Crisis Support for Indigenous Woman in Taiwan

Hi everyone,

My name is Yo-Ling Chen and I am organizing this GoFundMe for my Indigenous friend, Amber (pseudonym), in Taiwan because her mother recently had a stroke and she was also the victim of a sex crime. The simultaneity of these two events has been financially and emotionally devastating for Amber. Amber is her mother's only child, and as such has taken on primary responsibility for coordinating her mother's healthcare and managing her mother's remaining assets, which have not been enough to cover medical expenses in full. To date, Amber has personally paid approximately $6,780 USD for her mother’s healthcare costs.

I am hoping to raise $2,040 to cover Amber's rent and living expenses for three months. Your kindness and generosity will help lessen the immense pressure that Amber is under as she continues navigating this doubly impossible situation, which I detail below:

Amber’s Mother’s Stroke

On the evening of August 12th, Amber’s mother had a stroke and collapsed to the floor while alone at home. She was not discovered until noon the next day, after which she was promptly taken to the emergency room and underwent surgery. When Amber’s mother regained consciousness, her left side was completely paralyzed. After approximately three weeks of post-op recovery and nine weeks of intensive stroke rehabilitation, Amber’s mother was discharged from the hospital last week on November 7th. However, she still suffers from left-side paralysis, requires a live-in caregiver, and needs to go to the rehabilitation hospital on a regular basis for appointments and medication refills.

Due to the extreme circumstances of her mother’s medical situation, Amber has been on unpaid leave from work for the past three months; however, since she has spent all of her personal savings on her mother’s healthcare costs, she is currently in the process of going back to work part-time, starting with two days per week.

Digital Voyeurism Incident

In the midst of the uncertainty and turmoil of her mother’s health, Amber has leaned extensively on friends and mentors for emotional support, especially a trusted teacher and her husband. However, on the evening of October 20th while staying over at her teacher’s house, Amber was shocked to discover that her teacher’s husband was filming her while she was showering. This act of digital voyeurism has been extremely disturbing for Amber, as her trust in her teacher and teacher’s husband was instantly shattered. Under the advice and representation of a lawyer, Amber decided to press criminal charges against her teacher’s husband, the investigation proceedings of which started earlier this month.

Amber’s teacher and teacher’s husband are not happy about Amber pressing charges. Since Amber’s teacher and teacher’s husband both know Amber’s original apartment address, she is currently in the process of moving to a new apartment out of safety concerns.

This GoFundMe

The monthly rent for Amber’s new living arrangement is $370; her living expenses (utilities, food, transportation to work and to see her mother) moving forward are estimated to be $310 per month. With regards to her mother’s medical situation, doctors told Amber that the extent of recovery for most stroke patients’ becomes more clear after six months, meaning that Amber is still in a state of high uncertainty until at least next February. This GoFundMe is specifically intended to cover Amber's living costs for the next three months so that she can recuperate her personal savings to continue contributing to her mother’s healthcare and cover any legal fees that result from the digital voyeurism incident. After this three month period, I will update this GoFundMe with any additional financial aid needs that might arise from Amber’s mother’s situation and Amber’s criminal lawsuit against her teacher's husband. Funds from this GoFundMe will go to my US bank account, which I will then convert into NTD in my Taiwanese bank account and transfer to Amber (please see updates for screenshots of disbursements as I complete them).

Amber greatly appreciates any help that you are able to provide for her during this time, be it through a monetary donation or by simply sharing this GoFundMe with other kindhearted people within your communities who may be willing to give. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Amber's situation and considering the ways that you can help lessen her suffering in the midst of these two crises.