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NEWS VISION - November 2006
Jerry Yan (言承旭), Asian pop star of Taiwan’s famous boy band "F4" and lead actor in the popular Mandarin TV series "Meteor Garden" (流星花园) and "The Hospital" (白色巨塔, due to be televised in Singapore), returned from his week-long trip to Mongolia on October 30, 2006, and recounted his experience visiting the poorest children there.
"For the first time, I realised the value of my life," said Jerry Yan after bidding farewell to his sponsored child in Mongolia at the end of his orientation trip as World Vision’s first Asia Regional Child Sponsorship Ambassador.
Jerry was overjoyed when he met his sponsored child, Dorjtovuu. | Jerry’s trip to Mongolia was held in conjunction with his recent appointment as the humanitarian organisation’s first Asian regional ambassador endorsed by World Vision offices in 10 countries – Hong Kong, Indonesia Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Weathering windy chills and the cold winter, the celebrated star met with two of his sponsored children and another child sponsored by his Hong Kong fan club, and realised why it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Traveling over snow-clad desert by car for nearly eight hours from Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia capital), Jerry and the World Vision staff and media from Singapore and Taiwan arrived at a World Vision Taiwan funded Area Development Programme (ADP) in Dundgobi to visit families of his sponsored children.
Jerry related that desperate poverty had driven his sponsored child, Dorjtovuu’s father to steal animals from other herdsmen where he was subsequently sentenced to prison. Dorjtovuu’s mother was left to raise five children alone with a salary of less than S$25 a month. Their situation became worse when their home was burnt in 2000. However, thanks to support from World Vision and the government, the mother received a new ger (Mongolian tent) and a job, and is able to send her children to school now. At the tender age of eight, Dorjtovuu was already tending sheep for neighbours in exchange for food.
"Coming from a single parent headed family I can sympathise with the hardship of a single mom who has to support a family on her own," Jerry admired, "Dorjtovuu has been helping the family, but at his age I was a trouble maker".
Jerry visited the Lighthouse; a centre where World Vision provides shelter and protection to street children. | About an hour’s drive from the provincial capital, Jerry visited Ragchaasuren and his family. With no electricity in the ger, the family used candles for lighting and burning animals’ dung for heating.
Despite their poverty, the family of six, including 8-year-old sponsored child Ragchaasuren and his 10-year-old sister Yanjinsuren, welcomed the visitors with their best smiles.
Ragchaasuren and Yanjinsuren not only taught Jerry how to set a fire, ride a camel, and play Mongolian games, but they also showed him the true meaning of giving and gratitude.
Currently, Jerry is touring the other nine countries in Asia to promote child sponsorship as World Vision’s Asia Regional Child Sponsorship Ambassador.
For more reports on Jerry’s Mongolian trip experience and updates on his visit to Singapore, log on to www.worldvision.org.sg today.
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