Ping-pong diplomacy: volunteer finds inspiration in St. Lucia

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asked Jan 8, 2020 in 3D Segmentation by freemexy (47,810 points)
edited Jan 21, 2020 by freemexy

Ping-pong diplomacy: volunteer finds inspiration in St. Lucia

Award-winning Taiwanese novelist William Lien has always had an eye for overseas adventure, performing his military service by teaching Chinese in the Philippines and working odd jobs in Canada and Hawaii after that.To get more news about ping pong diplomacy, you can visit shine news official website.

So when he saw an offer online a few years ago to volunteer in St. Lucia, a diplomatic ally of Taiwan, to teach table tennis, he was very much intrigued and decided to give it a try, seeing it as an opportunity for a new experience.

Beyond testing himself, however, he would also be serving as an unofficial ambassador for his country because the position was advertised by TaiwanICDF, a government-funded agency that runs the country's foreign aid programs, as part of its volunteer program.
Recognized by only 17 countries worldwide, most of them in Central America, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific, and with limited resources to combat China's relentless attempts to poach its allies, Taiwan has had to get creative in promoting diplomacy.

A key traditional diplomatic tool has been Taiwan's overseas agricultural, technical and medical missions handled by TaiwanICDF that offer advanced training and expertise.But a lesser-known function of the group in promoting the country's interests is to recruit volunteers willing to serve overseas.

The first group of TaiwanICDF volunteers departed for Swaziland (or eSwatini as it is known today) in 1996, and a total of 743 volunteers had served abroad in 39 countries as of December 2018.

These volunteers contribute unique, and sometimes rather eccentric, expertise to people in allied countries, serving as English, math and dance teachers and baking/pastry chef instructors, to name just a few.

TaiwanICDF even once tried to recruit a Qigong practitioner to teach the ancient Chinese exercise/healing technique involving meditation, controlled breathing and movement exercises.

But it ultimately gave up because it was too difficult to find a qualified Qigong master who spoke English or Spanish and was willing to travel afar to serve as a volunteer with little pay.According to TaiwanICDF, all of these volunteer positions are created at the request of allied countries, and perhaps the most eye-catching request has been from Caribbean ally St. Lucia for a table tennis coach.

Lien, who was won almost every major literary prize the country has to offer but also played table tennis on his university team and has coached the sport in Taiwan, did the job in St. Lucia from May 2017 to May 2018.

In a recent phone interview with CNA on his experience, Lien said table tennis was not really popular in St. Lucia and there was only one qualified coach in the entire country.

But St. Lucia has a rich history in the sport, winning several Caribbean championships decades ago, and "now they want to rekindle that old glory, which is why they asked for Taiwan's help," he said.

As with all TaiwanICDF volunteers, Lien was given a round-trip ticket and a limited monthly stipend well south of US$1,000 a month (the amounts vary by country) for living expenses.He quickly found out, however, that the job was far more challenging than he ever expected, starting with its long hours.

Lien said he woke up at 7 every morning to take a bus to a school where he would meet St. Lucia's one table tennis coach. The two would then spend the whole day touring the country to teach the game.

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