A group of Presbyterian youth planned to ride their bikes around the Island to visit churches. Just before they started their trip, Typhoon Morakot hit. They changed their plan and rode their bikes to Ping-tong, one of the hardest hit areas in southern Taiwan, to help cleaning efforts. One of the young people, Mr. Chan Hau-khai, sent this report.

Originally, we planned to take two weeks to ride our bikes around the Island. This is an activity sponsored by the Youth Ministry Committee of the General Assembly. Because Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan and caused serious damage, we changed our plan and on August 12th, we arrived in Ping-tong. After a night of rest, we put on boots and groves and went to help the residents cleaning their houses. According to the needs of each area, we divided into a few groups and went to work. It is rather peculiar because we go everywhere riding our bikes. It’s been five days.

We have caused quite a bit of misunderstanding because we ride our bikes, with our colorful outfits, people think that we came to tour the area for fun. As we ride, we see the mud and damages that were left by the flooding, smell the odor of dead fish and animal, and we feel so powerless. It must be painful for the people, having lost their homes and livelihoods, living in the shelters, eating same kind of food everyday, and not knowing what their future will be. Compare to their plight, our giving up the bike tour is just a small sacrifice we are more than willing to make.

(Reported on August 17th, 2009)