On June 7, 2001, Joanna Nicholas, the co-founder of the Taiwan Yawen Foundation and the Children’s Hearing Foundation, left us to return to her heavenly home. Subsequently, a farewell memorial service was held on June 25 at the East Gate Dongmen Presbyterian Church in Taipei.
That day, the entire church was filled with people who came to remember Joanna Nicholas, including foreign diplomats stationed in Taiwan. It was remarkable that many parents traveled with their children from central and southern Taiwan to attend. They brought their children to the memorial service and accompanied Joanna to the cemetery for her burial.
In Taiwanese culture, matters related to death are often taboo. However, in Joanna’s case, her love dispelled these taboos and fears. What moved people most about Joanna Nicholas was her genuine belief that the “suffering” in life was a “mission” God gave her.
In 1992, Joanna Nicholas learned that her 11-month-old daughter, Yawen, had a congenital hearing impairment. She and her husband, Kenny Cheng, sought renowned doctors for treatment and teachers to teach their daughter to speak. From seeking treatment to helping Yawen hear and speak, they experienced the greatest suffering of their lives. She immediately thought there must be many more children like Yawen in Taiwan who needed help overcoming similar obstacles.
Thus, she began to take on this mission, visiting major hospitals’ pediatric and ear, nose, and throat departments, hoping they could provide information on children with similar needs. She visited these families, telling the parents that she could help their children hear and learn to speak.
Joanna Nicholas, an American woman who deeply loved Taiwan, and Kenny provided all the resources needed for medical treatment and learning — teachers, venues, equipment, and expenses — and extended her love for her child to all children in Taiwan.
Joanna Nicholas develops breast cancer
In 2000, when she learned she had breast cancer, her reaction was the same. Besides seeking treatment, her first thought was that there must be many women in Taiwan like her who, due to negligence or other issues, could not get screened and were unaware they had cancer. She and Kenny decided to donate two specialized vehicles to the Cancer Prevention Foundation for cervical cancer screening, allowing women in remote or rural areas to have easy access to examinations.
When most people learn they have cancer, they immediately feel fear. Joanna Nicholas thought of the many others like her who needed more help. People who solve their children’s problems feel grateful for ancestral protection or thank their deities. But her first thought was: “God is showing me through this ‘suffering’ that there is a ‘mission’ to see that other children need my care too!”
To provide Taiwanese children with hearing impairments the same learning opportunities, Joanna and Kenny founded the Children’s Hearing Foundation in Taipei in December 1996. They dedicated themselves to helping children with hearing impairments learn to “listen” and “speak.” They also invited several internationally renowned educational experts to Taiwan to assist in training professional teachers and to establish the “auditory-verbal method” of teaching in Taiwan, combining love and professionalism to strengthen charitable efforts.
The Yawen Foundation’s Northern Center officially began operations in December 1996. In October of the following year, the Southern Center was established in Kaohsiung, considering the difficulties faced by families with hearing-impaired children traveling between the north and south.
In October 2001, a center was established in collaboration with the Yilan County Government, followed by the Yawen Research and Training Center in cooperation with Chung Yuan Christian University in 2005. In 2014, the Hualien Workstation was opened, the Chiayi Workstation was opened in 2019, and the Miaoli Workstation was opened in October 2022 to assist families lacking resources. By 2024, the foundation had accompanied nearly six thousand children with hearing impairments and their families out of a silent world.
Joanna Nicholas expressed her love for the people of Taiwan through real and concrete actions. We miss her dearly.
This article is compiled and excerpted from the book ‘Love Makes Life Audible’ by Hsieh Chi-Chun and Cheng Yawen.
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