Cambodia was one of the four Indochinese nations that were ravaged by communists-led armed conflicts for over 20 years during mid- and late 20th century. A regional peace finally dawned in 1993 thanks to efforts made by international peacekeeping groups.
While the wars had ended, Cambodia was a shattered country, desperately needing to be rebuilt. At that juncture, the Field Relief Agency (FRA), a Taiwan-based humanitarian-aid organization, was established by Yang Wei-lin, a flight-attendant-turned philanthropist, after working with a UN peacekeeping mission along the Mekong River for four years.
Yang, a trained social worker, founded the FRA in Taipei in 1996 based on the belief that “a weed can replenish simply on a drop of dew” and committed to providing educational opportunities to orphans and underprivileged children.
FRA has since taken in homeless orphans and accommodated them at a home it established in Poipet in northwestern Cambodia. The FRA’s Green Grass Home has provided the displaced children not only with a home, but also educational opportunities and vocational training, as Yang believes that education is the most effective approach to improve the life of poor people.

Subsidizing student tuition
Building classrooms
Establishing libraries

Accommodating the homeless
Providing vocational training

Offering interest-free loans for business start-up
Constructing crematoriums for the poor

FRA uses Eragrostis feruginea, a common kind of wild weed, as its mandarin name as Yang sees that the poor, homeless children were just like weeds in the wilderness. She believes that helpless as they are, the underprivileged children will survive hardships and replenish themselves as long as they are accorded with care and help.