Zhe-Wei Xu, currently a student
at Hsinchu County American School, was born prematurely. He received much care
and support from the medical personnel and volunteers during his childhood. He
turned his gratitude into momentum for service and called upon a group of
volunteers who joined him in planning a series of local revitalization actions for
indigenous tribes in remote areas. Zhe-Wei also established a hand cream brand
called Rangi (meaning “friend” in Atayal language) and used indigenous crops of
Wufeng District, Hsinchu County including Tetrapanax papyrifer, millet and
mountain pepper as part of the ingredients. This not only helped create jobs
locally and develop local economy, but also proceeds from the sale is used to
support education of children in the tribes. He also helped choir of the
Taoshan Elementary School to upload their music albums to streaming platforms,
as a way to share the beautiful music and revitalize the tribal culture and
industry.
Ping-En Huang, currently a
student at Taipei First Girls High School, began her voluntary work as a child
due to impacts from her family. She cares about life of the homeless and
poverty issues, and planned for a guided tour called “Taipei from high school
student’s perspective” that connects life experience with historic buildings
and culture in the surroundings of her school. It is designed to encourage her
peers to reflect upon themselves and gain confidence during the process of
exploring the local culture outside the framework of a classroom. Ping-En and
her classmates created Girls in the Oasis, a team that designed a patented “2-in-1
environment-friendly cigarette case” that can hold cigarette butts. They also
started a “no-cigarette oasis” campaign that mobilized nearly 300 high school
students to clear the streets of cigarette butts. Through the actions and
advocacy, they attempted to arouse people’s awareness of the damage that butts
do to the soil and ocean.
The 8 honorees of National Honorees
also developed innovative ideas and took actions to show care for the society.
Yao-Zhong Wu of Sanyi Senior High School makes nutritious soups for elderlies
who live alone, bringing warmth both to their heart and stomach; Hui-Xin Ke of
Taipei Fuhsing Private School designed assistive devices to help the elderlies
enjoy barrier-free life; Quan-You Huang of National PingTung Industrial
Vocational High School helped fill up holes and pave the roads of the Pingtung
area; Li-Kai Xiao of Mingdao High School helped children with Kanner's Syndrome
to interact with people, and provided after-school tutoring to tribal children;
Jun-Ning Luo of Taipei First Girls High School joined Global Leadership Organization
and advocated for gender equality through self-media; Yu-Han Li of the
Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University focuses on
social issues and designed educational tool sets for remote areas; Cheng-Yang Huang
Luo of National Hualien Senior High School overcame adversity in childhood and
organized multi-school camps to support the underprivileged; homeschooled
Sheng-Ting Chen helped children in the communities develop foreign language
proficiency and international perspective with his talent in languages and art.
According to Prudential Youth
Foundation (PYF), the youth’s participation in voluntary activities not only
demonstrates the power and value of benevolence, but also helps them develop
capacity for the future. During COVID-19, it’s a pleasure to see the youth
showing more care to their surroundings, such as promotion of
infection-prevention measures in creative ways, raising health awareness among
residents in communities and remote areas, and enhancing education for
underprivileged children through digital tools. They respond to the sustainable
development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations with a diversity of action
plans, targeting quality education, good health and well-being, and
partnerships. As we continue to join forces with other countries, we also
localize the SDGs, infusing Taiwan with more hope and warmth.