JeeEun Kim/Chapter 5 Interview/Narrative Composition/Tuesday 34

Beth

While Korea's government is trying to raise Korea's birth rate with television programs that shows how important family is and how the celebrities are raising their kids. Through these variety shows, more and more citizens of Korea are having a positive instinct of giving birth and raising child. Last year in 2014, it was shown that Taiwan was ranked number one in the world for having the lowest birth rate.

             Beth Williamson, a missionary in Taiwan, who opened an orphanage in 2004 says, "This is a tragic society. In Taiwan, nobody wants to give birth anymore. Throughout these ten years I've been working, we've had numerous of babies just put right in front of our orphanage door. Without a note, without anything, the parent just leaves them." As soon as they bring the baby in, they do a health check. "Every single of on the babies are precious, and it breaks my heart when the parents can't see how precious their child is," says Williamson.

             In a society where the cost of living is high, having kids are an unwelcome burden and has become an accepted idea; surely, taboo in many cultures. "We are getting more and more babies every year, and the adoption process is getting harder and harder," says one of the Taiwanese workers. "Before I came here to work, I had no plans on getting married or having children. It wasn't because of the economic reasons; I just preferred to have more freedom and less burden" the worker added on.

             This doesn't seem surprising at all in Taiwan anymore. The workers parents also respected her decision. But now that she works in the orphanage, the children completely transformed her mind.

             "The Taiwan government is trying to find a solution to raise awareness but nothing seems to be changing If the island continues on this track, the population would experience a future labor shortage, and the next generation of children would have a significant difficulty covering the health costs of their aging parents" say Williamson.

             When asked if she ever regretted stepping into this field and become a mom of many child, she smiled and said, "At first when I started it, I started off with five kids. I didn't know where to start, how to start, or even what to do. It was so difficult and hard, yes, I regretted. But I prayed and prayed and prayed to God to give me strength. And till now, it's still not easy, but I don't regret because each of these kids so adorable and lovable."