Saisiyat's Pigmy Ceremony

I wish to thank my golden ladies toastmasters and their families for their support of Yangmingshan Volunteers Association (YVA). Toastmaster Harry Fong (Legacy TMC), Lydia Lin (YWIC TMC), Pamela Yang (Galaxy TMC), Mosses Mo (Galaxy TMC), Kate Hsu (Prestige TMC), Irene Chen (Formosa TMC), Trini Ding (China TMC), Amy Chen (Pacific) joined YVA's first one day outing to Tribe Saisiyat in Miou-li Sunday, July 5th, and donated NT$600 each to YVA as the sponsors of YVA from July 2009 till June 2010.

I didn't promote the YVA's first outing to toastmasters, because I became editor-in-chief of YVA's Blog from July 4th, 2009, and I didn't want to give any pressures to my golden ladies friends. Thanks to Toastmaster Virginia Lee who helped me promote the visit to Tribe Saisiyat and 8 toastmasters signed up, plus Kate's lovely daughter Angela.

It was simply overwhelming to witness the sparkles between Yangmingshan volunteers (YA) and Toastmasters at the first sight. It was like birds of a feature flock together. Both YV and Toastmasters are members of non-profit organziation. They enjoy the nature and the culture. On top of that, they are eager to share their knowledge, interest, happiness with people around them.

It was a indeed a fruitful outing today. We visited Tribe Saisiyat at Hsiang-tien Lake in the morning. After lunch, we hiked along the newly paved wooden trail to see the fish in Pong-lai Stream. In the afternoon, we saw the splendid and joyful Pigmy Ceremony presented by Tribe Saisiyat at Gagaoan. For dinner, we had the authentic Hakka cuisine at the famous Terra-Cotta House in Hsin-chu.

There were a total of 85 participants of the first outing. We were divided into two tour buses. I was on Bus 1 and all my toastmasters friends were on Bus 2. On Bus 1, we were lucky to have many senior interpreters to take turns explaining the unique culture of Tribe Saisiyat (the smallest tribe 14 aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, at the population of 5600 people). I was told by Saisiyat seniors that the Saisiyat tribal people can speak better Ataal and Hakka than their own. Isn't it sad to see the Saisiyat language dying? What can we do to help Saisiyat keep their mother tongue? On Bus 1, we also saw the award winning DVD on Guanwu Formosan Salamander--in serch of the relic species from the jurassic period.

But how can I miss the opportunity to mingle with my Toastmasters friends? After seeing the Pigmy Ceremony, I changed to Bus 2. No sooner than later, we began an impromptu demo Toastmasters meeting for one and a half hours, including joke and entertainment sessions. It is to my surprise YV are no second to toastmasters in telling jokes and entertaining people. Now I'm more than confident that we shall have a magnificent Welcome Party to new YV with the support of Toastmasters, Saturday, December 12th at Yangmingshan National Park.

Immdiately after dinner, Past Taiwan Council Governor Harry Fong took NT$600 from his pocket to become a sponsor of YVA, all the rest toastmasters followed the suit. President Water Wu wore a big smile to embrace toastmasters in his open arms and welcome toastmastes to visit Yangmingshan National Park anytime.

I was of course the happiest toastmaster of the day to serve as the matchmaker of YV and toastmasters. Together we can develop ourselves with the help from each other, together we can make our world a better place for all.

備註：託大家的福，陽明山志工聯誼會的南庄一日遊，除了曬了點太陽，完全沒有淋到雨。看完苗栗賽夏矮靈季到北埔紅磚屋的一路上大雨滂沱、小雨不剪斷，夏日午後的雷陣雨，攜來晚餐後的清涼。大家都是高高興興的出門，平平安安的回家。