A “loofah gourd team” formed by a group of volunteers and students from Youmu Elementary School have finally enjoyed the fruits of their harvest after eight months of hard work.
The team was organized by The Can, a venue for art and music exhibitions in New Taipei City (新北市) to mentor and guide disadvantaged children who come from lower-income families or have been brought up only by their grandparents.
Jeffrey Lin (林峻丞), the owner of The Can, has been spearheading the project for four years and has led 11 students from the school in growing loofah gourds, from which bath sponges are produced.
Photo: Hsieh Chia-chun, Taipei Times
The “loofah members” have spent every Wednesday together organically farming on a plot of land owned by the school.
In February, five children began planting seeds and weeding, fertilizing and watering the crop until finally harvesting the gourds with their own hands, Lin said.
The final produce have been sold at The Can and over the Internet, Lin said, adding that the money raised is used as an educational fund for the students, as their families cannot afford to send them to after-school classes.
For example, two of the “little loofah farmers” who have hyperactivity disorders have often been kicked out of regular classes at school, so volunteers from The Can have been tutoring them to bring them up to speed on their lessons, said Chu Yu-han, a member of The Can.
Learning farming, as well as swimming, can actually help them to concentrate, Chu said.
The art venue has also hired art and science teachers to organize a series of summer programs as educational therapy to help the children explore their own interests and obtain life skills, Chu added.
However, it was not easy at first, Lin said.
“These kids, who were ostracized by their school peers and sometimes stole from convenience stores, were not opening up to anyone,” he said.
“It took long-term commitment to build their trust and make them believe that I would always be around,” said Lin, who himself was a victim of domestic violence when he was a child.
He said that one of the students once told the Chinese-language Business Weekly magazine that “I was like a father to him.”
“[That] moved me to tears and I realized how important I am to them and how much I could do for them,” Lin said.
Lin also led the “loofah team” on an 11-day round-the-island cycle trip and a field trip to Orchid Island (蘭嶼) off the coast of Taitung County, where the team got a sponge order from the owner of a restaurant who was deeply touched by the story.
Lin produced a video with volunteers featuring their story as a present for some of the students who graduated from the school this year to express their best wishes and encourage the young people to deal with life’s challenges bravely.
Lin said he would take his little loofah farmers, who have now become very good swimmers, to take part in the annual mass swim across Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) next year.
“I was lucky enough to receive a lot of help from good people when I was growing up, and I wanted to share my experience and do what I could to be with these kids and help them grow up happily,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS