President Ma Ying-jeou met with ChildFund International Chairman David Taylor and other ranking officials of the organization at the Presidential Office on the morning of October 5. The president expressed his admiration for the longstanding contributions and work that ChildFund International and the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) have made in caring for the underprivileged.
The president remarked that the TFCF was originally the Taiwan branch of its American parent. Over the years the organization has been responsible for helping over 210,000 children here in their education and other challenges, he said. At present, the local organization has 23 family support centers and 29 service offices around Taiwan. The president said it is the oldest and likely the most effective social welfare organization caring for children here. President Ma also took advantage of the meeting to express his gratitude to the Christian Children's Fund of the United States, which has helped the Taiwan organization become such a success.
President Ma stated that the TFCF in 1988 began engaging in international service with the assistance of ChildFund International. It has spread Taiwan's love and compassion over 34 countries around the world in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, helping about 115,000 children of all nationalities. At the same time, he said, the TFCF has worked in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in engaging in international charitable diplomacy. For instance, the organization has sent stationery and clothing to Senegal, has provided financial assistance to AIDS orphans in Africa, was involved in international relief work after the South Asian tsunami in 2004, and sent aid to Sichuan in mainland China after a devastating earthquake there in 2008. The organization, the president said, regularly encourages people who are involved in the child sponsorship programs to visit the children they have sponsored around the world. He commented that the fund demonstrates the spirit that love knows no boundaries.
President Ma noted that starting in 1996 he began sponsoring children in total of 10 here and overseas via World Vision and the TFCF. One of the children he adopted was in Ilan County of northeastern Taiwan and is now studying social work in university, hoping to become a social worker in the future and assist other underprivileged people. The president said that this student is moving from being a recipient of compassion to a giver of compassion.
The president furthermore said that the TFCF stopped receiving assistance from its parent in 1985. He noted that this is a mirror of Taiwan's experience, as Taiwan began receiving American aid starting in 1950, but by 1965 no longer needed support due to its economic development and the expansion of exports. Taiwan, he said, is the most successful recipient of American assistance.
The president said that Taiwan is very willing to share its experience with ChildFund International, adding that he hopes that the two will continue cooperating in related work. He pointed out that a focus of the nation's foreign policy is international humanitarian assistance in an effort to secure more trust and respect from the world community.
Chairman Taylor's delegation included ChildFund President Anne Goddard, BØRNEfonden (Denmark) CEO Annette Lüdeking, Christian Children's Fund of Canada CEO Mark Lukowski, ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence, and Mongolia's National Authority for Children Chairperson Togtokhnyam Mijiddorj. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by TFCF Chairman Lin Po-jung and Deputy Interior Minister Lin Tsyr-ling to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Advisor Tung Kuo-yu.