Title: Christian University and Hospital in Taiwan to Assist Sri Lanka Taiwan Church News 2819, 6-12 March 2006 Reported by Lin Yi-ying. Written by David Alexander
Coastal areas of Sri Lanka were severely damaged in the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Many local women were widowed. To advance long-term assistance to these women and their dependents, the Church & Society Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) facilitated contacts of PCT related Sin-Lau Christian Hospital and Chang Jung Christian University with Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe of the Anglican Church of Sri Lanka. At a meeting on 1st March the hospital committed itself to offer basic nursing education and medical services for the areas and to host women from Sri Lanka who come to Taiwan for training and service.
Last year the Church & Society Committee, the hospital and the university were represented on an interfaith peacemaking foundation. The first need they saw was for medical services and humanitarian assistance in the disaster zone. After obtaining the endorsement of the Anglicans a general call for assistance was made. Sin Lau Hospital was found able and willing to fill the need for community rebuilding work.
The PCT's General Assembly became involved in this overseas ministry work because the seriousness of poverty and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Political and military conflicts in the interior make posting of long-term personnel difficult. The depth of medical needs, though, compels the church to look for varied means to be of assistance.
Chang Meng-yi, the PCT's Programme Secretary for Church & Society, points out that short-term disaster assistance teams from Sin-lau went to Sri Lanka several times last year to help women there. They presented a month-long basic nursing course. This has not only lifted the health-care situation, it has also supported the redevelopment of the tourist trade. Chang Jung Christian University also sent student service teams in cooperation with those from the hospital.
Ms. Chang also notes that Taiwan's ministry of the interior has accredited Sin Lau Hospital's gerontology clinic. This opens the way for caregivers from Sri Lanka to come to Taiwan to work on 2 or 3-year contracts. The employment opportunities for women from the disaster area will enable them to gain income, experience and training for use at home. The school of nursing from Chang Jung University can cooperate to upgrade the high-school level skills of these caregivers from Sri Lanka, making them more employable on return to their homeland.
For more information: Chang Meng-yi mengyi@mail.pct.org.tw
Sin Lau Christian Hospital www.slh.org.tw
Chang Jung Christian University School of Nursing http://www.cju.edu.tw/~h-nurse/index.php Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages. Visit our web page www.pctpress.com.tw