Youth Community Service Day in Daliao
On the morning of January 31, NSLI-Y Taiwan students took part in community service and visited senior citizens living alone in Daliao district. Following a presentation mostly in Chinese by the Hondao activity center covering the difficulties and challenges that the senior citizens face, the students learned a famous song sung during Chinese New Year and ate lunch at a typical Taiwanese-style restaurant.
The afternoon consisted of the Hondao staff teaching the students how to write chun lien, traditional red pieces of paper on which words of blessings and hope for the new year are written in calligraphy [picture above]. After writing at least one chun lien each to give to a senior citizen, the students were split into two groups, with each group visiting the homes of two senior citizens. The students sat and chatted with them, gave them the chun lien and sang the Chinese New Year song.
During some of the visits, the students also played games with the senior citizens or heard their life stories. The students were quite moved by their interactions with the elderly residents and were genuinely happy to have been able to meet them.
Embracing their Role as Global Ambassadors
From February 2 to February 4, students Molly, Haleigh, Freya, Elizabeth, Morgan, and Ryan participated as volunteer leaders at iEARN Taiwan’s annual Youth Winter Camp in Kaohsiung. The camp, organized and run by iEARN youth volunteers, brought elementary, middle and high school students together to foster and discuss global cooperation and youth activism.
The Winter Camp began with a two-day training session conducted completely in Chinese, during which the students were paired with Taiwanese college student volunteers. Together, the American and Taiwanese students came up with team building activities for the younger campers. Freya and her partner decided to have everyone form a human knot, while Elizabeth and her partner designed a challenging activity where students had to move water bottles with pieces of rope.
Haleigh, Ryan and Morgan enjoyed working with the Taiwanese students so much that they went back for the last two days of camp. At the end of the camp session, they attended a lively group dinner with the Taiwanese college student volunteers. Taking on their roles as global ambassadors from the U.S. and spreading the message of global cooperation and youth activism, Molly, Haleigh, Freya, Elizabeth, Morgan, and Ryan truly showed their NSLI-Y spirit!