World Communion of Reformed Churches
NewsFeature
26 April 2011
By Kristine Greenaway
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 country’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 centre’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 tostudy the Morakot Centre asa model fortheir role inthe reconstructionof devastatedvillages. 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 thedisasters 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 thecentre was created to help rebuildshattered lives through job skills training and to assist in reconstructing thecommunity’s infrastructure. Thisis particularly challenging in Taitung, she explains, as many of the area’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 country’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 populationthat 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 ofits 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