Translator | Chang, Ching-Chia

Katharina Wiegand has a great Chinese name, called “Gao Ren”. Three weeks have passed, she found that her abilities are limited. However, it is enough to make the contribution, accompany with persons with disabilities, make them happy, and leave behind wonderful memories for each other. 

Katharina Wiegand, who is from Germany, has a long and soft hair. She looks like a beautiful princess of the Middle Ages. The sense of distance disappears in the blink of an eye when she starts to talk. Katharina Wiegand can speak some easy Chinese because she had lived in Shanghai until 11 years old before.

In the period of being a volunteer, Katharina Wiegand accompanied care users from Eden Da Long Rehabilitation Center to Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli. She said that she was worried about being a volunteer to treat persons with disabilities well. Thus, Eden’s volunteer's program embarked on complete education training before acting, including basic instructions of wheelchairs, how to cook foods for disabilities and help them to eat, etc.

The Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli has an endless, rolling hill. Although the landscape is beautiful, it is difficult to pushing disabilities in the wheelchairs to climb up and down. Katharina thought she was afraid she can’t push the wheelchair well and then lead the person with a disability to fall and get hurt. However, she pushed the care user in the wheelchair carefully. Finally, when they climbed to the high point, the cool breeze slowly came. Katharina sweating a lot was very pleasant after seeing the care user smile.

Another service experience is accompany early intervention of children. When Katharina accompanied children from Eden Early Intervention Center to the hospital for physical therapy, she saw that children who were originally lively and lovely, smiling and working hard to use the walking aids for daily rehabilitation. The smile faded and looked uncomfortable. It made Katharina distressed. But, all she can do is gave them a big hug when the children finish their daily rehabilitation. Katharina said “I really think I don’t give any help. I just stay with them, try to make them happy, and let the children be happy. For me, it is the most important thing.” One day, Katharina went to Eden Wanfang Day Care Center to accompany artists with disabilities to draw. She seated quietly next to the youth artist. Although the language is impracticable and the youth artist cannot use language expression smoothly. But, Katharina’s bright, big eyes were watching every move of the disabled youth. She was afraid to miss the needs indicated by any one of the eyes of the young artist. Katharina has great enthusiasm for service from the subtle movements of giving pigment and changing water.          

Being a volunteer shares warm energy to care users. Let care users have a warm companionship. Eden believes that Katharina cherishes these memories after her service ends. In the future, we hope Katharina to keep the spirit of Leave No One Behind in her mind.

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