At an award ceremony organized by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, each young winner received a scholarship valued at NT$20,000 from the Ministry of Education, and a one-night free stay at the hotel.

Tseng Yi-hsin, a first-year student at Shui Li Junior High School in the central county of Nantou, expressed her appreciation to the TFCF and its donors on behalf of all the winners.

“No matter who you are, thank you for supporting me and my family throughout the difficulties in our lives,” Tseng said.

“When I grow up, I too will become a donor and contribute to the society to help the disadvantaged,” she vowed.

Like most of the other young awardees, Tseng helps to take care of her family after school.

Every evening, she rushes home to cook for her mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, and her grandfather before going to an evening cram school.

In addition to being a family caretaker, Tseng is also a taekwondo student.

She explained that she started learning taekwondo because she wanted to protect her mother, a former night market vendor, after gangsters approached her family one day to collect payoffs.

Another award winner, Huang Li-ren, also knows how to strike a balance between family chores and academic studies.

Huang, an indigenous second-year junior high school student in Wu Lai, a suburban area in the northern county of Taipei, takes care of his grandfather, who has bone cancer, and two younger sisters. He has also been performing well in school.

Describing these children as major supporters of their relatives, TFCF Chairman Lin Po-jung said at the ceremony that “their common wish is to grow up quickly so that they can better help their families.”

Lin said that unlike many other children who enjoy a more privileged life, these children have demonstrated great willpower to overcome difficulties and have remained optimistic.

“People learn how to survive when life is rough, and children are no exceptions,” he noted.

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