- A
- S
A MEMBER OF OUR TAICHUNG COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSISTANCE. CAN YOU HELP?
===================================================================
Hi everyone, for those that aren’t familiar with Haxstrong Charity, we are a charitable organization that assists members of the International Community in Taiwan. (www.haxstrong.org) I’m Shaun and I’m the president of the charity and have started this GoFundMe campaign as Helen and Victor are not able to set something like this up to collect donations from friends overseas who wish to help. If you are in Taiwan, local bank information is listed below to donate directly to Helen and Vic’s account.
All the money raised here, minus the percentage that GoFundMe take, will be donated directly to Helen. Our charity does not take any fees.
I have been assisting a couple in Taichung for almost a year now. Helen Ray Yen and her husband, Victor Yen are both South African, 75 years old, and have lived in Taiwan for over 20 years.
They are in dire need of financial assistance due to a unique set of circumstances they find themselves in.
WHAT HAPPENED?
================
Victor’s parents are originally from China, but Victor was born and raised in South Africa. There’s a special stipulation in Taiwan allowing him to apply for Taiwanese citizenship and so he applied for this back in 2017. Victor and Helen never met the earnings threshold to get an APRC, so have always remained on ARCs. Helen’s ARC is tied to Victor by marriage.
Everything on the Taiwan side went smoothly, and the final step was for him to renounce his South African citizenship, which he did, and then to submit the official confirmation of this to the Taiwan government within 1 year. Unfortunately, the South African government never issued this document to Victor despite many communications between Victor, the Home Office in South Africa and the South African Liaison Office in Taipei. Family members and representatives in South Africa assisting Victor came up empty handed. On top of all this, Victor’s passport was about to expire in July of 2019. Renewing his passport from Taiwan would take too long and so frustration turned to desperation.
Victor decided the best course of action would be to return to South Africa, renew his passport in person and find out what on earth was going on with his renunciation. Helen remained in Taiwan.
VICTOR BECAME STATELESS
=======================
Victor arrived back in South Africa and went to the Home Office to renew his passport. The clerk punched in his details and it turned out he was not in the system. He was no longer a citizen of South Africa. He was not yet a Taiwanese citizen. Victor was now stateless. He could not leave South Africa and Taiwan could not assist him as he wasn’t a Taiwanese citizen yet, either.
3 days later the Liaison Office in Taiwan informed Victor they had received official confirmation of his renunciation. The time limit on his application for Taiwan citizenship was also up and was promptly cancelled.
In the last 10 months with the help of Haxstrong, friends, and some high level connections, Victor’s case has run to the very highest levels of government in Taiwan. In short, Taiwan has granted special permission for Victor to become a Taiwan citizen. Everything is in place ready for him. He is currently waiting for South Africa to grant him a travel document so that he may return to Taiwan. That is taking a long time though and then Covid-19 hit, slowing the process even further. We have no idea when this document will be granted. International Human Rights were also contacted, but they offered little in the way of help or suggestions.
Helen has been granted special permission to stay in Taiwan. Returning to South Africa is not really an option as Victor is basically staying on his sister’s couch in Johannesburg. They have no other family in South Africa as they have all emigrated. Helen suffers with anxiety, depression and genuinely fears for her safety if she were to return to Johannesburg, which is well known as an unsafe city to live in. She also has no money even if that were an option and then there’s travel restrictions with Covid-19. Helen has been so distraught about this entire situation that she attempted to take her own life last year.
VICTOR & HELEN'S FINANCIAL SITUATION
==================================
Victor and Helen have exhausted all of their savings and borrowed money countless times from friends and family throughout this process.
While Victor is being supported by his sister, Helen is stuck in Taiwan, and cannot legally work as her ARC lapsed when Victor’s passport expired and she is here on a tourist visa. Helen is a very humble lady, and is too proud to ask for help, but we're afraid that she now has no choice. She has done an enormous amount of work in the past fighting for the welfare of animals in Taiwan and has personally paid for and helped many animals find new homes both in Taiwan and overseas. Her love of animals and the dog and cat she has keeps her going through these very dark times in her life.
She has basically no income, and has not paid rent for 3 months. She is down to living on bread and canned corn and that is not a euphemism, she actually told me that that is what she is eating at the moment as it’s cheap. She said she would rather let her pets eat and she can go hungry. She is now facing the real threat she could lose the roof over her head if she doesn’t get financial assistance soon. Her landlord has been very understanding and is allowing her to pay when she can, but obviously there’s only so much a landlord will be willing to go before they will want to see some rent payments.
We are appealing to the community in Taichung and her friends overseas to help with immediate donations of money for living expenses, and donations of food (NOTE: Helen is vegetarian) and maybe even visit her as she is by herself and often has panic attacks and is afraid to go out. She lives over by the Art Museum in Taichung.
Her rent is NT$7,000 ( USD $230 / GBP £185 ) per month
Her living expenses are around NT$10,000 ( USD $330 / GBP £265 ) per month for bills and food.
We are also looking for volunteers to help organize a fundraiser in Taichung at a later date, but right now we need to solve her immediate crisis of rent, bills and food.
You can donate directly through this GoFundMe campaign using a credit or debit card.
If you are in Taiwan, donations can also be made directly to Victor’s account and Helen can withdraw the money.
TAIWAN BANK DETAILS FOR LOCAL DONATIONS
=======================================
BANK: Shinkong Bank (新光銀行)
BANK/ATM CODE: 103
ACC NO. 0374-50-106676-4
Thank you for any help you can offer. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.
Shaun Bettinson
Haxstrong President
[email redacted]
www.haxstrong.org
===================================================================
Hi everyone, for those that aren’t familiar with Haxstrong Charity, we are a charitable organization that assists members of the International Community in Taiwan. (www.haxstrong.org) I’m Shaun and I’m the president of the charity and have started this GoFundMe campaign as Helen and Victor are not able to set something like this up to collect donations from friends overseas who wish to help. If you are in Taiwan, local bank information is listed below to donate directly to Helen and Vic’s account.
All the money raised here, minus the percentage that GoFundMe take, will be donated directly to Helen. Our charity does not take any fees.
I have been assisting a couple in Taichung for almost a year now. Helen Ray Yen and her husband, Victor Yen are both South African, 75 years old, and have lived in Taiwan for over 20 years.
They are in dire need of financial assistance due to a unique set of circumstances they find themselves in.
WHAT HAPPENED?
================
Victor’s parents are originally from China, but Victor was born and raised in South Africa. There’s a special stipulation in Taiwan allowing him to apply for Taiwanese citizenship and so he applied for this back in 2017. Victor and Helen never met the earnings threshold to get an APRC, so have always remained on ARCs. Helen’s ARC is tied to Victor by marriage.
Everything on the Taiwan side went smoothly, and the final step was for him to renounce his South African citizenship, which he did, and then to submit the official confirmation of this to the Taiwan government within 1 year. Unfortunately, the South African government never issued this document to Victor despite many communications between Victor, the Home Office in South Africa and the South African Liaison Office in Taipei. Family members and representatives in South Africa assisting Victor came up empty handed. On top of all this, Victor’s passport was about to expire in July of 2019. Renewing his passport from Taiwan would take too long and so frustration turned to desperation.
Victor decided the best course of action would be to return to South Africa, renew his passport in person and find out what on earth was going on with his renunciation. Helen remained in Taiwan.
VICTOR BECAME STATELESS
=======================
Victor arrived back in South Africa and went to the Home Office to renew his passport. The clerk punched in his details and it turned out he was not in the system. He was no longer a citizen of South Africa. He was not yet a Taiwanese citizen. Victor was now stateless. He could not leave South Africa and Taiwan could not assist him as he wasn’t a Taiwanese citizen yet, either.
3 days later the Liaison Office in Taiwan informed Victor they had received official confirmation of his renunciation. The time limit on his application for Taiwan citizenship was also up and was promptly cancelled.
In the last 10 months with the help of Haxstrong, friends, and some high level connections, Victor’s case has run to the very highest levels of government in Taiwan. In short, Taiwan has granted special permission for Victor to become a Taiwan citizen. Everything is in place ready for him. He is currently waiting for South Africa to grant him a travel document so that he may return to Taiwan. That is taking a long time though and then Covid-19 hit, slowing the process even further. We have no idea when this document will be granted. International Human Rights were also contacted, but they offered little in the way of help or suggestions.
Helen has been granted special permission to stay in Taiwan. Returning to South Africa is not really an option as Victor is basically staying on his sister’s couch in Johannesburg. They have no other family in South Africa as they have all emigrated. Helen suffers with anxiety, depression and genuinely fears for her safety if she were to return to Johannesburg, which is well known as an unsafe city to live in. She also has no money even if that were an option and then there’s travel restrictions with Covid-19. Helen has been so distraught about this entire situation that she attempted to take her own life last year.
VICTOR & HELEN'S FINANCIAL SITUATION
==================================
Victor and Helen have exhausted all of their savings and borrowed money countless times from friends and family throughout this process.
While Victor is being supported by his sister, Helen is stuck in Taiwan, and cannot legally work as her ARC lapsed when Victor’s passport expired and she is here on a tourist visa. Helen is a very humble lady, and is too proud to ask for help, but we're afraid that she now has no choice. She has done an enormous amount of work in the past fighting for the welfare of animals in Taiwan and has personally paid for and helped many animals find new homes both in Taiwan and overseas. Her love of animals and the dog and cat she has keeps her going through these very dark times in her life.
She has basically no income, and has not paid rent for 3 months. She is down to living on bread and canned corn and that is not a euphemism, she actually told me that that is what she is eating at the moment as it’s cheap. She said she would rather let her pets eat and she can go hungry. She is now facing the real threat she could lose the roof over her head if she doesn’t get financial assistance soon. Her landlord has been very understanding and is allowing her to pay when she can, but obviously there’s only so much a landlord will be willing to go before they will want to see some rent payments.
We are appealing to the community in Taichung and her friends overseas to help with immediate donations of money for living expenses, and donations of food (NOTE: Helen is vegetarian) and maybe even visit her as she is by herself and often has panic attacks and is afraid to go out. She lives over by the Art Museum in Taichung.
Her rent is NT$7,000 ( USD $230 / GBP £185 ) per month
Her living expenses are around NT$10,000 ( USD $330 / GBP £265 ) per month for bills and food.
We are also looking for volunteers to help organize a fundraiser in Taichung at a later date, but right now we need to solve her immediate crisis of rent, bills and food.
You can donate directly through this GoFundMe campaign using a credit or debit card.
If you are in Taiwan, donations can also be made directly to Victor’s account and Helen can withdraw the money.
TAIWAN BANK DETAILS FOR LOCAL DONATIONS
=======================================
BANK: Shinkong Bank (新光銀行)
BANK/ATM CODE: 103
ACC NO. 0374-50-106676-4
Thank you for any help you can offer. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.
Shaun Bettinson
Haxstrong President
[email redacted]
www.haxstrong.org
Organizer
Shaun Bettinson
Organizer