Helping children overcome fear
After leaving that job Liao began to take online courses and got her childcare license. During this transformational phase in her career path, she applied to the Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund to participate in their Asia‡Pacific horticulture project and once again headed off to Nauru.
Liao observed that Nauruans already continually engage in “dialogue” with their children even when the kids are only four months old. Moreover, they don’t treat children as appendages of their parents, but as independent entities. Later, she observed a similar phenomenon in Australia. The library in the neighborhood where she lived held activities designed for children three mornings per week, and participating parents stayed with the children throughout, without getting distracted by other matters.
This unexpected journey brought her closer to her “destiny.” After returning to Taiwan, she again went to work at the Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation, where she has worked on marketing communication for the Storytelling Club.
The Storytelling Club originated with the Prix Jeunesse International television festival in Munich, Germany. The goal was to help refugee children remember their experiences of overcoming fear, and through this to see themselves positively and transform this positivity into courage to meet the next challenge. Once after she heard a Paiwan indigenous child named Xiang sharing his experiences, Liao wanted to make a video of his story. Given the child’s shy nature, she adopted an attitude of respect, trust building, and supportiveness while waiting for the child to open his heart.
During field research prior to filming, at one point Xiang was unable to write certain Chinese characters, at which he threw his pen to the ground and burst out crying. His family members who saw this simply said, “Is this really worth crying over?” But Liao told him: “Thank you for letting me know you don’t know how to write those characters, for now I know what to do next.” Xiang gradually began to feel secure around the film crew, and they completed the video, called Xiang Goes Hunting. It tells the tale of the 12-year-old boy Xiang from the Masisi indigenous community in Pingtung’s Taiwu Township, and how he was afraid of the dark and scared of dogs, but decided to overcome his fears and go hunting with his uncle in the mountains late at night.
Through Liao’s photographs we can see the beautiful scenery and family life in Nauru, and through her actions we can see Nauru’s culture of sharing and respectful treatment of children. Even though she is no longer a youth ambassador, Peggy Liao uses her own methods to make friends with people in this diplomatic ally of Taiwan’s, thus diversifying the areas of interaction between our two countries.
When Peggy Liao left Nauru in 2012, local high-school students saw her off at the airport.
Peggy Liao (right) acted as guide for Nauru’s first lady (left) on a trip to Yilan County.
Liao used a film-based camera to record Nauruan processions, historic sites, and birthday celebrations.
An old phosphate conveyor
In this photo Narauan children admire works at an exhibition of photos taken by youth ambassadors including Peggy Liao, seeing their own homeland from a new perspective.