Report

Report
Hi, this is Jonathan Lin, and I was a member of the International Vision Outreach Program for Taitung Remote areas minority. The program set up by the National Taitung University, gave each and every one of us an everlasting experience. The week was filled with fun, fulfilling, and unforgettable events. We created long lasting bonds with the children and volunteers. Even though this program was cut short by an unforeseen catastrophe, many of our goals were still met.
Our first days in Taitung consisted of a short tour of the city and its surrounding areas. On the second day, we went up to a city called Lidao where the Bunun tribe inhabited. On the first day up in Lidao, we worked on cleaning up the school’s classrooms and kitchen. The classrooms were very dirty, so we cleaned the tables, floor, chalkboard, and others. It seemed as though the rooms were inhabited for a long time. Schools up in remote areas need to be funded more because the learning conditions just aren’t as nice as compared to those in cities. I feel that funding plays a crucial part in how well the school will perform, but unfortunately money is hard to find during this economic hardship. With money, the school can afford to buy more updated class supplies and computers. Since the children up in Lidao don’t get much of a chance to leave the area, their view and knowledge of the outside world only can come from technologies such as televisions, computers, and outside visitors from elsewhere. During our stay in Lidao, I hoped we made our presence felt. The children really needed contact with others from the outside world. I had many conversations with the children about lifestyles in America. There was like a cultural exchange between the two of us. Comparisons and contrasts were made. The students seemed rather fascinated in certain areas of my life, such as my living conditions, school life, food, and etc… Another key point I would like to make is that the students were very fond of Taiwan celebrities in outside countries such as Wang Chien Ming. When we used the Google Earth program, when we asked the children to locate America, many of the students could locate America, more specifically the New York area. The students knew about the popular Taiwan baseball player, Wang Chien Ming, who plays for the New York Yankees. Other teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers also has Taiwan baseball stars such as Hong-Chih Kuo . Just the presence of Taiwanese stars will give children something to look up to. Taiwanese stars outside of Taiwan give motivations and aspirations for students.
Another point I noticed in the students of Lidao was that the students as a whole were more connected. Since most or all of them were from the Bunun tribe, they are like one huge family. They look after each other when one is in need and care for one of another. However, with that said, they still do get in some conflicts and fights. The children also seemed more excited and thrilled to learn compared to the students in DarWan church. On the other hand, since they were more enthusiastic, they were much harder to control. Even though the students were loud and sometimes obnoxious, they were fun to work with. They taught us a Bunun chant and we taught them some spirit songs too. I feel the spirit they put in really made us a happy group. Seeing the kids having fun and learning made me feel our presence was of some importance. Despite all the good that happened in Lidao, there could have been much improvement on our part. I feel that an earlier preparation would help the program run much more smoothly. For example, my friends attended other programs in Taiwan similar to this, and had a long tutorial and preparation time for the volunteers. However, the other programs were six weeks long. If our program was of that length, we probably would have made a much larger impact and built a longer lasting bond. The students at Lidao gave me a whole new perspective of minority areas. The children at Lidao were very binding. The group of students didn’t seem like they were from different families; it was as if they were from one giant family. For example, when the students were singing during the bbq, it was as though they were all brothers and sisters, each of them were playful with one another, and when we were playing football, when one gets hurt, a group of students come to his aid. They’re also very welcoming and friendly.
Our program at Lidao was cut short by the destruction of the typhoon. Even though it was short, I felt the children and volunteers had a great time together. When we went down the mountain during the morning of the 3rd day, it was a little terrifying experience. There were some falling rocks on the ground and also strong gusts of wind and rain. I remember on the first day we drove up to Lidao, the flowing river was crystal clear, but on the day we left, the river was very dirty and packed with debris. After getting down the mountain safely, we had lunch and said goodbyes to Elton’s parents and my mom. They were going back home. Next, we went to a rice factory, where we learned about the process of making rice. I never thought that rice took so long to process. It takes a well designed procedure to produce the rice we eat. After going to the factory, we were planning to visit Taimali; however the conditions in Taimali were so bad that we could not get there safely. So we stayed for a while at the rice factory and then went to our hotel. The next day, we went to Taimali to see its conditions. Fortunately, the church was safe. Even though the DarWan Church was ok, the destruction in its surrounding was catastrophic. I have never seen a natural disaster in my life before. I’ve only seen disasters on television. It was terrifying to see what a typhoon can do. Many houses were washed away, bridges collapsed, and trees blown and washed away. The disaster is inexplicable. After wards, we headed to look at the ocean. The oceans washed up a lot of the tree branches. We headed back to the hotel and rested.
On the following morning, we made our way to Taimali. When we got there the first thing I noticed was that they didn’t all seem like from an aboriginal tribe. Also the kids seemed better-behaved than those kids from Lidao. I feel that at Taimali, they were more willing to learn and I feel a little bit closer bond to them. All of the students seemed very welcoming to our coming. The students there were also more manageable, but I think it’s partly because the students weren’t as young as those in Lidao. We sang many Christian songs and also performed a play.
During our stay at Taimali, we did a homestay at one of the church member’s house. We all stayed on the second floor of the house. On our last night we went up to the rooftop and saw many stars, thanks to the clear skies. It was beautiful because when I’m the US, I rarely get a chance to view so many stars.
Lastly, the friendship we built will be everlasting. Everyone that I met, ranging from parents and staffs to all the volunteers, it was a great experience. I was glad to have spent this time with this group of people. Hopefully, in the future there will be time when we can meet and work together again.