ESG News

Going outdoors in the warm winter sun, on this day, Novatek volunteers accompanied the visually impaired students to slow down their pace and learn about the local story of Shitan through study tour. From the old street to the ancient trail, the community guides introduced the allusions of the Yimin Temple’s Winter Harvest Opera, the Shitan Church is the 28th of the 60 churches established by Pastor Mackay in Taiwan, the story of Dr. Mackay pulling the villagers’ teeth under the century-old banyan tree, and the story of the Zhupibogong. At the end of study tour, the students arrived at the highest point of the Zhonglou ancient trail. In the past, the bell at the trail was designed for air raid warnings. Now, it has become the bell of happiness, where everyone can ring the bell to make a wish for themselves.

Shitan is a typical Hakka settlement. The home-made food experience for the students was to learn how to make the traditional Hakka dim sum "Lutangqi". Novatek volunteers carefully guided the visually impaired students to knead glutinous rice balls in a joyful atmosphere, then mixed it with dragon fruit, pumpkin puree and wormwood. The mixture was then kneaded into colorful small rice balls. The boiled "Lutangqi" was served with brown sugar ginger syrup that has been cooked in advance with a slightly burnt aroma. It was a sweet delicacy for winter that keeps the body warm!

Since Shitan is located in the upper reaches of Mingde Reservoir, many fruit farmers adopt friendly farming methods, so as not to pollute the land and water sources. For the jam making activity in the afternoon, Mr. Su selected the dragon fruit produced from friendly farming to make the jam, and the jam was made with the whole fruit, in which only the outer skin was trimmed and cleaned. To make the jam rich in texture, the dragon fruit pulp was chop into large pieces so that we can still taste the pulp. The volunteers patiently explained the steps and guided the visually impaired students to chop the pulp with a knife, press it into puree by had, and cook it with stirring. During the making process, the dragon fruit jam exuded a sweet smell, which made the visually impaired students to exclaim, “it smells like cotton candy!”. Novatek volunteers even mentioned that the jam making process is so satisfying!

It is not difficult at all to make pure and natural pulpy jam, but it takes time and patience. After three hours of making, the visually impaired students had a great sense of accomplishment when they received their own handmade dragon fruit jam. The fun DIY activity allows visually impaired students to experience the characteristics and charm of Shitan’s local food, and the unique study tour of Shitan also gives the visually impaired students the opportunity to understand the local culture of Shitan.