TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following the report of a Syrian refugee student donating his treasured Euro coin in support of Taiwan, the Tzu Chi Foundation revealed that the Menahil School community has been regularly taking the initiative to aid the East Asian country.

The Menahil School in Istanbul, Turkey, was established by the Tzu Chi Foundation to educate displaced Syrian students. The foundation said that while it has never asked for donations from Syrian refugees, students at the school and their families formed the habit of offering whatever help they can several years ago.

By donating what they can spare, members of the community give back to the world and show their appreciation of Taiwanese support over the years. Lin Hon-chan (林弘展), head of Tzu Chi’s public communications department, told Taiwan News that Syrian refugees actively contributed to relief funds during the 2016 earthquake in Tainan, the 2016 Typhoon Nepartak disaster, and the 2018 earthquake in Hualien.

This year, the school community launched a new fundraising event after hearing about the difficulties Taiwan faced in purchasing vaccines. Since June, students and families have donated change to the cause. Tzu Chi accepted it under its global fundraising program, which uses the funds not only for Taiwanese projects but also for international relief, according to Lin.

Tzu Chi stressed that it regularly distributes enough resources and funds to families within the Menahil community to support their livelihoods, and whatever donations the refugees make are always of their own will and an amount that they can afford.

Since the establishment of the Menahil International School in Istanbul, it has provided classes for 215,273 Syrian refugees and as of 2020 had seen 93 graduates continuing their studies at universities in Turkey, CNA reported. There are currently 3,100 students at the school, 160 teachers, most of whom are refugees themselves, and 7,000 families in the community, according to the school’s website.

Students studying at the Menahil School. (Tzu Chi Foundation photo)