Silver-haired Azu protects his second grandson. This issue’s report on a generation-shifting family moves to Chenggong Town, Taitung County. Taitung County's geographical location is blocked by high mountains and the terrain is long and narrow from north to south, making transportation inconvenient. There is a lack of livelihood opportunities in rural fishing villages in remote mountainous areas, so taking care of disadvantaged children is particularly important. Taitung Family Support Center uses social work methods and principles to develop and utilize social-related resources to provide various services such as financial subsidies to children and families in Taitung County.
The story of two-generation upbringing. When taking a local bus or walking on the street, there is a high chance of meeting grandparents and grandsons. Data on Taitung’s population ratio also show that there is a serious out-migration of young and middle-aged people. In addition to job opportunities, is there another deeper reason for this situation? On a sunny Saturday morning, many children have gathered in the family support center - all children who come to participate in weekend tutoring. On the wall near the door is a statistical chart of the number of families assisted, as well as photos of various activities held by the Family Support Office. Looking at the hard-working and persistent smiling faces in the photos makes people feel warm. Due to geographical connections, many recipients in Chenggong Town belong to the Ami ethnic background. The person interviewed this time is also an Ami elder who has worked hard to care for his grandchildren, Lin Alan. His hair has turned silver and his steps are quite unsteady. He looks a little cautious because he is about to be interviewed. Soon I discovered that a serious appearance was only the first impression. Once the conversation started, she began to share her story with us frankly. Azu and great-grandson When they were very young, Xiaozhen and Xiaojun (pseudonym) called their great-grandmother "Mom"; later, even though relatives said she should be called Azu, the two children still used to call her "Grandma". "Grandma" in Amis language is pronounced as "Mamu", and Gazigo (pronounced in Amis language) is Mamu's Ami name, which happened to be inherited by her great-granddaughter. It turns out that it is a tradition of the Ami people to inherit the clan names of their elders from one generation to the next as a memorial. "When I die, I won't have a name!" Mamu said. Mamu's husband passed away not long ago, and her youngest daughter and son-in-law came back to help her build a filial piety room. "Because the original room was on the second floor, my wife was missing to take care of her. In addition, she had been suffering from back pain recently and had surgery on her foot, so she had difficulty moving, so I created a room for her on the first floor," Mamu's daughter explained. . Suffering from old illnesses, Mamu said she only had one eye left, and the other eye was a fake (prosthetic eye). This was a work injury caused when I was working as a carpenter in Taoyuan. The nail head that entered the eye could not be found at first. When the location was found, the doctor said it was too late because the eyeball was already necrotic. Mamu therefore had to rest at home and was unable to work normally for several years. Although the employer initially paid the compensation, the work was unstable for several years, and the compensation was barely enough to cover daily needs. "The compensation is compensation, and you have to rely on yourself for the rest, that's for sure." In order to live for her children, Mamu just returned to work and earned money while wrapped in gauze. After moving to Taitung, he was involved in a car accident and his hands and feet were seriously injured. Especially my feet, which makes me unable to walk now. In addition, Mamu’s uterus and ovaries were removed many years ago, but her old abdominal pain has not been cured and the pain is often disturbing. "At that time, the doctor said it was inflammation of the uterus and ovaries, so they removed them all... At home, they would still help me with housework, otherwise I wouldn't be able to walk." Although my physical condition is not good, my eyes often feel uncomfortable and tearful, and I suffer from abdominal pain and foot problems. Mamu works harder, but Mamu says that a dollar is still money, so she slowly buys things for her children to eat and helps them grow up. Mamu also has a small grocery stall, but besides running the shop, she has other jobs waiting for her. "When there are no customers, they are locked up. In order to raise them, they have to go to the fields to plant vegetables. When they are ready to be harvested, they are sold in the vegetable market." Is Mamu usually in charge of the store? "Not only that, I also have to work." The land was lent by a kind person. Mamu said that when he wanted to pay rent, the landlord said no, because he knew that Mamu still had two children to raise. Several times under the bright sun, Mamu shed tears while working. It was inevitable that she would have moments of emotion and the idea of ??not wanting to raise a child. Even though it was hard, Mamu still spared no effort in educating them. Before his great-granddaughter entered junior high school, Mamu would send them to school every day and take advantage of this time to chat with their class teacher. In addition, he had a busy work schedule and did not have much time to participate in school activities, so he knew how to catch up with his teacher in the morning. Communication opportunities. After school, the great-granddaughters would walk home by themselves because they had to rush home to cook.
And starting from the kindergarten class, Mamu would watch her great-granddaughters read the books issued by the school; they would read every day, even during summer vacation. I asked, besides reading books after school, can I watch TV? Mamu said, you can watch it too, but don’t watch it for so long. After eating, you can watch TV, and then continue to do your homework. After finishing your homework, you can watch TV for half an hour before going to bed. And starting from the small class, you must watch TV at 9 p.m. Go to bed. But there is one exception, that is, if you have not finished your homework, you are not allowed to sleep. "Azu often told them to work hard. The fruits of your efforts will be yours in the future, not mine." Dignity Education V.S. Soft Heart Mamu said that she would check her great-granddaughters' homework before they go to bed. I asked my children if they ever went to bed late because they didn't finish their homework. Xiao Zhen, who was in grade 5, nodded to me, and Xiao Jun, who was in grade 3, said that when there is homework that he does not understand, he will not be able to finish it. "If you can't finish it, you will be punished!" Mamu added. I then asked them which subject they thought was the most difficult. My elder sister said that her younger sister was least good at mathematics, while she was not good at science. "Why can't nature be good at it? Nature is the best," Mamu continued. Among the various subjects, my elder sister Xiaozhen feels that Mandarin is the best to learn, and she is usually responsible for teaching her younger sister homework. For children, the so-called "disobedience" is when they talk back to Mamu. The most common situation of "talking back" is when Mamu scolds them for not learning their homework well, and the children reply that they don't understand the teaching content. I asked my sister, "Do you ask the teacher when you don't understand?" She shook her head, and Mamu reminded her great-granddaughter that if you don't know something at school, you must ask the teacher; also, you have to work hard, because the results of your hard work will be yours in the future. of. The younger sister also said that because her elder sister has more and more homework and no time to teach her, she will join the school's night tutoring classes when she has the opportunity to finish her homework at school. There is also a teacher who can ask questions about the homework she doesn't know. On weekends, Azu would drive me to the family support center to participate in the weekend tutoring classes. It seems that under the "iron discipline" education, are there any memorable things in the relationship between the great-granddaughters and Azu? "It doesn't matter if you tell me everything. Let Mamu tell you if she's good to you or if she's not good with you. It's like rubbing a newspaper in anger! Or grandma will beat and scold you when you say you're not good, or grandma will tell you every day. It's very hard, this is great!" My aunt and Mamu both said to the children encouragingly, but the two children were just silent. I asked them if they usually chat with Mamu? They shook their heads. Mamu replied, "There is no time to chat. They all have to do their homework and go to bed after finishing their homework." The sister continued that her sister would sometimes write until 11 o'clock in the evening, and Mamu would always accompany her and watch her. Write, and you will be scolded if you don't know how to write. Moreover, Mamu would remind her, "Why can't you write? You must listen to the teacher when you go to school!" In this regard, Mamu's daughter added, "Because she is an ancestor (Azu) for the fourth generation, so teaching Fadu used the ancient method in the past, which was very strict. It is not like the education we have now, which is about love and cannot be beaten or scolded. However, it is also because of her teaching that we are what we are today, otherwise we would probably learn bad things. "Yes." The son-in-law interjected at this time, "Mamu has a tough mouth, but a soft heart." After saying this, everyone laughed heartily. Mamu's daughter said, "The edge of the knife is the heart of tofu - she just said it, and then she will ask you if you are okay?" The social worker teacher from Jiafu then asked us how old Azu was, and Mamu’s daughter joked that she was born in the year of tiger (tigress). People in their 70s are the age when people say they should be happy, but Mamu is still teaching children. "I'm so tired," Mamu said. However, the great-grandchildren are very considerate. The older they get, the more they help with housework. If Mamu is not around when they get home, they will also take out their homework and write it. Mother Tongue Inheritance & Life Story At the beginning of the interview planning, because of my love for cultural inheritance, I had rigid expectations for the answers to this part. But later it was discovered that the yearning for the stories spread among the original ethnic groups may be the romantic feelings of urban people. Because, when the pressure of life makes people breathless, the soul-stirring ancient stories may be overwhelmed by the power of "realistic stories". Mamu said that of course she would tell her great-granddaughters stories about how the previous generation raised them. "When I was a child, there were no lights at that time. I had to cook the food first when I came back from school. By the time I could read, it was already dark and I couldn't see clearly even if I wanted to read or write. So I had to read and cook at the same time. "People who used firewood used to live like this!" The granddaughter was suspicious and asked Mamu, "Is that so?" Mamu replied, "Yes, that's it."
I know how to cook in the third grade. I have to get up at 3 o'clock every morning to cook, because my mother and father work very hard. I see how hard they work, and I feel sad, so I might as well cook the food myself. Later, I had to fetch water, sweep the floor, and plant rice seedlings. It was always like this before. "So Mamu would also say to her great-granddaughters, "My mother always tells me to do this and that, why don't you obey?" "My mother always tells me to do this and that, why don't you obey?" Grade 1 The school started offering mother tongue classes because Azu usually spoke his mother tongue to his granddaughters, so when the school started taking mother tongue classes, the granddaughters were already familiar with the course content. "Azu usually speaks to us in his native language. When he doesn't understand, he will ask grandma what are you talking about, but we don't understand." My sister explained to us. The eldest granddaughter is very interested in her mother tongue and has participated in numerous mother tongue speech contests in school with outstanding results. "When I was in mother tongue class, the teacher asked me if I wanted to participate in the competition, and I said yes. When I got home, I asked my grandma, and she said yes, as long as she likes it." In addition to performing well in the mother tongue speech contest, my sister also Participated in a calligraphy competition held by the police station. My sister said that sometimes she would take calligraphy home to write, and Mam would also provide guidance. My sister said that when there was something she couldn’t draw, Mamu would help draw it. Ask Mamu if she likes to draw? Mamu said that when she was in school, she won first place in a painting competition. When Mamu was praised for his versatility, Mamu replied: "I only studied in the sixth grade!" Later, due to financial reasons at home, he did not continue his education and had to start working. Mamu worked as a part-time worker in school when she graduated. She said that in the past, examination papers were printed one by one manually, and she was responsible for such work; it was often because there were exams the next day. She was given an order to stay busy until after 12 o'clock before going to bed. Finally, I asked my sister about her future aspirations. She said she wanted to be a nurse, "because she wants to help others when she grows up!" When she said this, her sincere eyes seemed to shine. Postscript: The time when I went to Taitung to visit inter-generational education families coincided with the February 28th consecutive holiday. On February 28th, the alliance held a resurgence of smoke. People participating in the action fired smoke to oppose the Communist Party’s wrong land policy and Opposing the entry of nuclear waste into the hometown, demanding the implementation of the "Original Law" and the speedy formulation of sub-laws, etc. There was a video documentary screening at the Dulan Sugar Factory in Taitung that day, and I also went to participate. Documentaries such as "Selling out Jamaica", "Garland Report 54-56 Garland Hometown Redevelopment Land Controversy", and "Korea's Anti-Nuclear Waste Movement" were broadcast during the meeting, and they also expressed their opposition to the destruction of nature by the consortium's construction of the "Beautiful Bay" resort hotel. position. After it was over, there was a question that kept coming back to my mind: what else was developed or deprived by the Dongfa Ordinance? On September 13, 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. There are indigenous people in 70 countries around the world, but they are often among the poorest residents in each country. Due to their different lifestyles, they have become the first victims of large-scale deforestation and climate change. Mr. Yan Changshou once asked a question: Why is it that National Taitung University should be the best place for local children to study, but most of them are children from other places? Is this because of the aura of national universities? Is it an uneven distribution of resources? Or is there an error in education policy? Taitung is well known for its beautiful mountains and rivers. The development and direction of this land is not only the preservation of the beautiful scenery on the surface, but also the interdependence between people and people and the land behind it. It deserves more in-depth understanding, respect and attention.