Taiwan Church News 3262 Edition September 1 - September 7, 2014 Headline News Faith And Witness Of Christian Missionaries And Urban Aboriginal Exhibited AtThe Migration Stories in Taiwan Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan From August 27 to March 29 next year, focusing on Christian missionaries, Dachen Archipelago evacuated people, urban aboriginal and new immigrant women from China and south-eastern Asia, an exhibition -The Migration Stories in Taiwan- is held in National Museum of Taiwan History. As PCT has deep connections with missionaries and aboriginal people, PCT General Assembly together with Ku-wah Church of Paiwan Presbytery anf Yong-fu Church of Tainan Presbytery are jointly invited to co-host this event. August 27, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, the elders and the juvenile youth of Ku-wah Church sing the traditional Paiwan harvest song to express their thanksgiving to God. And the children of Sunday school also sing in old lyrics to praise God. This special exhibition, taking modern Taiwan immigrants as the main thread, is intended to lead the audience to reach more mutual understanding, respect and tolerance when diverse immigration modes or multi-faced displacement are encountered in lives. Within this event, not only the difficult experiences and challenging immigration stories of persons or tribes are preciously demonstrated, but also the diverse social textures within Taiwan history are revealed. Rev. Duan Sai-yin, pastor of Ku-wah Church at Yong-kang district, expresses her appreciation to the exhibition organizer that her urban aboriginal people who are so hard-working in good faith could finally be written down and recorded into Taiwan history with names and dignities.Reflecting the migration hardship and difficulties, that her church brother and sisters faced when they first came down to urban city from mountain and rural villages, Rev. Duan cannot help but sob in tears. "Have a faith in God, then the job becomes stable; with a stable job, the family becomes good", she sums up the gist of the migration story of the urban aboriginal. In the meantime, Christian missionaries dedicating to Taiwan with their passionate love and precious lives are also remembered in this exhibition, like Rev. William Campbell (1841 - 1921) who initiated and pioneered the education to the blind in Taiwan. Mr. Wang Shu-lok, Evangelist of Yong-fu Presbyterian Church, is scheduled to deliver a lecture, titled as "The education for the blind by Rev. William Campbell and Mr. Liao Wan", at 2:30 pm on October 19. The exhibition organizer, Ms Wu Jia-nie, remarks that the reason why she chose the Christian missionaries into this migration story event is due to the amazing story of Missionary Marjorie Ingleleiv Bly(1919 - 2008) who sacrificed her whole life, over 40 years, to serve those leprosy patients in the remote Peng-fu islands came to her occasionally and touched her vibrantly. "Because she commits to Taiwan wholeheartedly, Taiwan certainly is her home and would embrace her as dear families", said Wu. Translated by Peter Wolfe |