International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority Report

Hello my name is Thomas Chen. I am currently 19 years old. I am going to be a third year student at the University of California Riverside. My major is Business Administration. My parents both come from Taiwan but I am an American. I was born in the United States and I live in Southern California.
During the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote Areas Minority I had many new experiences. I got to meet new people and experience cultures that I never knew about. Also I experienced some new strange things like the Typhoon Morakot and the power of nature. I have been to Taiwan many times but I have never gone to Taitung before this program. Taitung is so much different than other parts of Taiwan that I always visit like Taipei, Taichung and Lugang. In Taitung I went to two different places, Lidao and Taimali. Lidao is a Bunun settlement that is in the mountains. Bunun is the name of one of the Taiwan aboriginal tribes. Taimali is a town that is very close to the Pacific Ocean in Taitung County, Taiwan.
In Lidao we went to the local elementary school there. We taught the students there how to play football, taught them how to use Google Earth and taught them English terms and songs. Since they are in the mountain they are very isolated, there is no supermarket, mall or night market down the street like other parts of Taiwan. The kids in Lidao where very interested in the volunteers, they wanted to know our names, stuff about us and they asked us a lot of questions. Lidao was one of my favorite places because I got to experience something very different, something that I probably would never experience if I did not come here. The kids at Lidao where a very special group. They were different then other kids, they loved to sing and they were very wild and loud yet they were also very nice. When we gave them gifts and candy they would say thank you. Because they live in the mountains they is no where else to go everyone gets along with each other, they are like a big family. The day we left the kids sang goodbye songs and the gave us hugs and said bye. The Bunun language was very strange but their chants and songs are very unique. One kid there called Ken was an amazing singer. Because of the typhoon we had to leave early so instead of staying three days there we only stayed there for two days. We had to leave because the road going to the mountain would of have been blocked. Luckily we did because if we had not we would have been stuck there because the road got destroyed after we left and the village there had no electricity.
In Tamali, the typhoon destroyed a lot of places I saw one part in Taimali that was completely destroyed. The highway road there was ripped apart and the dam there was gone, the whole place was filled with drift wood. The beaches and the coastlines in Taitung were filled with massive piles of drift wood. In Tamali we went to help the kids at a church there. We also taught the kids there about Google Earth, taught them English songs and terms. We also performed a play about Jonah with the kids. The kids at the church were more normal, they did not seem as interested as the Lidao kids that we came from America. The older kids there were very good at playing the drums, piano, guitar and were also good singers. Because they live closer to the city and they were not isolated in the mountains like the Lidao kids, they were more the like the kids today.
The kids also said goodbye and they each shook our hands.
Overall I think this experience was a very positive one. I got to meet new people like Elton, Joey, Howard, Hannah, Cindy and Jenny. I also got to meet the kids of Lidao and Taimali. It was a new experience for me since I have never taught a group of kids. It was very strange in Lidao where all the kids called you “Teacher”. I got to experience some new cultures that most people probably do not even know about. I got to eat the local food here and learn about the people. I think my favorite part of the program was the kids, they were the ones that make this program special. I especially liked the Lidao kids because it was very different. They were so much different than other kids. The world has continued to keep on advancing and places like Lidao are rare, but the more advance we get the more separated we get. Also I think this is a good program for people to meet new people, a place to find new friends. Some things I think we need to do to improve is that the people in the program have to visit the kids again and see if they still remember us and the things that we taught them. Some bad things about this experience is that it was very tiring, the kids make you very tired they take all your energy. I also had a very hard time sleeping, during the whole trip I did not have one good sleep. Overall I think Dr. Ryan Wang and his staff did a very good job organizing the program. Dr. Ryan also handled the typhoon really well, he got us out of Lidao before the road got damaged and handle the situation really well. I think the program is really good for Taiwan and American high school and college students or even anyone. It gives them an opportunity to experience something different, something that they normally would not do and be able to experience. It gives them a opportunity to share their culture with the minority people and to learn about the minority people and their culture. Thank you Dr. Ryan for this opportunity to come to Taitung. It was a wonderful experience and I hope I can come back again. This is a wonderful program and it would be a wonderful experience for anyone.