A Proud Taiwanese Toastmaster

It was a rainy and chilly evening when I left the demo meeting of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Toastmasters Club on March 6th, 2007. I felt warm and contented in my heart that I could do something for my country as a common civilian and as a veteran toastmaster. I wrote an article, Let's Put Taiwan on Stage, about my feelings the following day and posted it on Grand Toastmaters Club's blog. Samuel Wu, Deputy Director General of Foreign Service Institute gave me a call immediately after he read the article, and encouraged me to submit the article to MOFA News and Report. I was thrilled and flattered.

Let's Put Taiwan on Stage was accepted and published in September issue. It was the first time I received a small amount of income from writing an article on a blog and got it published, nevertheless I felt much encouraged to keep on writing to promote Taiwan and toastmasters to people around the world.

Foreign Service Institute adopts the toastmasters education program to train 40 newly recruited foreign service people at the beginning of the year. The training program lasts for six months, then the trainees will be dispatched to MOFA offices around the world. MOFA Toastmasters Club is therefore unique in its kind. It is different from odinary community clubs and corporate clubs.

MOFA toastmasters club needs the support and guidance urgently from other toastmasters clubs members to run demonstration and regular meetings. Even though MOFA Toastmasters Club's predecessors members turn over completely, the new members have excellent language proficiency and they are fast learners. I hereby solicit senior toastmasters in Taipei to visit MOFA whenever possible. Just think about it! When our foreign service people can master their communication and leadership skills in their respective fields, aren't we the proud Taiwanese toastmastes behind them?