Taiwan CCF Searches for Sponsored Children’s Whereabouts

Anxious sponsors from the Christian Children’s Fund show great concern over the fate of their sponsored children in tsunami-devastated Asia.
Dec 31, 2004 11:50 PM EST

Almost a week since a massive tsunami ripped through the coastline of nine countries, communication with large swathes of devastated regions remains difficult if not impossible. This fact has not stopped the efforts of numerous Christian Children’s Fund sponsors from Taiwan to embark on a desperate search for their sponsored children.

Families in Taiwan have sponsored no less than 1,592 children in Sri Lanka, 1,637 children in India, 1,073 children in Thailand, and 854 children in Indonesia. Indeed, reports of massive death toll have left many sponsors concerned and worried over the fate of those they have sponsored.

"The sponsors have been calling anxiously to find out if their sponsored children are all right. Unfortunately, due to communications being cut off in the disaster zones, so far it is very hard to tell," Su Chiong-hwa said to Taipei Times. Su is a senior staff member in the Christian Children’s Fund.

Speaking to Taipei Times, Su also explained how staff members were making efforts to bring relief supplies to disaster zones. “We are now working with the Christian Children's Fund [the CCF's global headquarters] in the U.S. to raise money to send medical or other supplies to the victims,” he said.

In the course of several days, CCF has delivered aid-supplies such as drinking water, clothes, food and blanket to disaster zones throughout Southeast Asia. CCF spokesmen all over the world have publicly asked for donations and contributions.

At the time of this writing, the whereabouts of many children remain unclear, as the tsunami has completely leveled power stations, wiped out telephone lines, and damaged passable roads. According a U.N. Report release earlier, children account for one-third of the total people killed so far.