ESG News

The last volunteer activity for the Novatek Education Foundation in 2021 was during Christmas time. Novatek volunteers accompanied visually-impaired students to the Jiang Ma Yuan Agri-Tourism Area in Miaoli, experiencing a gingerbread man decoration activity with holiday cheer.

The baking instructor first mixed freshly squeezed ginger juice into the flour to make gingerbread man-shaped dough. Novatek volunteers then guided the students in decorating the gingerbread men by using edible colored icing. Various colors were available. The volunteers could tell what the children's favorite flavor of icing was from the colors used by the students; those who liked the flavor of beetroot colored their gingerbread men red, while those who liked chocolate colored their gingerbread men black.

While waiting for the gingerbread men to bake, the local ginger farmers showed everyone how to dig up ginger. It was the first time for both the volunteers and the students to dig up ginger. One of the students mentioned he was surprised to know that ginger grows in soil! With one-on-one guidance, the visually-impaired students learned how to properly use an ivory tusk-shaped hoe to dig up ginger from the soil. Everyone felt a sense of accomplishment once we completed digging up our handfuls of ginger roots!

During winter in the low-altitude mountainous areas of Taiwan, it’s common to see the mountains full of yellow tangerines, as if they were Christmas tree lights. Novatek volunteers also took the students to a tangerine orchard to experience fruit harvesting work. The fruit farmers assigned job for the students to harvest all the fruit trees in the designated area, without missing a single tree. With the concerted efforts of everyone, more than 120 kg of tangerines were harvested! After the hard work, everyone tasted the organic tangerines on the spot. Although the appearance of the fruit didn’t look so great, it didn’t affect the taste at all! As soon as we peeled the tangerines, the strong citrus aroma rushed out. The fruit flesh had a firm texture, with sweet flavor and a bit of sourness. It was so juicy, everyone wanted to keep eating them over and over again.

There is warmth in the cold season. In 2021, Novatek volunteers accompanied students from the Taichung School for the Visually Impaired and the Changhua Visually Impaired Care Association to visit Taiping, Tachia, Chionglin (Hsinchu), Sanyi (Miaoli), and finally Dahu. The five nature exploration activities accompanied by Novatek volunteers opened up the four senses of the students and enriched their knowledge as well as cognition, allowing them to have as splendid a life as everyone else.