Translator | Wu Fang-Chen     Resource | https://goo.gl/3b9NCS

A day-care center was established in the tribal community, using the local resources to look after the seniors living in the mountains and to implement the spirit of “Aging in Place”.

The Origins of Mau-An Day Care Center

Starting from 2016, Mau-An Day Care Center was created, situated in Datong Township Taiping Mountain in Yilan City. It provided senior services for local elders of the Atayal tribe in the mountains and implemented the spirit of aging in place through the model of development social work.

Eden Social Welfare Foundation independently founded a daycare center, Mau-An Day Care Center which is located in the endless Taiping Mountain. Mau-An village belongs to an Atayal tribe. Not only is it remote and difficult to get to, but it also has insufficient population and financial resources. “We contacted the township mayor first and found a vacant place right at Mau-An. Afterwards, Eden started to develop and promote local services.” said Liu Yu-Pu, the Director General of Eden.

Challenges

It is very difficult to provide local services due to challenges in language and culture. How to build a connection between needs and service; and facilitate the local residents serving others.

 “Since only a few elders, women, and children remained here, at that time the Eden Foundation was thinking of service by the model of development social work.”

Therefore, during the preparation period, Eden first did a general census. From this census result, Eden has realized that the most urgent need is medical care due to the fact that there is no long-term care and medical resources in the mountains.

Strategies and Plans

It has taken more than seven years to plan the setup of the Mau-An Day Care Center in 2011. Director General Liu Yu-Pu expressed that community service from all the social works is usually not easy to deliver. It includes the care for the elderly, combined with community development work, understanding social capital as well as culture, etc., and consumes a number of costs and efforts. As a consequence, recruiting a local leader is a must. The practical aspect of implementation is difficult indeed; community workers need to keep working on it relentlessly. “It is also needed to encourage talented local people to return to their village to help their community”

Currently, the daily services include day-care, home care, and meal delivery; it’s worth mentioning that a lesson called “grandparent-child class” has started now. That is intended for children in the tribe coming here to take care of the seniors so the seniors can learn something with those kids. Both grandparents and kids have fun together.

We hope to provide the elders with better local healthcare support in the future, so that they can pass on the aboriginal culture from generation to generation.

Donation: https://goo.gl/EFpkmV

Eden is delivering meals to support the elders by providing nutrition with love.