Taiwanese Aboriginal Christians create model project for post-disaster recovery

From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:36:06 -0700

World Communion of Reformed Churches



News Feature



26 April 2011


Taiwanese Aboriginal Christians create model
project for post-disaster recovery

Aboriginal members of the Presbyterian Church in
Taiwan (PCT) are survivors. Their communities
have been hit by natural disasters and eroded by
economic and social pressures. Yet in the eastern
region of the country that is home to most of the
countryâ??s 15 Aboriginal groups, there are signs
of reconstruction and recovery.

At the Morakot Taitung Reconstruction and Caring
Centre in the coastal city of Taitung, survivors
of Typhoon Morakot that struck the region in
August 2009 are being offered trauma counselling
and job re-training with the support of PCT. The
majority of the population served by the centre
belongs to aboriginal groups including the
Paiwan, Amis, Bunun and Puyuma. With financial
support from PCT, local business people and the
government, the centreâ??s team of social workers
and educators offers assistance to the whole
community ? Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Christian.


In the wake of the earthquake and nuclear
disaster in Japan, PCT is reaching out to
Japanese churches with an invitation to study the
Morakot Centre as  a model for their role in the
reconstruction of devastated villages. In Japan,
as in Taiwan, Christians are a small minority of
the population. PCT general secretary, Andrew
Chang, has invited 20 clergy from Japanese
congregations affected by the disasters to visit
the centre. During his recent trip to Japan,
Chang learned that pastors were looking for ideas
of how churches could help rebuild their communities.


"I invited them to visit the Morakot Centre,"
Chang says. "This could be a model for them."

The centre's director, Iling Ruvaniyaw, a

Christian and hereditary Paiwan leader, says the
centre was created to help rebuild shattered
lives through job skills training and to assist
in reconstructing the communityâ??s
infrastructure. This is particularly challenging
in Taitung, she explains, as many of the areaâ??s
aboriginal people were already struggling for
economic and social survival. The typhoon further
marginalized them and compounded their challenges.

The Morakot Centre's social welfare programme
offers support to the elderly who lost their
families in the disaster, trauma counselling for
students, homework assistance and free meals for
children. Job training includes certification in
the food and beverage industry, making driftwood
furniture and traditional crafts, and
professional marketing advice for local artisans.
Interest in the reconstruction work is so high
that the centre also coordinates tour groups and
provides bed and breakfast services.

The Morakot Centre will receive church and

government funding for two more years. Plans are
for the centre to be self-funding by then and
continue serving the area's disadvantaged and
marginalized aboriginal groups. For now though,
the focus is on ensuring a sustainable future for people in the community.

"Our goal,"  says Ruvaniyaw, "is for our people
to become self-sufficient so that if the centre
closes, they will still have a future."

-- Kristine Greenaway, head of communication for
the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC),
is in Taiwan at the invitation of the
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, a WCRC member
church. This is the first of a series of stories
on PCT's ministries with the countryâ??s 15 Aboriginal groups.

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan is a small but
significant force in Taiwanese society. Its
members make up just under 1% of the population
that is primarily Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, or
secular. Known for its human rights, social
service and mission, the church is closely
connected to the country's aboriginal peoples.
Eleven of its 23 presbyteries represent
Indigenous congregation; the remaining 12 are Han or Hakka.

WCRC was created in June 2010 through a merger of
the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC)
and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). Its
230 member churches representing 80 million
Christians are active worldwide in initiatives
supporting economic, climate and gender justice,
mission, and cooperation among Christians of different traditions.


Media Contacts:



Kristine Greenaway



Office of Communications



Email: kgr@wcrc.ch



tel: +41 (0)22 791 62 43;



cell phone: +41 (0)79 508 20 43



fax: +41 (0)22 791 65 05



www.wcrc.ch