In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, when the news is full of reports about case numbers and advice on social distancing, there is a bright light to be found in the act of kindness by the Humanitarian Affairs Asia (HA Asia). The HA Asia is a member of the UN Global Compact that aims to develop and economically empower the youth through entrepreneurship and leadership programs, and launched the campaign called “The Great Kindness Challenge” by sharing a message of positivity and a word of encouragement for those affected by the COVID-19 virus. Also, the Center for Creative Leadership at Asia University (AU) was invited by the HA Asia to participate in the campaign.

With rising fears and anxieties about the global COVID-19 outbreak, a campaign was announced by the HA Asia, which aims at encouraging people to show their own messages of kindness on Instagram from March 12 to 15 using the following hashtags: #coronavirusoutbreak, #bestrong, #togetherwestand, and #iamhafamily. During the four days, a group of students from the Center for Creative Leadership showed their supports through Instagram to those infected with a coronavirus disease. Moreover, the HA Asia also shared to its own Instagram Stories numerous posts made by the students, including Chia-Wen Liu, a graduate student of the Dept. of Healthcare Administration, Shou-Che Chen, an undergraduate student of the Dept. of Healthcare Administration, Hui-Ju Chuang, an undergraduate student of the Dept. of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, and Yi-Hua Lin, an undergraduate student of the Dept. of Psychology.

The Center for Creative Leadership has participated in the HA Asia’s activities and academic conferences such as the University Scholars Leadership Symposium (USLS) for the sixth consecutive year. Every year, after participating in the USLS seminar, the students are excited to apply what they have learned from the seminars about personal development, communication skills, professional performances and self-actualization. “Doing these activities is a great way to help students feel more connected to what they’re learning and make the lessons easier to remember,” said Prof. Chun-Wei Lin, the Director of the Center for Creative Leadership and the Dean of the College of Management at AU.

In addition, Director Lin pointed out that since the inception of the 1st USLS in 2010, the HA Asia has held symposiums annually in the Asia Pacific region with more than 1,000 emerging young students from 87 countries. More importantly, through service learning and personal involvement, the participating students can realize the global problems caused by the poor and disadvantaged minorities, and understand the responsibility and meaning of being an international citizen. Therefore, it can help them to build an open society with a new perspective to initiate a discipleship of equals and the eradication of mass poverty.