Some US$ 35,000 raised through Christmas donations for Yilan senior citizens
Taipei (AsiaNews) - In Yilan province, a retirement home was renovated thanks to a Christmas-related initiative called ' love, I light, I share' (愛,分享,點亮生命之光) promoted by Taiwan's Catholic schools, which raised about US$ 35,000 in a few weeks by selling 4,000 t-shirts they designed and made."These kids are really smart and enterprising," said Prof Ou (歐陽台英校長), the first lay principal of the Blessed Imelda School, Taipei's foremost Catholic educational facility. "They came up with the idea of the t-shirts. Without it, we would not have raised that much money.
"For the first time since the school was founded 96 years ago, students wore a t-shirt and pants in school rather than their regular school uniform. This way, they advertise the t-shirt and its logo: 'I love, I light, I share'. "We realised that if we give the students such a possibility, they will find the best way to pass on their message to fellow students," the school principal said. "The latter can thus take part in such a generous and important cause."During Christmas celebrations, two retired teachers expressed their "surprise" that the school was able to involve students in such a successful aid project, taking advantage of their youthful creativity.
This Christmas, Taiwanese Catholics also participated in an important outreach campaign to raise awareness about people living with HIV/AIDS.On the island nation, some 20,000 people have contracted the virus but only five have gone public with it. In the past few years, more people have also contracted HIV, especially young women, because of unprotected sex and greater drug use.Paul Hsu (徐森杰), secretary general of the Taiwan Lourdes Association (台灣露德協會), held a press conference to present a book by Fr Jerry's (丁松荺神父), which tells the story of various people living with HIV/AIDS.
The names of the patients involved have been withheld to protect their identity. However, one of those who spoke publicly about his experience did participate in the press conference.In fact, his case has been studied by a medical school at a Taiwanese university. Although he contracted the virus 11 years ago, he has never developed the disease or taken drugs to treat it.Speaking about other cases, Fr Jerry stressed the need to provide "support to those who are in this situation". At the same time, he insisted on the "need for privacy," given the nature of the problem.
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04/05/2019 15:38
