In late May, Ms. Haregewoin Teferra will travel from Ethiopia to Taiwan to accept the Fervent Global Love of Lives award from the Cho Ta-Kuan (CTK) Foundation. Patrick and I have written an article in the June issue of the Better Life magazine on Ms. Teferra and her story.

Here is Ms. Teferra’s message to the people of Taiwan and the Chinese translation:

Hi, my name is Haregewoin Teferra. I come from Ethiopia and I am excited to have the opportunity to meet and speak with the people of Taiwan.

My beautiful country of Ethiopia has been hurt very badly by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In the past, orphaned children were absorbed by their extended families. Today, so many generations and so many people have been hurt or killed by AIDS, that the traditional networks can no longer support the children. My wish is to help the orphaned and vulnerable children of my country. Wherever possible, I would like to help sustain the children where they live, by reaching out to their neighbors and grandparents and teachers, whoever is currently care for the children.

I would like to say to those people, “Do not abandon these children who need you. Do not place them in orphanages. Let them grow up with you, and let my foundation help you to keep the children.”

For those children who have no hope of remaining in their original neighborhood, village, or town, I would like to create a bigger home so that they can have shelter, food, medicine, schooling, and love.

嗨，我的名字是德菲拉。我來自非洲的衣索比亞。我很興奮能有機會到台灣和大家見面交談。

我美麗的國家，衣索比亞，遭到愛滋病的侵襲，傷得很重。在過去，孤兒通常由他們的親戚照養。今天，太多代、太多人在愛滋病的肆虐之下，不是死就是傷，傳統的方式已經沒有辦法繼續了。我的願望就是幫助這些無法照顧自己的孤兒。如果情況許可，我希望和原來就在照顧他們的人－不管是鄰居、祖父母、或老師－商量，在這些小孩原來住的地方幫助他們。

我要告訴他們：「不要放棄這些小孩，不要把他們送到孤兒院去。讓他們在你的顧養下長大，讓我的基金會幫你留住這些小孩。」

那些不可能留在他們生長的社區或村落的小孩，我希望給他們一個大家庭，讓他們有個庇蔭之所，有食物、醫療、有學校可上，還有愛。

Yves Behar sits daily in fuseproject, his San Francisco design studio, thinking up new ideas for his client, the non-profit M.I.T. Media Lab. Media Lab has the revolutionary new idea of radically redesigning the laptop, lowering the price to $100, and using them as nodes in poor countries to connect to a central server (also in the hundred dollar range) chock-full of educational materials.

But first, a myriad of design problems must be solved - since many of the computers would be bought by countries in Africa such as Nigeria, the laptops must be water-proof, heat-proof, shock-proof, spill-proof, and dust-proof. The laptop interface must also be rethought and made intuitive for an African child, who has probably never seen a computer in his or her life.

The project is very close to completion. Many governments have already pledged the money for millions of laptops, and they are due for production in a Quanta factory at the end of 2006.

An early model of the $100 laptop

國三女赴大陸 照料重殘孤兒

記者張念慈／攝影
【記者張念慈／新竹縣報導】

新竹縣橫山國中三年級學生黃書亞放棄升學考試，昨天隻身前往大陸廣西一所孤兒院當志工，照料重殘孤兒兩個月；她還將下田耕種，自食其力。當地孤兒院深受感動，暱稱她是「台灣小太陽」。

一個多月前，黃書亞跟一般國三學生沒兩樣，為著五月底舉行的國中基本學力測驗而努力。昨天早上八時，她卻背起簡單行囊，揮別家人，搭機到廣西偏遠的孤兒院，去實現大愛；在機場她沒有哭，只是緊抱著父母和弟妹。

黃書亞是家中的老大，有弟弟、妹妹。她的父親黃天人十多年前在台北縣當牧師時，結識一名鄭姓女護士，女護士到大陸一處孤兒院參訪，發現大陸實施一胎化，許多重殘孤兒被丟棄，無人照料，便發願到當地孤兒院無償服務。

黃天人與太太楊怡傑得知此事後，每個月贊助鄭姓女護士四千元充作薪水，至今已十年。鄭姓女護士三月初告知黃天人，孤兒院需要人幫忙，黃天人與太太便徵詢書亞是否願意前去。

黃書亞表示，她六歲那年，父親曾帶她到泰北參觀孤兒院，並用零用錢認養一個比她小兩歲的女孩。她曾看過養不起雙胞胎的貧困媽媽，為了不讓多出來的孩子被殺掉，偷偷把孩子藏起來養。母親乾癟的乳頭擠不出一滴奶水，孩子咬著奶頭嗚嗚哭泣，讓她很震撼：「如果可以多幫助他們一點，有多好？」

因此，當父母告知此事時，她只驚訝了一下下，便立刻答應，「我要彈琴給小朋友聽，幫他們做復健。」這一個多月來，她勤快地翻閱兒童照顧保健相關書籍，從小便是孩子王的她，希望到大陸後，能帶給不幸的孩子們幸福和快樂。

深怕暴露身分後被大陸打壓的鄭姓女護士說，書亞前去的孤兒院收容了近百位重殘孤兒，有出生即腦部水腫的大頭寶寶、被家人認為是凶兆要殺掉，母親哭著在孤兒院門口餵孩子最後一次奶；也有女嬰被丟到孤兒院旁的糞坑和垃圾桶裡，險些被淹死，這些孩子在孤兒院找回了新生命。

鄭姓女護士表示，書亞未來兩個月內，將負責照料約十五位重殘孤兒，並彈奏鋼琴協助孩子們做音樂復健。孤兒院提供書亞一塊地種菜，「這絕不是輕鬆的大陸旅行，而是殘酷的現實考驗。」書亞的決定讓孤兒院感動不已。

What a wonderful way to spend 2 months. Good luck to her!