Photographs from 50 Years

In the 1970s farmers in Malawi could not afford farming equipment, and in 1977, in response to a request from the Malawian government, Taiwan began promoting agricultural mechanization there. Trials began with power tillers in the Domasi region to ease farmers’ workloads. The results were quite successful, so the area of machine-tilled land was expanded year by year. The photo shows the agricultural aid mission giving a hands-on demonstration of rice planting. (photo by Ouyang Chihting)—“ROC Mission Brings Rich Harvest in Malawi” (November 1982)

The greatest accomplishment of Taiwan’s agricultural aid mission in Malawi was to bring smiles to the faces of local farmers at harvest time. (photo by Ouyang Chihting) —“ROC Mission Brings Rich Harvest in Malawi” (November 1982)

Yang Xuanming, head of the Santa Cruz branch of Taiwan’s agricultural aid mission to Bolivia, was photographed discussing pineapple cultivation with a local farmer. The area of land planted with the “standard cayenne pineapple” variety grew year by year, and from 1978 large numbers of pineapples were exported to Argentina, earning significant foreign exchange for Bolivia. (photo by Yang Yong-shan) —“ROC Successes on Bolivian Mountain Farms” (August 1982)

The Formosa Budding Hope Association’s vocational training center, set amid the fields of Angkor Thom in Cambodia, had solar power panels installed with the help of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, becoming the first place in the area to have electricity as of early 2018. In addition, the Council of Agriculture (now the Ministry of Agriculture) guided poor farming households in growing mushrooms to increase their incomes and improve the quality of their lives. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan) —“Hope on the Wind: Two Taiwanese NGOs in Cambodia” (December 2018)

As investments in Southeast Asia by Taiwanese businesses increased under the Go South policy of the 1990s, there was a growing need for overseas education for the children of their Taiwanese staff. Thanks to the efforts of multiple agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Council (now the Overseas Community Affairs Council), the Taipei School was founded in Ho Chi Minh City in 1997 to provide instruction for these children. (photo by Kent Chuang) —“Building Bridges: Ho Chi Minh City’s Taipei School” (March 2016)

There are Chinese-language elementary schools all over Malaysia, from big cities to small towns. At the time of our report, Kai Dee Elementary in Sibu, East Malaysia, had four dedicated teachers despite having only 23 students. In a classroom, kids happily showed their Chinese names.
(photo by Kent Chuang) —“The Face of Chinese Education in Malaysia” (June 2005)

The Field Relief Agency of Taiwan has been building crematoria across seven Cambodian provinces to enable deceased people in remote areas to receive dignified funerals. The group’s secretary-general, Yang Wei-lin, uses donations to build these facilities in order to avoid continuation of the regrettable past practice of bodies being burned on the ground or in trees. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan) —“Hope on the Wind: Two Taiwanese NGOs in Cambodia” (December 2018)

Hsu Yu-pi, founder of the Formosa Budding Hope Association (FBHA), began giving free dental treatment in Cambodia in 2006. In 2018 Mackay Memorial Hospital formed a strategic alliance with FBHA and the Cambodian subsidiary of Taiwan’s E. Sun bank. After collecting data from local public health centers, their team began offering services in the most needed fields, including pediatrics, gynecology, and dentistry. They came equipped with an ultrasound scanner and adequate medications to provide comprehensive healthcare services to local residents. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan) —“Cambodia Rising: Helping Hands Reach Across Borders” (December 2018)

In 2015 the Field Relief Agency of Taiwan began soliciting donations to build wells for remote schools in Cambodia. As of 2018, 50 such wells had been completed. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan) —“Hope on the Wind: Two Taiwanese NGOs in Cambodia” (December 2018)

The Strengthening Incubator Agribusinesses with Human Resources Development program in the Bandung region of Java, Indonesia was a four-year assistance plan launched by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) to meet local needs. It helped area farmers improve the operating models of their agribusinesses and increase their earnings. (photo by Lin Min-hsuan) —“Four Decades of Aid Work: ICDF Technical Missions in Indonesia” (November 2017)

Work on Saudi Arabia’s Shaar Descent Highway began in late 1978 and was completed four-plus years later. The 7,000 construction workers from Taiwan mainly came from the Retired Servicemen’s Engineering Agency (RSEA) and the BES Engineering Corporation. The highway was a huge project that drew the attention of the international engineering community, and RSEA amazed international observers by overcoming severe difficulties and completing the job on schedule. (photo by Yang Yong-shan) —“Building Roads to Friendship” (February 1983)

At the time of our report on Nias, an island of 5,600 square kilometers off the northwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, some 30% of the 700,000 residents lived below the poverty line, 60% of children between one and five years of age suffered from malnutrition, and about half the island had no electricity. After the devastating earthquakes and tsunami of 2004, emergency aid teams from various countries rushed to the island. World Vision Taiwan used NT$108 million provided by the “Hope for Tomorrow, Love from Taiwan” project of the Taiwanese government and NT$130 million it raised itself to undertake emergency relief and medium to long term reconstruction work. (photo by Kent Chuang) —“New Hope for Nias’s Children” (April 2008)

Tuvalu is a long-standing diplomatic ally of Taiwan which has been in the international spotlight because of issues including global warming, tsunamis, and marine trash. However, residents of this island nation in the South Pacific have a calm, relaxed attitude in the face of such problems. Perhaps this is because “Tuvalu” means “eight standing together,” referring to the eight originally inhabited islands of this country. (photo by Kent Chuang) —“Tuvalu: King-Hit by the Tides” (October 2010)