Taiwan Church News 3735 Edition Sept 25th ~ Oct 1st, 2023 Weekly Topical Taiwan Ambulances, Fire Trucks and Rescue Vehicles Delivered for Ukraine Reported by Lin Yi-ying In order to meet Ukraine’s medical needs in the cities and fields devastated by Russia, a Taiwan shipment with an amount of 48 ambulances, fire trucks and rescue vehicles arrived at the port of Gdansk, Poland on September 19th. A donation ceremony was subsequently held at the port of Gdansk to honor this Taiwanese charity mission. At present, eight vehicles have been sent to the Ukrainian war zones and are immediately involved in rescuing the injured. The charity mission is championed by Mr Bai Chan-rong, an entrepreneur from Changhua County in central Taiwan, wishing to reach out to the suffering Ukrainians via an integration of Taiwan’s non-governmental organizations, including the Taiwan Association of Community Advancement, Taiwan Stand with Ukraine and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) and etc, with the government’s public sectors. And this very shipment of 48 vehicles was loaded and departed from Taiwan on July 10th this year. The donation ceremony was hosted by the Polish Center for International Aid(PCPM). In the ceremony, Ms Jin Kruse Hsieh, ambassador of the STUF United Fund, representing Taiwan as donor, and the recipient was represented by Ms Lesia Duplin, Deputy Mayor of Maha City in Ukraine. Remarkable is that Ms Duplin arrived at Gdansk after a 12-hour long drive. Attendees of the donation ceremony included ambassador Wu Sang-nian, Taiwan’s representative in Poland, Ms Cheng Chi-huan, president of the Polish Women Association, Dr. Cheng Hui-wen of the Taiwanese Emergency Assistance in Zurich, and many others, to witness the historical arrival of ambulances, fire trucks and rescue vehicles sent from Taiwan. It is reported that after the arrival of the first batch of vehicles at the Polish harbor, Gdansk, these vehicles were immediately transferred into Ukraine. When they were parked in a warehouse in Lviv City of Ukraine on the evening of the 19th, an unidentified man in black drove there to spy and take photos. After being noticed by the security guards of the warehouse, these first-batch vehicles were urgently moved away to park at elsewhere. Till Sept 20th, the deadline of news coverage, the rescue vehicles from Taiwan were not destroyed or damaged by any Russian air strikes. Mr Bai Chan-rong warned that there are pro-Russian networks in Poland closely monitoring the arrival of these vehicles. So he urged the Ukrainian authorities to take care of possible attacks from these pro-Russian forces. Mr Bai expressed that the second batch of 54 donated vehicles, including four-wheel-drive vehicles and humanitarian aid trucks, which can carry a large number of injured people in an emergency, is expected to save more lives in future crisis. Also, he continued, by the end of 2024, the third and fourth batches of this charity mission, with a total of 150 ambulances, fire trucks and etc, will reach Ukraine. He stressed that he would carry on to focus on this mission, because Ukraine and Taiwan are on the same boat. As a Taiwanese I shall provide full support without hesitation, Mr Bai said, “The war is still going on, and the opportunity window to save the suffered will not wait for the people slow to respond!” On October 17, the Legislative Yuan will hold a donation ceremony, entitled as “Send Disaster Relief Vehicles and Medical Equipment and Resources to Ukraine” to honor and give thanksgivings to the institutes that facilitated the donation of these medical equipment and resources to Ukraine. These remarkable institutes of public sectors and NGOs are the followings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Fire Agency of the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the State-Owned Enterprises Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Taichung Customs of Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance, the Third Special Police Corps of National Police Station of the Ministry of the Interior, and etc. If any people or institute in Taiwan is willing to participate in the donation of vehicles to Ukraine, they are very much welcomed to contact the Church and Society Committee of the PCT General Assembly at 02-2362-5282#255, or Sun Jen Textile Co. Ltd., at 047-981-135, as an all-in-one contact personnel is ready to advise how to access the bank account for this charity mission to Ukraine. Translated by Peter Wolfe |