William Penn Life, 2014 (49. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2014-09-01 / 9. szám
hip Foundation, Inc. Leanne E. Lovász Branch 296 Springdale, PA Spreading the Fraternal Spirit in the Far East THIS SUMMER, I was privileged to experience a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Taiwan and China. I was able to make this journey thanks in part to the generosity of WPA Branch 296 Springdale, Pa. My two-week long adventure was part mission/ part sightseeing trip, organized by the Campus Ministry at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., where I am majoring in sociology. Each year, a group from SVC travels halfway around the world to volunteer their time and immerse themselves in the local culture. I was lucky to be among a group of nine students and three chaperones, people who I am proud to call my friends after having shared such an incredible experience with them. Our first week was spent in Taiwan, and it was, without a doubt, one of the most interesting weeks I've ever had. The first three days were spent in Taipei with a group of English majors from Fu Jen University. Between sightseeing around the city together and helping them teach English for a summer camp at a local elementary school, we all grew to be rather close in the span of just a few days. The elementary kids were fun to work with, even if they were a bit of a challenge at times. Each evening, the Fu Jen students took us out to see the local sights in the city. I nearly came to know all the subway routes we took by heart. Among some of the places we visited in Taipei were the Night Market, the Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial, and Taipei 101. After leaving Taipei, our next stop was an indigenous village outside the city of Yilan, where we met a group of nursing students from Cardinal Tien College. You wouldn't believe how excited they were to meet all of us! They gave us quite the welcome. Despite the fact that not many of them spoke much English, the language barrier didn't stop us from forming close bonds with them. Over the next five days, we worked with them in two mountain villages, delivering supplies to poor families and playing with the children there. Those kids were fast and hard to keep up with at times, but it was tremendous fun, and I felt like a little kid again myself playing with them. We also spent a day visiting a nursing home and care center in Yilan, where we washed windows, helped feed the elderly residents, and spent time interacting with some of the handicapped patients. The language barrier made things difficult at times, but I could tell the residents were happy to see us there. Overall, it was a rewarding experience. Our final destination was Beijing, China, where we spent the remainder of our second week. We had much more time for sightseeing there than when we were in Taiwan, but we also did our most emotionally trying work while in Beijing. For a few hours each evening, we spent time playing with children at China Little Flower, an orphanage which takes in toddlers and infants with birth defects and medical conditions, children the government orphanages can't handle on their own. It was heart-Continued on Page 32 Leanne E. Lovász, a WPFA Scholarship Foundation grant recipient from Branch 296 Springdale, Pa., visited the Forbidden City this summer during a two-week mission trip to the Far East. Share Vour Story We would enjoy hearing from our recipients about their education, careers and lives. Please send your story and recent photograph to: William Penn Life, 709 Brighton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15233. Or, email your submissions to: jlovasz@williampennassociation.org. William Penn Life 0 September 2014 0 3
