Support children with facial differences in Taiwan

Hello everyone! My name is Hsiao-Hsing.

My dare to myself is to tell people who stare at me: “What are you staring at? Even though I look different from other people, it doesn’t give you the right to stare at me.”

-        Hsiao-Hsing, elementary school student

Hsiao-Hsing is one of the 504 children from across Taiwan who received scholarships from Sunshine Foundation. During the award ceremony held with the theme “I Dare Myself to…”, Hsiao-Hsing expressed in his own individual way the experience of children living with a visible difference, their concerns and worries, but also their dreams and aspirations.

Hsiao-Hsing wants to be treated with the same respect as any other person and wants the courage to speak up for his rights. Other children during the ceremony said that they want to graduate from university, some want to accomplish what any youth her age looks forward to like traveling, some just want the strength to push forward despite their illness.

Children with a visible difference caused by injury or illness have to go through complex medical treatments, operations and/or physical therapy sessions throughout their young lives, sometimes spending their winter or summer vacations in hospital. In addition, their visible difference means that they will be confronted to unfair treatment from their peers or even adults (staring, mockery, bullying, etc.) that will make their time in school more difficult. The scholarships and award ceremony are an opportunity for these children’s stories and their voice to be heard, for their struggles and efforts to be seen and recognized. It’s also an opportunity for these children to see their own strengths and accomplishments, and to be daring in what they want to achieve, now and in the future.

Thank you for supporting our project Support children with facial difference in Taiwan and contributing to the empowerment of children with visible differences.

“Everyone is wearing masks nowadays. But still, the most difficult thing for Tanivu is when she needs to take her mask off. People will stare and it makes her feel very uncomfortable.”

Tanivu’s mother

Twelve-year old Tanivu is a girl with bright eyes and a sweet smile. She belongs to the Bunun people and lives in a mountainous area of the eastern Taitung Township. Not long after Tanivu was born, her parents noticed obvious blueish and grayish marks on the right side of her face. As she grew up, the area covered by the marks gradually became larger, taking up 1/3 of the right side of her face before she was one year old. A doctor later diagnosed the marks as Nevus of Ota [1].

Her parents wanted Tanivu to receive treatment, but her family's livelihood relied entirely on her father's farming income, and the cost of treatment was a huge burden. Tanivu’s mother explains: "At that time, our three children were still young, and there were not many job opportunities in the mountains, so our income was very limited..."

Coupled with the lack of medical resources in remote villages, seeking medical treatment was not easy. "To go down the mountain, we have to borrow a car from others and drive for an hour to get to the city... Then there are the costs for seeing a doctor. Money was tight and we would rather try saving enough money to treat our child.”

Tanivu is a smart and sensible child who understood that the family was facing hardships. In order to reduce the burden on her parents, she would help with housework along with her two young brothers. She never asked her parents to buy her anything and she never let her parents worry. Her mother says: "She is very good, she always does her own things well. Her grades are also very good. She once represented our Township in an English competition in Taitung County. Can you imagine her competing against city kids who go to cram school? She is really smart."

After all three children began to attend school, Tanivu’s mother found a job helping to grow tomatoes, while her father drove a truck to transport vegetables and fruits to various counties and cities. Criss-crossing the rugged mountain roads is tiring and dangerous, but the couple never complained: "If you have a job, just do your best."

The two of them saved money little by little. Around the same time, Tanivu’s aunt read about Sunshine Foundation and contacted their service center. When the social worker learned about Tanivu's situation, in addition to helping the family by introducing them to doctors in Taichung for medical treatment, the foundation also assisted in providing financial aid to relieve the family's financial pressure, and finally allow Tanivu to receive treatment with peace of mind.

Last year (2021), Tanivu left her parents’ home and went to live with a relative in Nantou County, which makes it easier to travel to and from Taichung City for treatment. Even though she has to endure the loneliness of being away from home at a young age and the pain of laser treatment, Tanivu cherishes this hard-won treatment opportunity. Fortunately, the hard work finally is paying off, and her mother said with relief: "With treatment, the color is become lighter and the area covered by the marks is shrunking. Now the gray and blue look like the blue sky."

Tanivu’s family will continue to work hard to help their daughter and Sunshine will continue to provide financial and psychological support to make Tanivu’s journey towards recovery less difficult and less lonely.

On 2022 GivingTuesday, donate to help children with visible difference like Tanivu and their family!

GlobalGiving’s 2022 GivingTuesday campaign will last 24 hours, from 00:00:00 EST to 23:59:59 EST on November 29, 2022, and will have an Incentive Fund of $1,200,000 USD which will be distributed to participants proportionally based on final fundraising totals. Your donation will help us unlock a greater share of those bonus funds!

[1] Nevus of Ota is hyperpigmentation that occurs on the face and is caused by excessive melanocytes in the tissues.