In 2016, Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Fund for the first time appointed a woman, Hsu Hui-ling, as head of an overseas technical mission. Hsu had worked for the ICDF for 14 years prior to being dispatched to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies. She had already honed her skills working in various ICDF departments, including the Technical Cooperation Department, the Humanitarian Assistance Department, and the International Education and Training Department. Hsu had become familiar with the work of various technical missions and had witnessed the fruits of assistance efforts, and she longed to experience it firsthand.

In-country experience helped deepen Hsu’s understanding and practice of foreign aid work.

Hsu was working in the Technical Cooperation Department when she set out for the Marshall Islands. After she arrived, she was first struck by the carefree, come-what-may attitude of local residents. But then a troubling question began to nag her: Why was local life expectancy so short?

Later she discovered a lack of basic resources in the Marshall Islands. Agricultural production, moreover, was limited, and residents relied largely on food imports. And because the local diet lacked fruits and vegetables, high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol were common. As a result, Hsu gained greater confidence in the role and value of the ICDF’s aid mission to the Marshalls.

Today, the ICDF technical mission to the islands includes an agricultural initiative, the Laura Farm, which distributes seeds and seedlings and teaches local residents how to cultivate fruits and vegetables. And under a livestock rearing program, the farm also raises 200‡300 pigs.

Although she has been in the Marshall Islands for less than three months, Hsu is already brimming with new ideas. “I’m eager to put ‘green farm’ concepts into practice at Laura Farm” she explains. Green farming is based on the concept of zero-emissions farming.

“If we succeed in promoting green farms, we will have established a model that can help generate interest locally,” Hsu says with enthusiasm.

In her transition from a supporting role behind the scenes to the front line, Hsu finds the greatest satisfaction in seeing firsthand the delivery of real assistance to the citizens of a diplomatic ally.

Hsu Hui-ling hopes to apply green farming concepts, such as energy-saving techniques and reducing the carbon footprint, at the ICDF-sponsored Laura Farm. (courtesy of ICDF)

Deepening ties through professional practice

Women have long been playing an indispensible role in the ICDF’s overseas volunteer program.

In 2014, Lee Hsin-ting, a nutritionist at the Shou­feng Branch of the Mennonite Christian Hospital in Hua­lien County, traveled to Nicaragua to assist Aproquen, an organization that assists child burn victims.

Lee graduated from the Department of Nutrition at the China Medical University, located in the city of Tai­chung. After four years of hospital work, she planned to take a short break and consider her next step. But upon learning that the ICDF was recruiting volunteers for overseas service, she decided to join the ranks of foreign aid workers.

Before setting out, she knew little about Nicaragua and not a word of Spanish. And after she started ­working there, she discovered the difficulties of applying her professional skills in a different institutional environment. In Taiwan, her daily responsibilities involved long-term and elder care, but most of Aproquen’s patients are children with severe burns.

Although Lee had deep misgivings that opportunities to put her professional skills into practice would be limited, at Aproquen she took every opportunity to learn on the job, whether by accompanying the local nutritionist on hospital rounds or handling medical files. When she encountered unfamiliar questions on children’s nutrition, she solicited help from old classmates back in Taiwan who specialized in child nutrition, and relied on translation software to communicate with the local nutritionist through simple phrases. Long-term observation of frontline aid work raised a host of questions in her mind.

Was it that local conditions were so different, or was it that professional training was so different? Lee was plagued by questions like this every time she encountered practices that deviated from her own training. It was only when she heard similar doubts from a US medical team visiting from the Johns Hopkins Hospital that she was confident that her assessments over the preceding weeks were valid. She marshaled her facts and presented them to Aproquen’s chief executive along with a plan to improve practices.

From her limited role as a volunteer assistant, Lee suddenly found herself in charge of coordinating the work of departments responsible for nursing, care, and other services. It was a far cry from the role she had first set out to perform. Fortunately, her four years of training at the Mennonite Christian Hospital had given her the required skill set.

While she was working at the Shou­feng Branch of MCH, Lee often attended training sessions at the parent hospital, and when she returned to Shou­feng she took it upon herself to promote new practices among relevant staff members. She was thus familiar with the work of a coordinator.   

As Aproquen’s first nutritionist from Taiwan, Lee’s presence engendered interest in Taiwan among the organization’s staff.

From time to time, when local people asked sensitive questions about Taiwan‡China relations, Lee didn’t even need to answer. Coworkers would step in and explain for her. In 2015 a large dust explosion at Taiwan’s Formosa Fun Coast Water Park resulted in approximately 300 burn victims. When Aproquen learned of the incident, it contacted the Taiwanese embassy in Nicaragua and the Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation, a Taiwanese nonprofit that helps burn victims, to offer assistance.

Because of Lee Hsin-ting, the bonds of friendship between Taiwan and Nicaragua have only grown stronger. After a year of working with her, Lee’s colleagues threw her a surprise party on her last day. Lee assumed the party was just for a colleague’s birthday. But when she arrived, she discovered that they had planned a cultural exchange celebration. It featured a Chinese dragon and lion dance performance, and Lee’s colleagues persuaded her to dress in traditional Nicaraguan costume. More than a year after returning to Taiwan, the scene is still vivid in Lee’s memory.

Lee Hsin-ting (right) traveled to Nicaragua to assist Aproquen’s work with child burn victims. She is using her professional expertise and passion to deepen the friendship between Taiwan and Nicaragua. (courtesy of Lee Hsin-ting)

Chinese cadences in the Caribbean

In the distant Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, another youthful Taiwanese is making a difference.

Born in 1990, ­Hsiao An-hui began teaching Chinese in a language center Taiwan after graduating from National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Applied Chinese Language and Culture. She was therefore accustomed to teaching foreign students.

Before setting out for Saint Vincent, a small tropical island with a population of just over 100,000, ­Hsiao imagined it as a tropical paradise. Two years ago, ­Hsiao became the first Chinese language instructor in a local community college on Saint Vincent. ­Hsiao’s presence provides locals, who rarely come into contact with Asian cultures, with an opportunity to learn about ­Taiwan.

When she first arrived, the cultural differences resulted in some humorous incidents. Since the people of Saint Vincent generally have curly hair, the first question some students asked ­Hsiao when they first met her was if they could touch her long, straight hair. It was an amusing start, but most of the following two-plus years in Saint Vincent have been spent gaining valuable teaching experience.

Hsiao points out that Saint Vincent has few people of Asian descent and opportunities to encounter or study the Chinese language are few and far between. Because the community college included Chinese among its required coursework, more than 30 students enrolled in her class. Although there was no shortage of motivation, many of students knew almost no Chinese.

In order to liven up her classes, ­Hsiao often makes use of films and other teaching materials to introduce students to the cuisine and culture of Taiwan.

Hsiao was accustomed to life in Taiwan, and on Saint Vincent she was in for some cultural surprises. When she encountered the slow pace of life on the island, it took her a good while to adjust. But it has taught her patience and she has learned to live at a slower pace.

Over two decades, the ICDF has been unceasing in its foreign assistance work. Its presence has added an entirely new dimension to the international aid ­community.                            

Nicaraguan children at an Aproquen burn treatment center throw their hands up in joy when a doctor dressed as a clown arrives to entertain them. (courtesy of Lee Hsin-ting)

A Nicaraguan child beams after undergoing medical treatment provided by Aproquen. (courtesy of Lee Hsin-ting)

Hsiao An-hui, a Chinese language instructor for the ICDF, has a gift for integrating Taiwanese customs into the curriculum. (courtesy of the ROC Embassy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Enthusiasm for the Chinese language among students in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has prompted many of them to continue their studies in Taiwan. (courtesy of Hsiao An-hui)