New Friends, Family, and Perspectives

Mhuway su balay Wufeng! Sozyan misu!

Rebecca Wu

Looking out from the window of my house in New York City, I see three different streets. We are located at an intersection; I can turn left to walk towards my elementary school and the library, I can turn right to get onto a highway, or I can walk straight to the bus stop. In what I used to consider a small suburban community, I still have so many choices. When I taught English to middle school students at Wufeng this summer, I would look out the window and see a completely different landscape. There were no rows of houses, very few people, and even fewer cars. Instead, I saw mountain after mountain, streams, rocks, hills, and valleys. And among this natural backdrop, there would be a few old-looking houses standing out on the mountains. While I appreciated this very different and calm atmosphere, I realized that those mountains had a completely different meaning to these children. I admired them as a beauty of nature, but I soon realized that they symbolized an obstacle of sorts, preventing these children from reaching their full potential.

               I was fortunate enough to teach aboriginal children of the Tayal tribe. They were quite rowdy in class, but I still thoroughly enjoyed teaching them. I came to Taiwan to be their teacher, but I think I learned just as much from them, if not more. From their stories, I have a whole new appreciation and thankfulness for everything that I’ve been blessed with in my life. My family, my comfortable house, air-conditioning, and everything else I use to take for granted, I now treasure. All of the kids I taught have touched my heart so deeply. I look at them and desperately hope that they’ll succeed when they grow up. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything as badly as I want these kids to have a wonderful and bright future. I spoke with one of the teacher’s assistants, and he told me that many of these kids would never leave the mountain region, and mostly take on tough labor jobs when they grow up. Hearing this, I felt deeply saddened because I wanted these children to see all that the world has to offer. Taiwan’s aborigines have a tendency to be satisfied with their current living conditions that they don’t always push their children to strive for a better life style. This mindset is somewhat ingrained in their culture. I once asked the kids what their dream was and many of them didn’t have an answer, as if they never really considered the question. One of the girls said she wanted to be a teacher and another one said she wanted to be a cook. Many other students simply said they wanted to live a simple life. Several of them said they wanted to travel around the world, which I was very excited by. However, all of them made it sound like a very impossible, far-away dream to achieve. The other volunteers I went with and I decided to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for them showing pictures of our lives at college and the cities we live in. We hoped to inspire them to study hard and work hard so that they can succeed; we wanted them to know that everything they see on TV, magazines, or the newspapers, is within their reach if they truly try hard enough.

               In summary, aside from the numerous mosquito bites I have, the flying cockroaches I encountered, and the sweltering heat, this program gave me an opportunity of a lifetime that I will never forget. My memories at Wufeng Middle School will stay with me forever and I will work hard so that when I am older, I may be able to help more disadvantaged children.