Home is where the scaffolding is
Nano Mashaw, an Amis who had been a seaman for more than 30 years and is now chairman of the Keelung City Indigenous Peoples Commission, explains that when Aborigines leave their hometowns they move to where they can make money. "Urban development requires the building of high rises," he says. "Aborigines started moving into construction in the 1980s, and the trend accelerated with the decline of mining and long-range fishing in the 1990s."
According to CIP statistics, among urban Aborigines live outside Taipei and Kaohsiung Cities in 2007, at least 24% were employed as day laborers. The figures for Taipei and Kaohsiung were 19% and 16% respectively. In all, 20% of Aborigines worked as day laborers compared to only 3% of Han Chinese; their rate of employment in that kind of work was nearly seven times higher.
In Taipei City, many Aborigines have relatively well-paying service jobs (particularly as nursing assistants), but even Aborigines with steady jobs in Kaohsiung and elsewhere are still mostly employed in construction and manufacturing. These figures show that the "less urbanized" the locale, the more difficult the working conditions, and the fewer employment opportunities available.
For Kacaw, Kuras, Kalo and many fellow Amis at Sanying, day laboring at construction sites is one of their few employment options. The average daily wage for such work is about NT$800.
"But with the economy being so poor in recent years, there is less and less work around, and sometimes you can't even do five days a month." In the run-up to the Chinese New Year, they were worrying that contractors would run away with their wages and they wouldn't get a cent.
"Without any work or paychecks, at least we can plant crops along the river and don't have to pay rent. There's water, and we can eke out a living." As the skilled Aboriginal construction workers of Sanying, who have helped build countless luxury buildings, look out on their destroyed community, they can only hope that they will get an opportunity to build homes for themselves.
Just a dream?
"Why have so many people / Left the green fields / Floated on the boundless sea / Why have so many people / Surged into the dark mines / Forgetting their worries from the world outside."
In "Why," Paiwan poet Monaneng wants to know the answers to such questions as these: Can the Aborigines who have gone to the cities to make a living "return whence they came? Can they find the gate to their old hometowns?" Why do the tribesmen who have left the green fields have "neither joy nor hope?"
Entering the Sanying Community for the first time, Taipei County chief executive Chou Hsi-wei helped up those Aborigines who had knelt before him and admitted that razing the community, though legal, had demonstrated a lack of consideration for tribal culture. To the Aborigines living there, he guaranteed that the county government would hold off on tearing down the new structures until it finds another piece of land for community residents. He also promised that after they move into new homes, the land below the Sanying Bridge will be designated as an Aboriginal preserve, so that Aborigines can continue to raise flowers and vegetables there.
"We Aborigines have been tricked by the government many times. Who knows if they really will honor their promises this time?" Sanying's Aborigines have decided to continue their protests until they are actually given back the land on which they can realize their dream of making a home for themselves.