an immense interest in drawing since he was young, in his second year of middle school, he’d decided to take the exams to go into a high school with the art trainings, but his family economic couldn’t allow, so he was thinking of choosing an alternative track, but under this plan, he was trained formally by an art studio, and, this year, he got into the art department of a certain public high school.

Another student, Ming, who just entered into his first year of middle school this year, being from a single parent household, although he lived under poverty stricken means, he’d kept his grades in the front of his class, he wanted to improve his English skills, his mom filed for the application of the Sprouting Plan, so her son’s English performance excelled, and he was able to test into the GT English class of a certain private high school, and received full-scholarship too.

So, these assistance programs are working wonders for these students who are willing and able learners, but lacked the monetary advantage, and this program lets them pursue their studies, with no worries of money, which allowed them to excel in the subjects they’re good in, which gives them a way, to pull themselves, out of their poverty stricken backgrounds, and this is a good program.

The Cases of Sextortion from Online, the Youngest Victim Only Nine

They’re still, getting younger by the years here!  Off of the Front Page Sections, translated…

There is an influx of the sextortion cases of young children for the first half of the year in Hsinbei City, it’s at the peak compared to three years, clearly, these cases are, on the rise, and there were male AND female victims, of the youngest, found in the city of Hsinbei, was only nine, the youngest found in the city of Taipei, eleven.  The summer had begun, the social services department of both Taipei and Hsinbei alerted the parents to tune in to their children’s cell phone usage, their online activities, so they don’t turn into, victims.

The outbreaks kept the children at home, plus, a lot of the children in this country all had cell phones, which was what caused this rise in the number of victims.  The head of the Domestic Violence Prevention Center of Hsinbei City, Hsu called out to the parents, to follow the “Three Don’ts and One Do” rule, “don’t photograph or film”, “Don’t keep the files”, “Don’t Share” those private photos, and to “keep the footages” on file to use as evidence.

Since the implementing of the “Children & Adolescent Sextortion Prevention Laws” were amended in 2017, there’d been a hike in the reports of the sextortion cases online, but the age of the victims, started to decline, and mostly, the video sound files were, leaked out, and to the severe, rapes.

The Department of Sanitation & Welfare and the Hsinbei Domestic Violence Prevention Center estimated, that there were 415 reported case nationwide, forty-eight were from Hsinbei; the 351 reported case in 2018, thirty-nine were from Hsinbei, with most of the cases in the age group of fifteen to eighteen, taking up seventy-four-percent; of the 677 cases nationally last year, there were 139 cases from Hsinbei, with the ages of the victim, dropped to between twelve and fifteen, taking up forty-six percent.  To this May, there were, eighty-seven reported cases in Hsinbei City, of these, two-percent were children under twelves two years ago, and this year, it’d, hiked up to eleven-percent.

There were sixty-one cases two years ago, seventy-five last year, and, just the first half of the year this year, the number reached up to fifty-one cases to date, the youngest victim was only eleven, eighty-percent were females, and the victims were mostly, fourteen-year-olds.  The Social Services pointed out, that with the hike in the cases, the parents and the police are all on high alert, and believed, that it was because of the outbreaks, the kids were kept at home, they’d, gotten more involved with the activities online.

Hsu stated, that the methods of enticing the victims back in 2018 were mostly the online gaming credits, or the “Korean pop music group selections”, and last year, the methods switched to voyeurism, sex-cam, and forced the children and teens to get more shots nude to send to the perpetrators.

Like how two days ago, the model maker, Liu from Taichung used the huge sums of money, had the adolescent female filmed herself masturbating or shoot the photos of herself nude, and he’d, kept the footages, and, threatened the young woman to expose her, forced her to take more nude photos, or make more sex tapes, like the Taiwanese version of “Room N” from Korea awhile ago.

Because all of these teenagers and tweenagers got NOTHING else better to do, they can’t play outside, so, they’d, started, roaming online, and because of how young, how NAÏVE they all are, they’re, all SCREWED, because they were educated enough, of the DANGERS, lurking in the “woods” online!

The Air, My Friend

The column by Jimmi Liao, on the calming words of reassurance, offered to a young child, translated by me…

The Cloud Rocked Me in its Arms,

Hummed that Lullaby,

Don’t Worry Little Baby, Fret Not Little Baby

The Clouds are Light, the Wind Gentle, Everything Will be, All Right………

the artwork of Jimmi Liao, off of UDN.com

We are all in need, of this sort of a reassurance right now, especially with this whole world currently going crazy, and, the safest place we can find is here, inside our minds, for in our own minds, we are, able to, live on freely, without any worries or fears!

Keep the Love Flowing

The cycle of kindness, also rolls down continually, from one person, to the next, we need more stories like these, especially at this day and age! Translated…

The rain came pouring down on my exercise walk, I’d rushed into the breakfast shops to hide out, the shop owner’s mother in her seventies ushered me in, and she’d, taken out a yellow raincoat from the closets, for me to put on, her act of kindness had, warmed up my heart.

As the rain slowly dissipat4ed, as I was, about to, return the raincoat, she’d started telling me the funny things that happened to her while she was on a trip to the eastern side of the island. A couple of years ago, she’d gone to Hualien to travel during the New Year’s holidays with her family, and, the trip was a spur of the moment thing, and, she’d only worn the short sleeves and shorts, and, the cold fronts made everybody shiver, and so, they can only, run back into the cars to hide, they’d not gone anywhere.

And, a woman who was standing at the side of the road saw, she’d immediately gone home, brought a ton of clothes for them to choose from, waited until the seven, eight adults and children had, selected the thick coats and smiled and said their thank yous, they’d wanted to ask her address, so they can send the clothe back, but, the woman turned them down. She’d told them, that her kids are all grown and lived elsewhere, that the clothes were just, taking up space in her home. And, every time after that, as the family saw the clothes, they’d always, smiled on it, and, remembered the kindness from the woman, who’d given them the coats to wear.

In order to keep the love flowing, the breakfast shop also gathered some donated clothes for the comers to borrow, other than keeping the shop connected with the local communities, it’s, a way of repaying the woman for her kindness. As I’d heard, I thought, maybe I can write this tale down, or maybe, by chance, that kindhearted woman that the family met in Hualien will see, that her kindness had become, a cycle already.

And so, this, is how some random act of kindness had touched so many lives, and, by passing the kindness to the strangers that came to the breakfast shop, the owner is keeping the kindness that was shown to her and her family flowing, and we need more stories like this in the world we live in right now!

No Matter How Hard It Got, He Still Made His Art, a Student with Cerebral Palsy: I Found My Wings, in My Art

A story of inspiration here, to all, from the Newspapers, translated…

A severely handicapped third-year student with cerebral palsy, who is in the Public He-Mei Experimental School, in the art departments, He enjoyed going to school a lot, and, loved art more, but, his limbs are slowly, becoming more and more stiff by the day, he couldn’t draw or paint on his own, gladly, with the help of his physical therapist and art instructor, they’d made instruments to help him draw and paint, he had the chance, of developing his art skills further, and was able to, knock on the doors of related majors of the varied universities.

He lives in Nantou, in the past twelve years’ time, his mother, Ke would drive him to and from school, and help him to study in the arts.  Ke said, He loved going to school, and, even when he’d fallen ill, he still refused to take a leave of absence, several times that he was kept at home to rest up, he’d started getting upset, and her and her husband had lifted up the white flags toward their son’s requests, and, allowed her child, to “play video games to his heart’s desires, and eat whatever he wanted to,” to stop him from objecting on not being in school.

“I’d made new discoveries at school every single day!”, said He, the teacher taught him to draw, taught him how to use the computer programs to create art, although he was immobilized, his heart soared in the creations freely, he’d hoped, to be like the main character of the latest Miyazaki animated feature, to fly with the wind, to never give up, until he’d achieved his own dreams too.

Every time before he’d started creating his art, He would put on the special wrist support created for him by his art teacher, Lin, and others, and he’d used a sponge, to help him hold on to the pen that he was drawing with, dipped the brush, into the specialized foam cup, and worked hard, to “dip” onto the drawing papers, the multiple dots had formed a picture, like the Western Impressionist artworks.

He’s handicaps exacerbated by the days, and, he’d needed six to eight times more the time that regular students would take, to finish a painting, he’d taken an entire semester, to finish the watercolor piece, “Autumn”, he’d used bright colors, it was breathtaking, and he was invited to put on an art exhibition with the He-Mei Art School.

The principal, Lee, from He-Mei Art School said, that He is of normal intelligence, and knew well, that he is slowly, losing control of his own body, and, the angle to which his wrists and arms are able to move is being reduced by the day, and so, he’d started, planning his studies after he gets admitted into university, and, his spirits are moving, and he is, a role model for his peers.

And so, this high school aged kid didn’t let his handicap stop him from doing what he enjoys, and, with the accommodations made by his teachers and school, as well as with the support from his parents, he was able, to live his dreams.

My Cell Phone’s Out of Power

Translated…

Kiki’s mom often told, “Kiki could never sit still at home, would love to touch everything, and, would ask me why a lot, I just can’t handle it anymore, can you tell me, how is it, that you manage, to teach Kiki at school?”, I’d transmitted this interesting message from class to her.

The preschool class, we have a theme for the day, electronic appliances, I’d made headgears of the multiple appliances, and allowed the young kids to choose what they like, to put over their heads, and, do a roll call of the appliances, when I’d called out, “Cell phone, where are you?”, the group of children with the cell phone headgear would say, “Here, we’re here!”, only Kiki remained silent.  I asked her, “why aren’t you talking?”, she said, “My cell phone is out of power, so I can’t talk.”

I started laughing, believing, that it was a trip, for a three-year-old kid to say such a thing.  Later on, I’d told her, “Kiki, you have such a great answer, then, let teacher give you a hug, meaning that you’re recharged, okay?”

She said, “Okay, I love being a cell phone, because the teacher hugs me”.  This, is the purest kind of conversation, very childlike too.

And so, the learning experiences of a young child is based, solely off of the senses, and the discoveries in life, and, from the mommy’s cell, we can understand, “without power in the cell phones, she couldn’t talk, and feel the love from others.”, so, mom should not feel annoyed by her, instead, to fill her sense of curiosity, interact with her more, play more games with her, find Kiki’s good qualities, to help her find tap into her potential.

After Kiki’s mom heard, she’d decided to become a more patient than ever mommy, took after my way, and, recorded down her own offspring’s growth processes, with her heart.

Says WHO the younger children don’t know HOW to express themselves?  This young girl felt ignored by her mom, and, she’s showing it, in the interaction with her preschool teacher, and, the teacher was very well trained, and, she’d relayed the message to the child’s mother, so, the mother now, realized that she’d let her daughter feel ignored, and, she changed her ways.  Wonderful things can happen, when the teacher and the parents work together…