(2006/07/19)
The so-called landmine village is Poipet is located near the border between Thailand and Cambodia. The landmines are a reminder of Cambodia's civil war. Hundreds of thousands of landmines are still buried in the ground throughout the area and have yet to be unearthed and detonated. As a result, thousands of children grow up in an environment clouded by the landmines. Given the level of poverty in the area, many children do not have the financial means to attend school and therefore drop out of the academic system before they get far in their studies.
A Taiwanese humanitarian relief association, the Field Relief Agency, has established the only junior high school in the Poipet area. In addition, the agency has also founded a home for destitute children. The Field Relief Agency hopes to raise a total of NT$5 million in order to buy 10,000 school books for the junior high school in an effort to help the elementary and junior high school aged children of the area to continue on with their studies.
Yang Wei-ling, the founder of the Field Relief Agency, originally was a flight attendant for China Airlines. Fifteen years ago, she left her job with the airline and devoted herself to humanitarian work in northern Thailand and Cambodia. Ten years ago, she founded the Field Relief Agency, which was responsible for leading a team of specialists to the area to provide services to this most dangerous of areas. Over the years, she has won the confidence and trust of the local residents.
Yang said that over 40 percent of Cambodia's population is illiterate, and she stressed the importance of education for the upcoming generation. However, she said that schools in the landmine village have become dilapidated over the years due to the instability in the area, and that the facilities lack both software and hardware. She said that it is not uncommon to see children walking long distances each day just to make it to a functioning school. In the majority of cases, however, the families of the children do not have the means to send the children to school and need the children to stay at home or work in the fields to help them make money to make ends meet. In these circumstances, the children do not have a chance to attend school.
It is the desire of parents in the landmine village, however, to enable their children to have the opportunity to attend school. Yang cited an example of one child whose family originally lived in a province from which it took over 10 hours by vehicle to reach Poipet. Given the family's poverty, they decided to take part in a project initiated by the government in which land in landmine filled areas was released to the poor to develop. After undertaking the extremely dangerous work of clearing and developing the land, the family finally has a place where it could reside and try to make a living. However, in the process of gardening a plot of the land, the father stepped on a mine and ultimately had to have both of his legs amputated. Today, he places all of his hope in his children. He realizes that with an education, his children will have a better future.
It costs NT$500 to provide a year of schoolbooks for a child. Yang Wei-ling hopes that the people of Taiwan will extend a helping hand and assist these children. Those interested in donating funds can do so through the postal remittance system. The name written on the postal remittance should be Field Relief Agency, and their postal remittance account number is Taipei Post 18930578. Persons interested in obtaining more information from the Field Relief Agency can do so by calling (02) 2755-1556.
A Taiwanese humanitarian relief association, the Field Relief Agency, has established the only junior high school in the Poipet area. In addition, the agency has also founded a home for destitute children. The Field Relief Agency hopes to raise a total of NT$5 million in order to buy 10,000 school books for the junior high school in an effort to help the elementary and junior high school aged children of the area to continue on with their studies.
Yang Wei-ling, the founder of the Field Relief Agency, originally was a flight attendant for China Airlines. Fifteen years ago, she left her job with the airline and devoted herself to humanitarian work in northern Thailand and Cambodia. Ten years ago, she founded the Field Relief Agency, which was responsible for leading a team of specialists to the area to provide services to this most dangerous of areas. Over the years, she has won the confidence and trust of the local residents.
Yang said that over 40 percent of Cambodia's population is illiterate, and she stressed the importance of education for the upcoming generation. However, she said that schools in the landmine village have become dilapidated over the years due to the instability in the area, and that the facilities lack both software and hardware. She said that it is not uncommon to see children walking long distances each day just to make it to a functioning school. In the majority of cases, however, the families of the children do not have the means to send the children to school and need the children to stay at home or work in the fields to help them make money to make ends meet. In these circumstances, the children do not have a chance to attend school.
It is the desire of parents in the landmine village, however, to enable their children to have the opportunity to attend school. Yang cited an example of one child whose family originally lived in a province from which it took over 10 hours by vehicle to reach Poipet. Given the family's poverty, they decided to take part in a project initiated by the government in which land in landmine filled areas was released to the poor to develop. After undertaking the extremely dangerous work of clearing and developing the land, the family finally has a place where it could reside and try to make a living. However, in the process of gardening a plot of the land, the father stepped on a mine and ultimately had to have both of his legs amputated. Today, he places all of his hope in his children. He realizes that with an education, his children will have a better future.
It costs NT$500 to provide a year of schoolbooks for a child. Yang Wei-ling hopes that the people of Taiwan will extend a helping hand and assist these children. Those interested in donating funds can do so through the postal remittance system. The name written on the postal remittance should be Field Relief Agency, and their postal remittance account number is Taipei Post 18930578. Persons interested in obtaining more information from the Field Relief Agency can do so by calling (02) 2755-1556.
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