Director Wu Tsai-chu, who has devoted her life to the Changhua Catholic Home for the Disabled, says in all earnestness: "Rather than pity or sympathy, it is better if we help them, teach them. I believe that only through suitable assistance and education designed to give them the necessary skills, the ability to look after themselves and to be independent, can they actually take their rightful place in society, serve society and experience the honor and respect that comes from making their own unique contribution. The role played by our home for the disabled is exactly this, that of an enabler."

Wu, who is a fervent Catholic, characterizes helping the disabled as both a responsibility and a mission given to her by God. The story of her life is one of resolute love for her husband and a desire to do whatever she can for the disabled in Taiwan.

Wu Tsai-chu was born in Miaoli in 1938 into a family that was wealthy but also extremely strict. Although her father Wu A-tsai was a businessman, he was also a firm believer in the traditional code of behavior and ethics. He had a total of nine children and inflicted corporal punishment for any behavior that displeased him. Wu Tsai-chu was the fifth child and her father's favorite. He used to take her wherever he went and never once punished her. The father forbade his daughters to have boyfriends but at a student ball during her first year at senior high school Wu met a pilot, Chou Chi-chung, ten years her senior, and the two fell in love almost immediately. Despite the strong objections of her father and family, Wu married as soon as she graduated from senior high school. Although she was his favorite, her father was so opposed to the marriage that he refused to attend the wedding service. One year later Wu gave birth to a child but was so saddened by the state of relations with her father that she often wept, though only after her husband was asleep.

Once married the couple lived a very simple life on her husband's meager salary, with Wu racking her brains to come up with ways to make a little money to supplement the family income. To start with she studied beauty care, and met a Japanese teacher who invited her to Japan to learn. Her mother secretly gave Wu her personal savings to take advantage of the offer and she undertook a program of study in Japan for four months. On returning to Taiwan she taught beauty care at the China Youth Corps, cram schools and various societies. In her spare time Wu also received offers to help brides with their make up and thereby helped improve her and her husband's financial situation.

It had been a tradition in the Wu family that when a daughter was married she would receive two hectares of land as a dowry, but because Wu Tsai-chu had insisted on marrying a "mainlander" who was far below her in social and economic status, her father was so furious that he sold the land to someone else. Only 11 years later, when her eldest child was in the fifth grade at elementary school, did her father bring her the deed to an orchard, indicating that he now accepted her marriage and they were finally reconciled.

Because Wu is a Catholic she often visited local hospitals with nuns, where she saw many disabled people due to undergo operations or who had broken bones. During these trips she often taught the patients some handicraft skills to take their minds off their various ailments. Later Wu and several close friends discussed the possibility of establishing an institution specifically designed to care for and help the disabled.

In 1970 Wu Tsai-chu and her friends, with the full support of her husband, established the Changhua City Charity Center which took in individuals with slight or medium physical disabilities, able to receive vocational training. Wu worked there for 20 years teaching each individual one-on-one, arranging for work placements and even offering them marriage guidance. In this period in addition to helping the handicapped at the center, Wu started regularly visiting those in need in rural areas. It was then that she discovered that polio had been a common and widespread disease many years ago and that as a result many people were severely disabled, some so badly that they were forced to crawl on the floor to move or couldn't move at all. It was then that Wu resolved to dedicate her life to looking after these unfortunates.

In 1982 Wu learned of a school run by the Catholic Maryknoll Sisters that had been left empty when student numbers had fallen and was even flooded by a major typhoon. Located in a low-lying area, when a nearby river burst its banks the school was filled with all manner of dirt and river sludge and with no money for repairs was effectively abandoned for several years. Wu discussed the matter with the nuns saying: "I want to set up a home to help the severely and extremely severely disabled. This is a great location. Could you let me use it as such a home?" The nuns approved of the idea but the ownership of the building belonged to the order's US headquarters. After the American head of the organization came to Taiwan to discuss the matter with Wu Tsai-chu she was finally given permission to use the land and building at the 8000-plus square meter site located on Tapu Road, Changhua City, to establish a home for the disabled, with the understanding that the facility would be taken over by the church when Wu retires. Wu Tsai-chu says: "After we finished the formalities I started making the necessary arrangements to set up a home for the disabled. In the beginning we really had no money so things were hard indeed."

In June 1982 the board of directors of the Catholic Church's diocese of Taichung approved the establishment of the Changhua Catholic Home for the Disabled under the auspices of the church and appointed Wu Tsai-chu, then in her 40's, to serve as director. On June 1st, 1983 the home began officially accepting applications and started classes. Later the home received a government subsidy and started enrolling a class for the mentally retarded.

Wu Tsai-chu recollects: "As soon as the home was ready and we began taking in students we received applications from over 200 almost immediately, but we were only able to accept 20 physically disabled and 20 mentally disabled people. At that time we proceeded very cautiously indeed, especially as taking in mentally retarded children is no easy thing. On the one hand I set up the home, and on the other I went to the US to take a one-month crash course in how to look after children with special needs. Then as soon as I returned to Taiwan, we started work. There was very little money and the children had to be fed and housed, so my husband and I searched all over for funding. We had no help and so had to do everything ourselves, including cooking, cleaning clothes, helping to bathe the children, and teaching classes. At the same time we also planted trees and mowed the lawn. To begin with we only offered a day-care service, but later many parents indicated they would prefer their children to sleep over. We sympathized with the parents and the difficulties they had to deal with and also recognized the necessity of this. Therefore, the children started sleeping at the home and the number of students was increased from the original 40 to a total today of 206."

Because the old building often flooded when it rained, children often found themselves searching for their floating flip flops when they got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. When there was a sudden rainstorm, many found it hard to sleep at all. On top of that the major increase in students filled both the classrooms and dormitories to overflowing, so in 1993 Wu Tsai-chu decided to build a new block. Four years later the Tzu Ai general building was officially opened. In order to ensure the design best met the needs of the children, Wu traveled to a dozen or so advanced countries to inspect their facilities and see how they care for disabled children. Finally the 6000 square-meter, eight-story building was completed, with wheelchair ramps and no doorsills on any floors, or in front of toilets or bathrooms. This made the building much more comfortable and easy to move around for the children who reside there.

In 1984 the home began receiving commissions from the Employment and Vocational Training Administration to organize skills classes for disabled people, including classes in pottery, hardware processing, simple cooking, car washing etc. The achievements of the children who took these classes were highly impressive with many going on to get married and find gainful employment. Examples include Wu Mu-pin, Hsu Tsung-huan, Lee Jin-lung and Chou Mei-chih, who have since become well known potters and handicraft artists and have even opened their own factories.

As part of her routine of looking after the disabled children at the home Wu Tsai-chu gets up each morning at 5:30 a.m. as she has done for the last two decades: "They are all my precious darlings, I feel so pleased for them when they achieve something." Wu also wishes that more members of the public would take the time to visit the Changhua Catholic Home for the Disabled to see what has been achieved there. She says: "It's best if they bring their children with them because that presents the best chance for education. When they see disabled children trying so hard to better themselves, normal children try harder because they understand the need to make the most of their strengths and not to be a burden on society."

The Changhua Catholic Home for the Disabled is a garden of love, and Wu Tsai-chi is its gardener.