I am one of the founders of Vox Nativa Taiwan.
Because the education quality in the tribe has not been able to improve significantly, especially with many children from disadvantaged families facing numerous challenges, my friends and I founded Vox Nativa Taiwan. Our goal is to help children in the tribe, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, by providing them with better learning opportunities. This is the main concept of our organization.
The biggest challenge can be discussed in two aspects. The first was at the beginning when no one believed in us, so we couldn’t find people to join us, we couldn’t find teachers, and we couldn’t secure funding. That was the first hurdle. But as time passed, we slowly overcame it. However, as we started to improve and get on track, the biggest issue became the criticism from many people. In the tribe, when you do charitable work, people are skeptical and always think you must have some hidden benefit. The truth is, I’ve never taken a single cent for this cause; it’s entirely charitable. But in the tribe, no one believed anyone would do this kind of work for free. It was something that bothered me. But eventually, I came to accept it. I decided not to care about what others said. I believe in myself, and as long as I have no selfish desires or greed, that’s enough. So, I no longer let the outside noise influence me.
We’ve done quite a lot of activities, like the cycling trips. Unlike you, who do a full circle around Taiwan, we only do small segments, usually just one or two days of cycling. We also have mountain climbing activities.
(Interviewer: I’ve seen you go hiking up Jade Mountain.)
For our graduation trip in high school, instead of traveling, we go mountain climbing. When our junior high students graduate, they also climb a mountain. It's not always a big mountain, the goal is to get the kids outside to experience nature. Through climbing, we want to convey a few important values. The first is the value of humility. When you see the vastness of nature, we want the kids to realize how small they are in the grand universe and learn to be humble. The second is fostering mutual care and support among the kids. We want them to help each other throughout the process. The third value is perseverance. When you're exhausted, it's not just physical strength that gets you through, it’s mental toughness. So we train the children so that they can face challenges and keep pushing forward.
From the perspective of the Bunun, there are three key layers to our chorus. The first is the relationship between people. In the chorus, we learn to respect, embrace, share, and support each other. These values are very important in our Bunun worldview. Singing is about respecting different individuals, embracing different voices, sharing our voices and emotions, and supporting one another. In our traditional concept of choral singing, it’s also about listening to others. When someone’s voice is weaker, we adjust our voice to support theirs rather than emphasizing our own. This is a process of mutual support. During traditional performances, I may even turn and sing towards someone else to help them. This concept of chorus singing in the Bunun tribe is different from the Western choral approach. I want to teach choral singing from the Bunun perspective, which emphasizes the relationship between people. This relationship has several layers: the relationship among group members, the relationship with the conductor, and the relationship with the audience. How we connect with the audience and create resonance with them is something we strive for. Often, people say that our choir sounds beautiful, but the feedback we receive is more than just “good-sounding”, it’s about the emotion that resonates with the audience. "Resonance" is a mutual connection, unlike a one-sided appreciation of sound. This is what we aim for in our choir. The second layer is the relationship between people and nature. Most Indigenous songs come from nature, and we teach children how to sing with the mindset of nature, and how to sing with nature. The third layer is the relationship with the heavens. In choral singing, we pursue harmony between people, nature, and the heavens. We use our singing to communicate with others, visiting nursing homes, hospitals, and churches to sing for those who need care.
The Indigenous language is not just a tool for communication, behind the language itself lies a crucial cultural significance and value. Let me give you an example: do you know how a married couple is referred to in the Bunun tribe? They are called "buga," which means "simultaneously making a sound." There is no concept of "man first, woman second," or "male superiority, female inferiority." The idea here is that the sound is made at the same time, emphasizing equality between men and women. Behind the language, there are important thoughts and values of the people. This is why I emphasize this point: language is not just a tool for communication, but it contains a deep cultural essence.
Education is inherently about passing down culture. However, our current education system is largely based on Chinese culture. Most of what is taught is rooted in Chinese culture. Most of what is taught is rooted in Chinese culture. What I hope is that most of what is taught is rooted in Chinese culture. We can have more courses in schools that convey our own culture. For example, as I mentioned, the chorus is a way to pass on our culture. Our Indigenous language is also a way to pass on our culture. Climbing mountains, for example, is a concept that differs between the Bunun people and the Chinese. Through these activities, I hope to gradually pass on the entire worldview, and cultural thinking of Indigenous people to our children, the knowledge system, which can be passed down to future generations.
So I hope that through the education system of this association, we will help students in need with education, giving them the confidence to dream about their future. Providing them a chance to see and experience the world personally, or even become part of global citizens, participating and communicating in global events. Due to the lack of resources and vague goals in the past, our students did not have the confidence and ability to step out. We use the power of our association to help and support children with different education systems, to let them dream bravely. Moreover, to rearrange their life, and this is our main idea.
My name is Yang Ruman, I'm Paiwan and bunun. My dad is Paiwan and my mom is Bunun. My ethnic name is demanruman, everyone calls me Ruman because it comes from my ethnic name.
Everyone here is Indigenous and passionate about the culture we share—very passionate and eager to rediscover lost aspects of it. Although our school encourages us to bring children out of the tribes to explore the outside world, I didn’t grow up in the tribe. My sense of identity was always unclear, and at times, I even felt some resentment toward it. Later, my mother told me about this school, and I decided to come here. Eventually, I realized that everyone here is proud of their Indigenous identity. After attending this school, I gradually reconnected with my Indigenous cultural identity and came to accept it.
We have a required course called Indigenous Culture Class, which is taught by Principal Bukut Tasvaluan. In this course, we learn about cultures from other Indigenous groups, and we’re also tasked with creating reports. Through the process of preparing these reports, we gain a deeper understanding of groups we’re less familiar with. Sometimes, the course also introduces us to the Plains Indigenous peoples, the groups on the verge of disappearing. The Plains Indigenous include many groups—possibly 11 or even 16. However, to this day, we still don’t know exactly how many there are. Some of us are quite passionate about uncovering and reclaiming that lost part of the Plains Indigenous heritage.
I rarely return now because I didn’t grow up in the tribe. When I do visit, the festivals are usually already over. So, I’ve never participated in the traditional seasons of my tribe. However, I’ve attended the seasonal festivals of the Tsou. Now, when I return to my tribe, I want to dive deeper into understanding the history of our tribe and how it was in the past.
Originally, I wanted to step out because I had mostly non-Indigenous friends around me. I wanted to learn more about my own culture.
We don’t particularly focus on selecting elite individuals because we aim to provide resources for everyone. However, I have participated in some English contests in the past, and I took part in two of them, both of which I did quite well in. Sometimes because we have both junior high and elementary levels, the high school section organizes a camp during the winter or summer break. We design the courses here and then present them to the junior high and elementary students. We also have activities like cycling trips or mountain climbing. For example, our graduation ceremony and trip included hiking to Jade Mountain.
I want to return to the tribe. Even though I don’t know much about my own culture, I hope to use our singing to inspire those in the tribe who may feel hopeless about their lives. The biggest issues in the tribe right now are things like smoking and drinking. I think Principal Bukut Tasvaluan put it well — our singing isn’t just about being beautiful, it’s about moving people. I believe that if we go back to the tribe and sing in places like churches or towns, it could help those who are lost find hope again.
I’m still exploring, but I hope to return to the tribe and help with the parts that need assistance.
The most important thing about teaching is being a role model, such as the behaviors should be upright. In school, it's a place for life education, and the behavior of all teachers is an example to their students. Academic knowledge is not that crucial at some point, the most important thing we teach our children is that in the future, ability without the ability, no matter how much academic knowledge students have, it would be useless. The future life is mainly based on the capacity enhancement of students, so whether it's the ability to live, the ability to socialize, or the ability in all aspects are very important.
We first build the students' confidence here, not through textbook knowledge and scores. It's hard for them to build confidence with academic scores, therefore, we hope to develop children's own strengths. For instance, some children are good at art, therefore, we use the subject of “art” to boost their confidence. When we see students with good behaviors or performance, we encourage and praise them immediately. Many of these children, then and now, started from their childhood experiences that they were "cold shouldered" quite often. Being told that "you can't do this well and you can't do that well either!" So here we are, giving them verbal encouragements when they did well. We have this yearly school sport activity to train students' self-discipline and determination, let the child know that their goals are achievable with their abilities, as long as they are willing to do it, they can do it. So we did this over a 3-day mountain hiking activity. It takes a lot of energy, but if students manage to pass the obstacles, they will realize that as long as they don’t give up, they will be capable of achieving what they aim for. And that's what we want them to do in society. There will be setbacks, yet they will have the ability and confidence to break through these setbacks that will help them go further instead of holding them back.
This is just like us as Taiwanese, many [young generations] don't speak Taiwanese, but they listen and understand, even my own children are like this. So I hope it's not just the indigenous people necessary, everyone has to know how to speak their native language, no matter if it's Hakka, Hokkien [Minnan Taiwanese], or indigenous languages. You have to understand your native language to be able to pass on your culture. The language itself is part of an expensive culture that needs to be preserved. If this language is missing, a lot of cultures would be missing as well, not only should Indigenous languages be preserved. Nevertheless, often Taiwanese Minnan people or the Hakka people need it as well. Ok, this is the inheritance of culture, yes.
Okay, so, many students here were very confused when they came in the first year of high school. Many of these students who came were struggling with academics. These students couldn't find their strengths or something they were proud of, so starting from high school, students take a career counseling class. Career counseling becomes really important to them. So we have counseling teachers, each of them will guide about 30 students. These counselors have great responsibilities, these counselors must help the students to understand and know themselves, and find their strengths and interests. So this is what we're doing in freshman year. For the sophomores, after finding what they are interested in, they had to develop and probe the area, making sure whether or not they are really interested and would like to master the area. If the direction is settled, then in the third year of high school, we assist students in finding the relevant college subjects. Here, we train and cultivate students with confidence in themselves, they know their goals and what they want in the future, then we will do our best to guide them to achieve this goal. We will help them find a teacher, we will take them to visit relevant workplaces. For example, for the students who like music, we brought them to this art university to investigate. If they like a specific subject, we will take them to relevant venues to observe and experience, let them know more about the field. So that's basically how we help our students, first of all, understand what students are interested in. Secondly, settle on the field/direction students will like to develop. Lastly, we assist and push them towards the goal they are aiming for.
So this is something we are working on right now. We give students the idea that they should use existing abilities to repay society, whether it's indirect or direct service. Since most of our resources came from public funding and support, we hope our students could serve and give back to society the best they can. We even take the students to the Nursery homes, the orphanage, and the special schools. They will realize that there is always someone in the society who needs their help. So it's not like all of them have to return to the tribe. But if they are willing to return, that would be the best, and that's the original goal of this school, which is to cultivate future generations who are capable to serve and improve the tribes as they return.
