Chi Hui-jung, CEO of the Garden of Hope
Foundation (GOH), on November 10 became the first Taiwan social worker to
receive the prestigious Kellogg’s Child Development Award.
The Kellogg’s Child Development
Award, presented by the non-profit global organization World of Children,
recognizes courageous individuals who have made a significant contribution to
children’s futures by greatly improving their opportunities to learn and grow.
Chi received the award, along with a
cash prize of US$100,000, for her and the GOH’s contribution to the campaign
against child abuse and child prostitution in Taiwan over the past 15 years.
The award presentation was held at
the headquarters of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with six other
finalists from Malawi, Kenya, Brazil, Nepal and the United States as well as
World of Children officials taking part.
During the award presentation
ceremony, a documentary was shown depicting how the GOH has grown from a
temporary shelter hub for abused or abandoned children into a children’s welfare
foundation that has helped protect more than 100,000 children and teenagers
around Taiwan.
Chi has decided to donate the
US$100,000 cash prize to the GOH to help the foundation to continue to carry out
its mission. The GOH established an affiliate in New York City last year to
provide counselling and assistance to Chinese and Taiwanese women and children
seeking help in the United States.
Robyn Taylor, an official with the
GOH Office in New York, said that the foundation is planning to sponsor an
international symposium in Taipei at the end of November to discuss the problem
of human trafficking, particularly the trafficking of women and teenaged girls
from Asian countries to western countries. Besides officials from several Asian
countries, a US State Department adviser is also expected to attend the
conference.
The
GOH won the most prestigious “NGO of the Year” award at the inaugural
presentation ceremony for the Asia Pacific NGO Awards, sponsored by the Resource
Alliance and the Citigroup Foundation, in Manila, the Philippines in September
2004.
(Source:
Central News Agency)
