An Adventure to the Kuljaljau, Pingtung City. (USR)

An Adventure to the Kuljaljau, Pingtung City. (USR)

In the month of hot summer, August, we arrived at Kuljaljau in Taiwu Township, Pingtung for a three-day USR trip. It was the closest visit to southern Taiwan and a good start to connect the school and the tribe.

From the culture, food, craftsmanship of the Kuljaljau, to the fish farm in Donggang, to the Three Red (Red Bean, Red Quinoa, and Red Dragon Fruit) and Three Black (Coffee, Cocoa, and Black Bean) industries in Pingtung, we were astonished by the view of the southern Taiwan. It was such a pity that we did not have enough time to travel around from Dapeng Bay to Liuqiu!

The challenges of the Kuljaljau are the same as in many communities: product marketing, aging population, local creation... From the problems we have faced, we are going to figure out what we can do for the tribe.

In fact, there is already a successful example, the Taiwu Cafe. It was founded in the Tirbe: Ulaluce and located in Pingtung. The organic coffee beans were well selected by the professional coffee taster to make sure every drop of coffee brings us the unique taste of the southern Taiwan.

The Taiwu Cafe is not just a romantic dream of the indigenous people; we should appreciate the effort behind the success. Numbers of teenagers returned to their hometown and devoted what they have learnt to the tribe. That is the most lovely thing we would like to see through the placemaking project.

After that 3-day participation, the food, the singing, the dancing, the culture, the natural beauty of the Kaljaljau had been carved into our heart deeply forever. We enjoyed the enthusiasm of its people and the unspoken story of Kaljaljau. A lot of wonderful memories are to be continued with the Feng Chia USR.