Social Participation
2021. 10. 09

Novatek volunteers accompanied students from the Hsinchu Ren-ai Orphanage to experience woodworking and straw weaving

Volunteer Service

Written by: Xiao Bian

 

It’s been a long time since our last trip. I hope it’s good weather today! After arriving at our stop, we picked up the most important key today: meeting the students. "Hey! Long time no see! You are a big girl now. You look so pretty!" It felt like that my child has grown up, but now, we are more like friends, talking and laughing, greeting each other. During the days of the lockdown caused by the pandemic, I also saw younger students exploring a colorful world.

 

The first stop is Zhamu wood workshop. The guide explained to us how they started wood carving. It seems that in a place like Sanyi, people tend to forget the annoyances of the city, the worries at work, and are fascinated by wood carving. We listened to the sound of nature, trying to feel the story conveyed by the wood carving. The students assembled pieces of wood into wooden dolls and painted them with facial expressions and limbs, making them lifelike. Seeing the wooden dolls come alive, the color palettes seem to be busy as well. With the enthusiasm of the students, the palettes became colorful!

 

The second stop is She May Na Wa. It’s impossible to tell what kind of workshop it is just by seeing this name! As we arrived, the smell of straw rushed towards us. It turned out that She May Na Wa is a straw weaving factory and is the only one left in Taiwan. The word "Shemaynawa" means sacred rope in Japanese. It is an ornament used for ritual purification and blessing. If we had not been here, we would not know that there is such a group of people in Taiwan who continued the idea of their ancestors and insisted on operating such a straw weaving factory. Although it is difficult in the early years, due to their willpower and perseverance, they have made it, allowing more people to experience such traditional craft! They really deserved our utmost respect!

 

I have read a sentence that said: As long as you insist on doing one thing every day, you will find that after many years, it is more valuable than you think. This is it for today's story. Let us continue to look forward to the next episode!

 

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