Yu who lives in Chiayi lost her dad to esophageal cancer when she was six. Her mother, despite having polio, liver illness and kidney tumor, still works very hard stepping on the sewing machine altering clothes for a living. Withholding the pain of having sore weak hands, the mother grits her teeth just to finish an alteration job to perfection so that she could eke out a living for her family.

Yu and her mother have only each other to rely on. Yu finds it unbearable whenever her mother has to be hospitalized for medical treatment. Already fatherless, Yu could not imagine a life without her mother. The mother is on long-term medical medication plus her kidney tumor, so she is constantly worried about what would happen to Yu if she herself passes away. She was so agitated about it that she once asked the inspector, “Since you are a very loving person, can you please adopt Yu and take good care of her if I should ever pass away?” Such is the mother’s love for her daughter.

Seeing her mother being the hardworking breadwinner of the family, Yu has always been sweet and understanding from a very young age. After school, she would always help out around the house after finishing her homework, for example, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, sweeping the floor, and folding and bagging the altered clothes. She always wants to do a bit more extra to ease the mother’s load. Never having to take extra after-school lessons, Yu has always kept up her grades. Achieving excellence in her academic performance, she was presented with the major’s award at the elementary school graduation ceremony. Yu has exceptionally high expectations of herself. Every time the inspector visited the family, Yu could be seen pursing her lips, indicative of her maturity and perseverance, marking her out from the typical innocent schoolgirl. One would often feel sorry for a little girl having to grow up in such a tough environment.

For years, the Foundation has been watching over Yu and her mother, giving them monthly living allowances and buying the mother a scooter and shoes for the disabled as well as housing repair subsidies. We continue to look out for the mother-daughter duo and make sure they are provided for.