The China Post news staff
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- An 11-year-old girl student yesterday finally had her first birthday cake in 11 years, as the South Taipei branch of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) hosted a birthday party for her and 11 other children yesterday morning.
Mei-hui has dreamed of having a birthday cake for the past 10 years, because her family can hardly afford the three meals a day, let alone a birthday cake, according to Pan Hui-jen, director of the TFCF's Social Resources Department.
Pan said there are around 40,000 schoolchildren under TFCF's care, mostly from families with poor financial status. Such children can hardly expect to have a birthday party, blow out burning candles or eat a birthday cake.
For her part, Mei-hui has grown up with her grandmother, as her mentally handicapped mother has lived in a sanitarium where Mei-hui was born, and her father is missing.
The grandmother, aged 73, told reporters she is too old to seek a job, and was rejected when she even applied for a bowl-washing job at a restaurant.
Accordingly, the grandmother and her granddaughter can only rely on a monthly subsidy of NT$11,000 from the government, which is used to cover the electricity and water bills, and tuition for elementary school and cram school. Accordingly, the grandmother has no money to spare for a birthday cake for her granddaughter.
Mei-hui studies very hard, and often gets the highest score in her class on examinations, and her grandmother has taken her to a McDonald's fast food chain store to celebrate her birthday -- yet still without a birthday cake. But such a reward made Mei-hui happy for many days, according to the grandmother.
After getting a taste of her first birthday cake this year, Mei-hui happily told reporters that she would study even harder so that she can earn more money -- and then buy a big birthday cake for her grandmother. |
