Gerd Boesken heard about Taiwan for the first time in a Dominican monastery in Warburg, Westphalia. Over the years, Gerd, a six-year-old altar boy at the time, repeatedly met a missionary there who told him about Taiwan and the „poor heathen children“ there. When he started his studies, Boesken traveled to Taiwan for the first time for a language course. „Back then, I grew up in Taiwan, with Taiwan and in discussions with this missionary,“ says Boesken today. Although he has left the Catholic Church behind him, his enthusiasm for Taiwan has remained. Today, he carries on this enthusiasm as president of a Hamburg-based group of Taiwan friends called „Bambusrunde.“