With all the Team HBV chapters starting off the academic year, I thought I'd let you all in with an update from U Penn!

It's chilly and the midterm chaos is barely passing but with the fall sun popping in and out, it's the perfect setting for the Penn Taiwanese Society's Team HBV Chapter in partnership with Lambda Phi Epsilon to host their 3-on-3 Basketball Charity Tournament!

I'm personally anticipating Saturday very much (it will be held in the gymnasium for 3 hours from 1-4 PM)! It will be my first Hepatitis B related event since I graduated from the Jade Ribbon Youth Council back home in Stanford. We're hoping for a large turnout, with our president, Patric Liang dedicating his entire self to the cause. He even stands on Locust Walk diligently passing out brightly colored flyers!

In terms of goals for U Penn this year with Team HBV, we are trying to make Team HBV a separate and independent club.  So far, Team HBV at U Penn has been operating in conjunction with Penn's Taiwanese Society but we're attempting to get approval from the general assembly to make Team HBV a stand-alone. However, more short term, Patric and another member of Team HBV will be flying in two weeks back to Stanford to put on a presentation and represent so if you're in the Bay Area, look out for them!

Pictures and a review of the Basketball Tournament coming Saturday will be on their way soon enough!

Always,

Elisabeth Sum

The following essay was the 1st place winner in the Jade Ribbon Youth Council's 1st Annual B-Inspired! contest. Andrea flew from Texas to the Asian Liver Center's LIVERight 5K run and was honored there for her achieved. Her piece was schedueled to be read on KQED's Perspectives radio but unfortunately due to the winner living in Texas and certain technicalities, another piece will be aired on Perspectives so look forward to that in July.

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Human Resilience
By Andrea Tan

Every thirty seconds, hepatitis B claims another life. 350 million people in the world are affected each year, and out of the ten percent of Asians, one in four dies. Eight years ago, the second hand of that clock made half a revolution in my family, striking a deep blow to our hearts. My uncle was just one of the many taken away by the silent killer. Although to the world, his death may just be a statistic, our family emerged from the loss with resilience and hope.

As I turn through pages of dusty photo albums, each picture beckons to me, inviting me to delve into long-lost memories. One is of my grandparents, another of my parents’ wedding, and a third of a laughing young man cradling a baby girl in his arms. It is at this photo that I gaze the longest, for my uncle and I were always very close. He was like a big brother, constantly playing games with me and sneaking me candy.

My uncle eventually became a chef at a restaurant in Taiwan, doing what he loved best. Ironically, it was most likely during this period that he contracted HBV. At first, he felt fine and exhibited few symptoms warning us of his condition. Although the virus was steadily degenerating his health, my uncle was not aware of the danger he was in until the liver cancer had already reached a critical stage. By that time, it was too late.

All we could do was stay by his side and try to make his time left easier. Though I was only in second grade, I can still recall my beloved uncle lying there on the bed, thin and weak. We murmured words of encouragement to keep our morale high, urging him to pull through. Hanging on to that tiny piece of hope gave us the courage to confront such a hardship.

In the end, my uncle eventually lost the battle against hepatitis B. When he finally let go, our family was devastated. That was my first exposure to a tangible concept of death, and I mourned deeply. For a long while, it seemed as if the dark clouds that had amassed above our lives would never part.

Eight years have since passed, and I still think about him. As my vision slowly refocuses on the photograph and I draw myself out of my thoughts, I realize the enormous influence this man had on my life. Even through his death, my uncle taught us to see things in a positive light, to always hope for the better. We became determined to appreciate our family and to be thankful for good health. Life goes on, and although the wounds in our hearts have gradually healed over time, the scars still bear remembrance to this great man. He gave us the strength to keep going and the strength to love. Above all, he gave us the ultimate gift – the gift of human resilience.

June 1st. It's supposed to be the start of a new month, like the birth of summer supposedly. Really, what student doesn't look forward to hearing that June had rolled around? It either means you're already out of school or you’re on the brink of ending school and that is much more exciting than presents on Christmas!

But for me, it was one of the saddest days of my life.

Because it was on June 1st 2009 that the JRYC had its last meeting of the year.

It was on June 1st 2009 that I graduated from my two years on the Jade Ribbon Youth Council.

It’s one of the those things that you try to prepare yourself from crying, but when you begin to remember, or when you realize that you’re losing a part of who you are, you cry anyways.  To be completely honest, I cried last year when my beloved friends of the past JRYC graduated, and I cried even harder on the drive home this past Monday.

The people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard, the experiences that I have gained are irreplaceable. The smiles, the laughter, there isn’t a single moment I’ve spent on the council that I regret, nor is there a memory that isn’t bright associated with the JRYC.  From meetings, to screenings, to the Tet Festival, to the Chinese New Year Festival, to city proclamations, to Hepatitis B Awareness Week, to the Youth Leadership Conference, 2 years have gone quickly but overflow with such sweet recollections.

I keep wondering what I will do with my Mondays, how they will never been the same seeing those familiar faces.  I know I’ll miss, as Dylan, a former member of the JRYC who graduated last year, used to say, all the “inside-jokes” and desperately hold onto the ones I have. And since I’m off to college on the East Coast, I won’t have the luxury of traveling every month back to the Asian Liver Center to see how all my JRYC babies are progressing.

But then I realize I’m acting as if I’ve lost something, as if someone’s ripped out an important part of my heart and has kept it hostage in front of my eyes. And yet that’s not true at all.

Because, I haven’t lost the Jade Ribbon Youth Council and I’m not ever going to.  I can’t even begin to list all the happy memories being on the council have graced me with.  Or what it has done for me in the past two years.

Being on the council has made me more proficient in foreign languages. I’ve learned how to put together an entire event, not just as a leader, but just as part of an equal team.  It’s opened my eyes to a plight that has been blind-sighted, and handed me the skills to open the eyes of so many others. It’s made me confident enough to make a fool of myself in front of unknown high school peers and yell in an old Cantonese, unemployed male persona.

And someone I’ve managed to become the Council’s official photographer, though to be honest, it was the Jade Ribbon Youth Council that made me love photography even more and I’m not that fantastic at it.

It’s given me life-long friends, it’s given me perspective, it’s given me a family, and most importantly, it’s given me a cause to believe in.  And these are all points of character that can’t easily be taken from me as they’re who I am now.

So to my JRYC family, I want you to always remember how much I love each and every one of you and that no amount of words can express how wonderful you’ve made these past two years.

And know this, no matter what I do at U Penn or where the future might take me, you’ll always be in my heart and thoughts.

Always.

So to all of you on the JRYC and ALC, my eternal love and wishes. This past year with the current council has been more fantastic for me than you can imagine and to my seniors who I’ve known for these past two, some two and a half, years: the moon and the stars in your reach for the future.

Infinitesimal love,

Elisabeth Sum

Liz

Monte Vista High School '09

U Penn Jerome Fisher '13

The Jade Ribbon Youth Council are what I call the babies of the Jade Ribbon Campaign, a campaign aimed to spreading awareness about Hepatitis B.  Not only are we the youngest, ranging from ages 15 to 18, but we're like the little egg of hope that holds all the potential.

Every year,  in January, the JRYC prepare for submitting proclamations to city councils from the East Bay to the South Bay to recognize a week in May (it used to be March) as Hepatitis B Awareness Week.  It started as only a few cities and now we doubled the number to 21 in only two years! How amazing is that for 12 high school students who meet every other Monday?

This year was especially special since on Tuesday May 19th, Global Hepatitis B Day, Hanmin Kim, Yvi Le, Katherine Hsu, Cerena Chen, Daniel Ki, Michelle Kang, Esther Han, and Elisabeth Sum as well as staff members Nicole Tantoco and Dr. Stephanie Chao set out to San Jose City Hall to meet Mayor Chuck Reed and personally recieve the city proclamation in a council meeting. Usually, the proclamations are mailed by the cities but we were honored that the Mayor and his staff cordially invited us to speak on behalf of our cause and to in-person recognize his support.  After a short speech by Cerena Chen thanking the Mayor for the proclamation and many, many photos (to which taking over a thousand photos is our specialty as high school students), we waved good-bye to another year as the Jade Ribbon Youth Council.

So now we're at an all time-high at 21 cities committed to the Hepatitis B Awareness Week cause (please see the Asian Liver Center website for all cities).  Please look forward to our new record next year and we can't wait to see you at the Youth Leadership Conference in August!

Always and forever, on behalf of the JRYC,

Elisabeth Sum

Danville, CA - Monte Vista High School