Changing lives and doing good
As well as letting social welfare organizations start projects themselves, Red Turtle also seeks out others in need of help—people like Chen Fugui.
Forty-five-year-old Chen Fugui, from Taitung County, is a member of the Puyuma tribe. Eleven years ago, he was operating an excavator and working on clearing a road when the machine rolled, leaving him paraplegic. For two years after the accident, Chen wallowed in misery, never leaving his home. Then, to stop his daughter from being mocked for having a “cripple” for a father, he began taking his daughter to school, wheeling along in his wheelchair and saying hello to his daughter’s classmates. Realizing that unless he got back out into the world his daughter would continue to be a target of mockery, Chen made the decision to stop shutting himself away and began remodeling himself into someone who confronts life with positivity.
In June 2013, Chen joined a training program run by the Taitung Somatic Health Sports Federation in preparation for the 2014 National Disabled Games. As a younger man, Chen was a hunter capable of carrying a muntjac deer on one shoulder, so the coach saw great sporting potential in him.
Despite lacking resources, Chen refused to let his situation be an obstacle. As his hand didn’t quite have the grip strength to hold a table-tennis paddle for long, he tied the paddle to his hand with cloth for his practice sessions. For javelin and shot-put practice, meanwhile, he used a wooden staff and a heavy rock respectively.
Chen Fugui’s determination in the face of adversity inspired the people at Red Turtle, who started a project to raise the funds he needed both for gear and to take part in the games. For his part, Chen didn’t let his supporters down, earning three golds, one silver, and two bronzes at the games, as well as setting National Disabled Games records in the shot put and javelin.
He has also inspired others to challenge themselves, including people like Lin Yanying.
At age 27, Lin suffered an immune disorder that caused her spinal cord to become inflamed, ultimately leading to her lower body becoming paralyzed. She moved back home to Taitung from Taipei and began working with her mother making cheesecakes and selling them online. Originally content to just stay at home and make cakes, on a visit to the hospital Lin encountered Chen, who was volunteering there. Chen encouraged her to take up table tennis, and even brought her along to some games. As the two of them played more and more, Lin gradually started being able to return the ball, and the better she got, the more confident in herself she felt.
When she learned that Chen wanted to compete in a table tennis open in Thailand but couldn’t because of the cost, she set up a project on Red Turtle to raise money for him, promising free cakes to larger donors. After the project closed, she turned out an amazing 104 cakes in just three days to get them to her backers before Father’s Day, and presented the money raised to Chen as a token of her appreciation.
Red Turtle’s projects have already created miracles in the lives of those they’ve aimed to help. These examples of the power of positivity have inspired others, making more and more good things happen. With Red Turtle by our sides, every one of us can become a modern-day Liao Tianding!
Hand-made by Lin Yanying (seated), these “Sunrise Cakes” warm the soul as they fill the stomach.