ROC used school bags boost education in Kenya

2015/09/03

An Internet-based used school bag donation campaign launched by Taiwan missionary siblings is laying the foundations for improving children’s education in Kenya.

Kicked off in June by Yang Yu-jen and his sister Yang Wan-jing, the initiative has received 70,000 bags to date, with the first 50,000 set for shipping to the east African nation next month.

“We were overwhelmed by the passionate response,” Yang Yu-jen said. “We are using the activities center at National Hua-Nan Commercial High School in Chiayi City for storage, and an army of 1,000 volunteers are lending a hand for packaging.

“The original shipping estimate was one 40-foot container of school bags at most in three months, but now we expect to send 20 or even 30 by Christmas.”

A spin-off from Taiwan-based Used Shoes Save Lives Step 30, the undertaking started in April 2014 and has sent 400,000 pairs of footwear to rural Kitale in western Kenya as a way of combating parasitic infections in children.

Lo Yue-hsiu, a section assistant with Chiayi Branch, Administrative Enforcement Agency under the Ministry of Justice, said the MOJ-backed shoe campaign sowed the seeds for the school bag initiative.

“Program coordinators noticed that children in Kitale use discarded plastic bags to carry their belongings to school,” she said, adding that they decided upon returning to Taiwan to address this issue.

In a further gesture of goodwill, NHNCHS students holding school bags assembled Aug. 29 in the shape of Taiwan. The image was broadcast live via the Internet to the children of Kitale, with Rev. Dawson Mudenyo expressing thanks on behalf of the Kenyan community.

In addition, students painted hands forming hearts on the container holding the first shipment of school bags. This symbolizes friendship between Taiwan and Kenya, and will give the unit a special feel after it is converted into classroom after unloading in Kitale.

According to Yang Wan-jing, donating school bags is just one of many charitable plans the siblings have in the pipeline for Africa. “We want to send books and stationary, as well as bolster the importance of sanitary hygiene among girls and young women,” she said.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=234522&ctNode=413)