Ma awards youth volunteers for embodying Taiwan values

The award winners -- seven individuals and three groups -- were honored at a ceremony in Taipei for their outstanding volunteer work at home or overseas, or for their contributions to sports or their families.

Ma said that since studying Taiwan's history and observing the people over many years, he could sum up the six core values of Taiwan as “integrity, rectitude, kindness, diligence, initiative and tolerance, which can be seen in these 10 young people.”

“This means they embody traditional moral values that have long supported Taiwan's society,” he added. The award recipients, three of whom come from underprivileged families, stood out from among 629 applicants for the annual award from the National Youth Commission (NYC).

The three group winners were one made up of National Tsing Hua University students, another comprising Taoyuan-area student volunteers and a third composed of college students in the Chiayi area.

The judges had a hard time making their final decisions, as there was a record-breaking number of applicants this year, in which the Republic of China celebrates its centennial, said NYC Minister Jack Lee.

One of the winners, student nurse Chih Shao-hua, said that she “was happy to be able to pay back to people even before I start working, “ of her volunteer work of cutting the hair of the elderly, patients with mental disorders and other under-privileged people.

Chih grew up in a single-parent low-income family and has herself been the recipient of financial support from charities.

Eleventh grader Chen Hsiang-fang from Taichung City, who organized 15 volunteers in seventh grade to tutor school children in remote areas, said she believes that “the more people our group has, the more we can achieve.”

Kaohsiung Medical School student Tai Yu-lin, meanwhile, was recognized for his 42-day health service program in West Africa's Burkina Faso last year in which he provided services including oral hygiene education and care to local children and families.

Tai's volunteer efforts helped introduce Taiwan to the people of both Burkina Faso and northern India, which he visited in 2008 to work for the Crawl Society, a non-government organization that provides services for the homeless.

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