"This is a pod, that's the flower bud of the string bean!" On the morning of the 25th, Mar. An-An (a pseudonym), a 5-year-old slow-flying angel from Eden Foundation, and her peers had a half-day farming experience at the String Bean Field in Chishan District. The educare giver led the children to learn about the vegetables on the table, and then actually went into the community to have farming experience, to learn about the process of growing crops, and to sweat together to harvest, which was like a wonderful and rich lesson in nature!

The kid was so happy to touch the string beans for the first time!

Children Welfare Service Center, Social Affairs Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government entrusted the Eden Foundation’s Chishan Early Intervention Service Development Center (hereinafter referred to as Chishan Early Intervention Center) to bring 35 Slow-Flying Angels and youth with disabilities from Agape Small-Scale Sheltered Community Workshop to a string bean field in Chishan to conduct a community inclusion program. The owner of the string bean field brought the children to learn more about the field, the soil, and the crop of the string beans, and to learn about the growth of string beans. The children were able to touch the beans and practice harvesting. Although the slow-flying angels were a little slower, with the help of the educare giver, they piled up baskets and baskets of beans like the small hills.

 Educare giver let the children touch and learn about string beans.

An-An came to Chishan Early Intervention Center when she was two years old because she couldn't speak. Granny of An-An is a new immigrant from Indonesian and her mother is certified as mildly cognitively impaired. Both of them have the regular income from work, but due to their busy work schedules and financial burdens, An-An stayed at home during weekends to spend time with the TV, and lacked life experience. An-An's granny was not able to help with teaching due to her status as a new immigrant, and An-An's mother had limited parenting skills due to her cognitive disabilities. After two years of learning in the daycare program, An-An learned how to use the toilet, change clothes, organize and pack her school bag according to classroom schedule, and even acted as a educare giver's assistant to help lead her younger peers. In the blink of an eye, An-An reached the age of 5 and is planning to be transferred to a regular Pre-school to study in the kindergarten after the summer vacation.

Children trying to harvest beans by themselves.

Ms. Ya-Fang Hsieh, section chief of the social work at Chishan Early Intervention Center, Eden Foundation said that the Chishan Early Intervention Center is entering its 25th year of operation this year, and it is expanding into Liukuei, Chiahsien, and Meinong to set up the community-based service station for the development of children, promoting inclusion education, home-based care service, diversified teaching, community-based early intervention service, dental care for remote areas, and the development of intergenerational learning services. We hope that through the planning of community inclusion programs, we can help the children at the center to learn about the community, give back to the community, and promote positive interactions between children and parents through life education, so as to enhance the children's life experience and stimulate parents' parenting skills. For more information about early intervention care service in the Chishan area, please call (07)661-8106.