Taiwan embassy supports Amber Foundation

KNYSNA NEWS - Promising local and international relations were formed on Friday 24 March as delegates from the Taiwanese embassy in Cape Town, the Taipei Liaison Office, handed over dignity parcels in sponsorship of a local charity organisation, the Amber Foundation. Director General of the Taipei Liaison Office David Yintso Lin handed the dignity packs to the foundation's founder, Amber Cole.

Lin, Lisa Lee and David Chang were among the representatives from the Taiwanese embassy at the ceremony. Lin gave the attending students an enlightening speech on the value of education.

He also emphasised the efforts made by the embassy to promote positive ties between Taiwan and South Africa.

The Amber Foundation provides 150 school girls in the greater Knysna with sanitary products on a monthly basis.

It was founded in 2021 and was born out of the desire to help and empower young girls, a cause close to Cole's heart.

The work of the Amber Foundation stretches far beyond providing young girls in the community with sanitary products and toiletry packs. They also work to empower the next generation of women, provide them with upstanding female role models within their own community and build their confidence in themselves.

"The aim of the Amber Foun-dation is to help those girls in need and keep them in school," says Cole. "Our mission is to empower young girls and to give them the confidence to keep going and to keep being the best versions of themselves."

The sponsorship between the Taiwanese embassy and the Amber Foundation was facilitated by Eleanore Bouw-Spies, Shadow Deputy Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Western Cape and a former mayor of Knysna.

The handover was an uplifting and inspiring event, with all stakeholders of the Amber Foundation present.

Concordia Primary School, where a large number of the girls are beneficiaries of the packs provided by the foundation, was represented by its deputy principal, Roché Witbooi, as well as one of the learners.

The Amber Foundation intends to assist more young girls as they deal with various socioeconomic difficulties by increasing its community outreach and fostering more co-operative partnerships in the future.

Some of the important delegates who attended the handover event.