Traveling throughout Taiwan
Bowman, who was a teacher for nearly 40 years and a headmistress for 13 years in the SVG educational community, has been stationed in Taiwan for four years now. She has spent much of this time getting to know Taiwanese society: She has already visited all six of Taiwan’s special municipalities and 13 of its 15 other cities and counties.
She is acutely aware that although the two countries have been diplomatic allies for more than 40 years, many Taiwanese don’t know anything about SVG or have never even heard of it. This is why she considers interactions with the people of Taiwan to be such an important task.
“Although we only have a population of 110,000, the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are very familiar with Taiwan.” Pointing to a poster hanging on the wall of her office, Bowman notes that it won first prize in a 2021 competition to design a poster commemorating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and SVG. The winners were two Vincentian girls aged 19 and 21 years old.
“Neither of them has ever been to Taiwan, but they know a lot about this island and can be said to have grown up side by side with Taiwan,” stresses Bowman.
What does she mean by “growing up side by side with Taiwan”? Bowman shares the following story: In 1998 the government of Taiwan began providing US$100,000 per year in scholarships and grants for students from schools at all levels in SVG. As the head of a girls’ school, she helped students to access these funds. Moreover, in 2017 Taiwan increased the amount to US$200,000.
Bowman declares: “We all know the importance of education. Just think, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has a population of only 110,000, and over the last ten-plus years an extraordinary number of students have benefited from scholarships and grants given by Taiwan. You can just imagine the important impact of this continuous assistance.”
Ambassador Bowman uses her free time to visit parks and admire the flowers.