Child Protection Taiwan Project #35777

Sprouting Dream | Sponsor a Child in Taiwan

by The Mustard Seed Mission

Project Report | Sep 25, 2020
Selfless Love and Warm Arms Embrace the Needy

By Mr. Chaun | Project Leader

Located beside a river in New Taipei City, Taiwan, there are a row of aged and shabby bungalows. From the appearance, the houses look like residential style in the 60s to 70s, with average age close to 50 years old. Flora and her whole family live here. Noticeably, the house has no legitimately assigned address. Living in a tiny bungalow with no address is like living in a confined space of an isolated city. Nonetheless, even the trivial unit like this type, its rental expense still plays a heavy burden for the family. A living unit without properly given address implies Flora's family is not eligible to be enrolled for government rental subsidy program. As a result, despite the poorly living condition, they have no choice but accept the reality.

Flora's father died early. Her mother had to go solo taking care of Flora and her brother. Mr. Chen, a cohabitant with the mother, is willing to co-support the siblings. The whole family got along well with just financially breakeven each month. Unfortunately, the mother died of cancer a few years ago. While their relatives were reluctant to take care of these two minor children. Disagreeing to let the nature takes its course, knowing to raise the siblings alone is no easy task, Mr. Chen bravely vows to be a guardian and a financial supporter of the siblings.

As a matter of fact, Chen is not economically well off either. He works as a security guard in the day time. In order to earn more, he chooses to work also on the night shift. Flora was then still young and needed to have someone to look after day and night, as soon as Mustard Seed Community Common Good Partner discovered the need of help, they applied financial grants for the children so that the family would be substantially relieved themselves from the economic burden. Moreover, the social workers visited the family on a routinely to ensure their needs are all properly taken care of. Flora is now a high school student. Thanks to her well shaping up independent and self-disciplined character, Flora is a top ranked student with outstanding academic performance. During the weekend, she works part time at restaurants trying to share the financial burden of the family.

Although Chen is not their biological father, he loves them more than a father. Social workers are deeply touched by such selfless love shared by Chen, Chen constantly expresses with concerns "I have to be strong. If I fall out, who will take care of them? "

Holding up the hands of social workers tightly, Chen said "I really appreciate your timely support." Similarly, social workers feel nothing worth more than their devotion of time and efforts in assisting this family.

Mustard Seed Community Network is developed to deliver aids toward disadvantageous group. Not only it provides monthly financial sponsorship to the needy families, but also the social workers regularly pay a visit to these families, the objective of which allows any further assistance is properly established. Needless to say, financial sponsors are crucial roles in providing help. Without your kindness, Flora and her family won’t be able to feel blessed and loved by the society.

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Jun 5, 2020
Making them Smile, Once Again!

By Mr. Chuan | Project Leader

Afraid of Losing Grandma

Ming lost his parents at a very young age, his mother took his younger brother and left his family, while his father has been too ill to take care of another person. Hence, Ming's grandmother took up the responsibility of taking care of him. She collects and sells recyclables everyday using a cart and it does not provide a very good income. Although life is tough for these two, Ming is mature for his age and always help his grandmother at collecting recyclables. This has put her heart at ease for she need not worry about her grandson. Ming also excels in his academics and is always able to top his class and cohort, and he is able to achieve various awards and bursaries.

Granny's health has not been well as she has asthma and diabetes. Apart from that, the stress of raising a child alone and the physical demands from her job has resulted in multiple entries into the emergency room at the hospital. These hospital bills further add on to the financial difficulty at home. Being the only relative Ming has, he often shared his sentiments of being afraid of losing his grandmother. "I am afraid…afraid of losing grandma… "

Ming helping his grandmother at collecting recyclables

Smiling Once Again

Ming's helplessness was seen by the Mustard Seed Mission, and provided his family with both resources and financial assistance, to reduce the stress they have been facing. The social workers at the Mustard Seed Mission have also made regular visitations to accompany and care for them. Ming still takes good care of his grandmother, constantly reminding her to take her medication, and her condition has stabilised. The Mustard Seed Mission has become a great support for both of them and it has been good to see the smiles lit up again on both of their faces.

The life of every child is just like a little developing sprout, it requires constant and regular care for it to grow up healthily. This project is to help the less privileged families by providing timely support through bursaries, enrichment classes and a long term growth plan. We hope to help these children to fulfil their very own potential through this project!

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Feb 13, 2020
Music from the Corner- Children's Talent Program

By Nakaw Chen | Social Worker

The second grade boy playing bass intently

To MSM Common Good Partners, as local community service centers, the talent program is a springboard which offers children an opportunity to learn music and serve.

How it all began

The church takes care of many disadvantaged families in community ministry, we invited the churches to be our talent learning classes bases. In Tamsui, most of the parish children are outgoing and friendly indigenous people, even the lectures who applied for the program are mostly aboriginal. This sparked my interest to understand how the children learned and gained from this program.

Music from the Corner

On the day of wrap-up presentation, it was drizzling but crisp and pleasant. Walking casually on the street, there seemed to be vaguely music coming from afar, the sound of it being so heavenly beautiful. It turned out to be from the MSM community service center at the corner. Following the music to go inside, one was met with yet more beautiful sound of music accompanied by the laughter of children. The church has planned the music service thorough and well, especially with regards to the learning environment for the children. Whether it is piano, drum set and bass, there are designated practice rooms for each so the children can fully dedicated themselves to practice. What impressed me the most was a child in the second grade who was carrying a very heavy guitar playing in the bass classroom. There was not the slightest sign of weakness or burden to be detected on him though the instrument itself was bigger than himself. On the contrary, he didn't even take his big eyes away from the music sheet for a single second!

I didn't expect to receive such an extraordinary music feast out of a routine program counseling work! Through the talent program, they have better facilities to receive professional trainings. In their mid-term presentation, the audiences - whether they are friends, community residents or even the parents to these children - were all moved to tears with satisfaction. It is because these children, equipped with music and their natural gift and hard-work, not only continue to serve God but add value to their own lives.

Links:

https://www.mustard.org.tw/locale/en

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