When twenty-two children from Taiwan visited a project in northern Thailand in January, they witnessed first-hand how different their lives were from the lives of children growing up there.

The children were World Vision Taiwan's Youth Journalists, taking part in an annual study tour by young Taiwanese to countries where World Vision works. Their role in being there was to capture and share what they'd learned with other young people at home.

The children spent three days in Mae Salong ADP in Thailand, visiting schools, a student dormitory and farms, as well as sanitation and water projects. They also participated in hands-on activities, such as feeding pigs and learning welding skills with Thai students supported by World Vision.

As Youth Journalists the children also visited sponsored families. They worked as teams - some took photos, and the others interviewed and took notes. They asked sponsored children of their own age such questions as:

"What is the most difficult problem in your life?"
"What do you need?"
"What is your dream?"
"What could make you happy?"

They were surprised by the answers received. Yu-Chieh Chung observed, "Children in Mae Salong are easily contented. Most of them say they would be happy as long as their families are happy. They don't dream about material comfort even though they nearly have none. On the contrary, we children in Taiwan are never satisfied. We always ask more."

The Taiwanese children were impressed and moved by the open-hearted welcome they received from the Thai children.

Youth Journalist Ting-Yu Wei commented, "They were not hesitant to show their friendship and speak in front of a big group of foreigners. Compared with them, we appeared to be frightened and shy. We should learn from them."

Two of the group also had the joy of visiting their own sponsored children, including 11-year-old Jo-Yu Tseng, who sponsors 9-year-old Armeu Saemeu with her own pocket money. She met Armeu at a teacher's home, and then Armeu took her back to the family's hut, made of bamboo and lalang leaves, in Mae Mo village.

Jo-Yu found out that Armeu's father abandoned his family of eight children to marry again several years ago. Since then life has been particularly difficult for them.

"Armeu would like to have a rabbit doll, and I happened to have one," said Jo-Yu with pleasure. "When I get home, I will send it to her right away, along with some other of my toys, so she and her brothers and sisters will have their own things to play with."

The children also visited World Vision Thailand's office in Bangkok to interview National Director Chusak Wuthiwaropas. After answering their questions on development, he encouraged them to share what they had learned, telling them "You are not only journalists, but also ambassadors not just children in Thailand need help, but many children around the world need support from Taiwan."

The stories that the young people write will be posted on World Vision Taiwan's website, shared among schools and with the public through media. World Vision Taiwan has arranged for Youth Journalists to visit projects either in Taiwan or other countries for many years. The trips are self-funded by the children and their families who see it as an unique opportunity to learn about the world and their place in it.