[Oe List ...] You Deserve a Treat Today

[Evelyn Philbrook]

Dear Jann and OE,

The Philbrooks, the Wests, Jessie Hsiao, Shu Fang Tsai, Laura Hsu and 
Shawn Chu and Jorie Wu and George Yen and our FCP crew who live in 
Taipei are all high and dry... but not so for those living in the middle 
and south of Taiwan who struggled with all the mudslides and lost 
bridges, roads and homes.. it is hard to believe that 80 inches in three 
days could destroy so many lives in such a short period of time. 33,000 
have been saved, but several thousand are still without aid and homes in 
the remote rural areas. Unfortunately those who suffered the most are 
the aboriginal and hill tribe people who were pushed up and away from 
the more prosperous bottomland in the south and central Taiwan. These 
people did not vote as strongly for President Ma and as a group have 
been left high in the mountains... the same is true for those in the 
south. Many bitter responses have come from those who literally feed the 
nation of Taiwan.... flooding takes the whole plant and and the 
seedlings needed to replenish the land. The most important thing to 
remember is that there are people who are willingly volunteers who will 
go to help anyone in a crisis, whether here or abroad which has been 
locally created by a Buddhist Monk... a woman named Tsu Chi... she has 
mobilized hospitals, clinic, volunteer groups in the thousands and more 
around Taiwan...
On her TV station she broadcast news of people going to help those who 
needed aid, and gave free health care, free clean up crews, free 
wheelbarrows to be transported and she has received aid from those who 
have money to give for helicopters to transport bulldozers and backhoes 
to areas that need these equipment. It is not easy for the government to 
do all this alone, but this foundation has the trust of the people 
because they will help and go where it is needed and do not take credit 
for it. The Christian Missions in those areas also are important 
communication points to get help brought in from outside..Praise God to 
all who look beyond the divisions of race, political party, or religion...

The International Association of Facilitators are working to bring 
crisis intervention aid people to work with the social workers and 
volunteers who went to help because the emotional impact is so great. We 
brought these people when we had the earthquake and we want to bring 
them again. We want to have Chinese and Taiwanese speaking people ready, 
and (aboriginal dialect people) so that we can work together to help 
ourselves in times of crisis. Those who have lost everything still need 
help and Taiwanese people can find ways to support those in need. I have 
heard of groups of women here in Taipei who have already started working 
to collect money for lunches of those children whose families lost their 
homes so they can keep going to school. But they are waiting to find out 
who is really in need. This is a long term plan. We are still operating 
out a principle of self sufficiency and self confidence, not just charity.

Larry has gone to work in Korea. Jorie Wu and Keli Yen with the Yen 
foundation are working to find out if they can bring people who would 
still be here for the conference to do special workshops with local 
groups and be at the conference too.

One of our good colleagues, Jessie Hsiao, who also went to the the Open 
Space conference with Gail West this past summer and a crew of other 
people from Taiwan, is offering to hold an Open Space to assist those 
who are working together to respond to the crisis in the south and 
central Taiwan next weekend. Oh October 15 or so is an Open Space on 
Open Space International Conference here in Taiwan. August 29-30 is 
International Association of Facilitators in Taipei... so we are busy 
working away.

On behalf of Those Who Care,

Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook
ICA Taiwan
ICAI VP of Asia and the Pacific

LAURELCG at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 8/15/2009 8:15:39 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, 
> joyful at icatw.com writes:
>
>     Evelyn Kurihara Philbrook
>     ICA Taiwan
>     ICAI VP of Asia and the Pacific
>
> Evelyn,
>  
> Did the typhoon miss you-all entirely? How are things?
>  
> Jann McGuire
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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> OE at wedgeblade.net
> http://wedgeblade.net/mailman/listinfo/oe_wedgeblade.net
>   

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