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Eden Social Welfare Foundation
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2019-08-27

Story of an American social worker in Taiwan for an internship

In the United States, Vera studied the graduate degree of Social Work, and she went on an internship across Asia and chose the Eden Foundation. During the period, the engagement in visually impaired services, employment of the physical challenged and other areas, opened her vision. She is ready to bring her fulfilling experiences back to the United States for application.

Vera has a wish to work in Taiwan’s social welfare unit for a long time

Taiwan has a special significant meaning for Vera. It is not only her mother's hometown, but her first choice for her social work internship. Vera is from North Carolina. Her parents immigrated from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the United States respectively. At the age of 17, Vera and her grandmother returned to Taiwan for the first time to participate in the Chinese Youth Summer Camp. That leaves her an unforgettable impression: Taiwan is a very interesting place.

At the Institute of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, some of the patients that Vera was exposed to at the hospital during the internship were not adequately covered by medical insurance, and some did not even have insurance. Vera assessed each case’s needs to provide short-term health care interventions and helped connect communities’ resources. During the internship, Vera was also exposed to many patients with brain injury, stroke, and ridge injury that caused inability to live independently.  She subsequently cultivated her interest in helping the physical challenged. Before graduation, Vera had planned to engage in macro social work, which is a subgroup of health care policies. Vera hopes to use what she learned to uproot the inequality in the health care system.

enjoy with children

To align with the macro social work vision, Vera expects to reach out to people with disabilities and several underprivileged groups. Through the Eden Foundation's English official website, Vera discovered that the Foundation has both multi-disciplinary and single-disciplinary services as well as the promotion of policies that improve the rights and interests of the physical challenged. Having a great enthusiasm towards service along with her Christian faith, Vera began to apply for an internship in Taiwan Eden.

During the internship, Vera came to the Ai Ming Visually Impaired service Development Center, a visually impaired service unit in Banqiao that participates in the life rehabilitation and living self-care courses for the visually impaired. Through self-care courses, Vera learned that visually impaired people can also cook and work together to focus on the social support service for the visually impaired: group music courses. During the process, Vera enjoys the joyful atmosphere created by the visually impaired groups.

Vera recalls that people rarely see physically and mentally challenged people in the United States’ workplace. But in the Nangang En-Wang Human Resource Center for People with disabilities, Vera has been trained in the management of career rehabilitation services. With the help and guidance of the job attendants, people with disabilities can also engage in cleaning jobs on the campus of National Taiwan Normal University and catering services at Nu Cafe. Vera recalled that he had interned in a hospital. Although the patient was discharged from the hospital, he struggles in life because of his disability. Employment is a very practical need, showing the importance of vocational rehabilitation.

at Nu Café

During the summer internship in Eden, there were two other interns from Germany, Belana and Benedikt. During lunch or after work, Vera exchanged interesting experiences of their internships and cultural differences.

The one-month internship soon ended. Vera also visited relatives in Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu and other places during this internship. These are the trips that was not been planned beforehand. Vera packs Taiwan's warm and generous human kindness into an almost overloaded luggage to United States to continue her life dedicated to social work.