A small green island adorns the Pacific Ocean to the south-east of Taiwan, 91 km off the coast at Taitung. Orchid Island is its name. The Yami people who inhabit the island have lived off flying fish and taro cultivation for generations. Every family is self-sufficient, even making the material for their own waistcloths. The adults do not have to bother about money, while the children lead happy carefree lives that anyone would envy . Once they can run about, their parents let them alone to play and roam at will. Groups of kids can be seen splashing naked in the water or chasing barefoot along the road. Parents do not look for them unless it is time to eat. "Orchid Island is little, the children have to be somewhere on it--they can't get lost!" There is often no need even to return home to sleep. Hsieh Han-chung of Fisherman's Village says that his record without going home for the night was two months.

But things have changed a lot in recent years with the development of tourism, the opening of an air link with Taiwan in 1971 and electricity supply since 1982. Visitors from "civilization" have come bringing hotels, restaurants and shops, and taking away precious plants and butterflies. The Yami are no longer satisfied with a life of taro and flying fish, and want to taste cake and rice imported from the main island. They also want televisions, electric fans and gas cookers. The young especially look to Taiwan, which they know of through television, tourists and the accounts of their elder brothers and sisters who have already been there.

"When I was small we had no electricity at home. I always thought that Taiwan gave off light and never had nighttime . . . I thought candy grew on trees there, which you could pick and eat any time you wanted!" smiles Tung Mei-mei, now the editor of the island's bi-weekly paper. "I couldn't wait to grow up and get over to Taiwan after seeing the pretty clothes and pale skin that my auntie and big sister came back with."

Shih Nu-lai is one of four young Yami with a university education. "Many of the island's youth are only too keen to get away," he says. "Taiwan seemed like a paradise to me too at first, but after graduating and working there for several years, I realized that my paradise is actually the place I grew up in."

Nevertheless, with four primary schools and one junior high school, and no work opportunities outside of fishing and taro planting, further education or a job inevitably requires a trip to Taiwan. Of last year's 80 junior high graduates, 25 came to Taiwan to continue their education while others came over to go straight into work. As a minority people, Yami who wish to pursue education are given an apparent advantage over other students, in that senior high admission scores are weighted in their favor. There is also a 25% lower threshold for enrolment to college and university, which makes admission easier but does not guarantee a smooth passage through to graduation.

The competitive pressure on students in Taiwan is often a cause of frustration for young Yamis. As shown in surveys by the Institute of Ethnology of the Academia Sinica, the grades of students from indigenous groups lags behind those of other students, especially in mathematics and languages.

Students from Orchid Island also lack the same educational base as their peers, because what they learn in school is out of touch with their actual lives, while there are also problems with the quality and quantity of teachers available. Most teachers come on a temporary posting and apply for transfer after the first year, so they can never really commit themselves to the task. Also, lacking specialist knowledge of or training in the local culture, the teachers' efforts are often simply wasted.

A related problem is that parents take little interest in the school education, which does not include fishing or boat-building in the curriculum, and demand little of the children other than that they do not get into trouble. Most pupils therefore do not open their books outside of school hours, and some simply do not turn up for class at all.

Despite this, there are of course some selfmotivated studious youths that turn outlike Huang Ah-chung, graduate of Fu Jen Catholic University in mass communications. Recalls Huang: "At that time a Swiss priest knew that I liked studying and took me to Taitung to enter junior school, providing my board and lodging until his death in 1969." He progressed by examination into Taitung High School and Fu Jen University, finally taking a special exam in aboriginal administration and returning to the island to work in the civil affairs office.

But Orchid Island numbers only four of its inhabitants like Huang who have earned university degrees.

An added obstacle for those who want to study in Taiwan is that while education is free on Orchid Island, and uniforms, books and clothes are subsidized, nothing comes free at the private schools and colleges in Taiwan which pupils from the island mostly gain admission to. Moreover, there is nothing their parents can do to help without an income source of their own.

Li Chih-hua is one who was accepted by a private college in Taitung last year but could not take up the place because of the high cost of tuition. Instead his brother who works in Taiwan is supporting him through one year at cram school in Taipei, after which he hopes to enter a public school --where admission requirements are higher and fees lower. Others who cannot retake their exams simply have to work to support themselves through college.

Liao Mei-fen is one who worked all through senior high school, not returning to her lodgings until eleven o'clock every night. She graduated, but did not want to carry on with her studies. Shih Nu-lai too, says that what he remembers most about his university career is washing dishes for two years at a restaurant beside the Tamkang University.

For most young Orchid Islanders who come to Taiwan in search of work the dream is shattered even earlier. Says Huang Mei-mei: "I had no idea that I was 'indigenous' until I came to Taiwan, when I began to find I was different from the Taiwanese."

Huang Pi-mei came over straight from high school, and has spent twelve years working in numerous jobs up and down the island, in factories, warehouses and in quality control. She mixes well with employers and colleagues alike, but still has to put up with jibes and points from people who call her "abo." In fact, she is one of the lucky ones, for many of her fellow islanders learn as soon as they get to "paradise" that no one there is willing to even rent them a room.

Young Yamis away from home tend to stick together for work and accommodation, and when they drink to pick up their spirits they may do so without moderation, which can lead to problems. "So landlords think that all Yamis just like to get together and booze it up," says Huang Pi-mei, "and they refuse to let rooms to us."

Finding work is another problem. Lack of qualifications means that young Yamis tend to get unskilled labor in factories and on building sites, with low income and low status. Legal issues concerning wages and insurance are not clear to them, and some have had to foot large medical bills recovering from work-related injuries, while others have handed their ID papers and personal chop over to an unscrupulous employer, only to find themselves facing a large stack of tax forms. The disappointments and failure to adapt snap some of the new arrivals straight from a dream into depression. Not daring to return home penniless, some become hostile and distrustful. Police statistics show however that the rate of criminality among Yamis is lowest in a group consisting of five tribes: the Atayal, Ami, Bunun and Paiwan, at an average of 1.42 crimes per thousand people, which can be ascribed to the closeness of social relations on the island, and religious restraint.

Nevertheless tragedy can result from the move to Taiwan. Huang Chen-shan was one of Orchid Island's outstanding youths, noted for his frequent contributions to the island's bi-weekly periodical. He could write well and present his thoughts clearly, but had a certain antisocial streak. He graduated from junior high school and overcame the objections of his parents to come across to Taiwan and "really learn something." But the taunts that he was from a "backward people" with a "backward culture" were too much for him, and after several spells in a mental hospital he took his life by jumping from a building. Another youth returned from Taiwan a changed person, and attempted to kill his parents with a knife.

Huang Pi-mei says with a sigh: "I have heard of a girl from my school getting into the sex trade, and a boy ending up in prison. It really upsets me. There are only four or five hundred young Orchid Islanders in Taiwan, and it only takes one to go astray for everyone to notice, and think: 'That's what all the Yami youth are like.' So we cannot fall easily,because it is difficult to climb back up if we do."

The total population of the Yami is around 2,800, with the young making up one third of that number. The outflow of most of the youth therefore represents a threat to the survival of traditional Yami culture, on top of all the social problems that stem from their failure to adapt. In common with Taiwan's other indigenous tribes the Yami have come under pressure from Chinese culture, but less so and later than the other native peoples, so that their culture remains the best preserved. Yet changes in material life have wrought social changes for the Yami, in particular the young, who are slowly losing their mother tongue and are increasingly unfamiliar with tribal folklore and taboos, the modes of dress and means of ritual. They are no longer like their forefathers. At the same time they cannot integrate with Chinese society and become fully Taiwanese, which leaves them on the fringe wherever they are. It is a problem which most of the young Yami in Taiwan are too busy scraping together a living to consider, while those who do worry about it have no means of remedying it. Some turn their frustration into disdain for their birthright, and even deny that they are Yamis.

Liu Pin-hsiung, researcher at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, explains: "Culture is living, and cannot be preserved in a state of petrification. It is neither necessary nor possible for the Yami to go backwards. When any culture is under pressure from another culture it faces two possibilities: one, its own decline; two, the forming of a new culture." It would be a great loss if the unique Yami culture were to vanish, with its rich knowledge of the ocean, including a lunar calendar based on the flow of the tides which is very different from the Chinese calendar.

Perhaps because of their ties to the sea, the Yami always wish to return to their island home, unlike other indigenous peoples in Taiwan who tend to move from the mountains to the plains and want to stay there. Hsieh Han-chung, who returned from Taiwan to work at the civic affairs office on Orchid Island, graduated from senior high and put in a year at cram school in Taipei, but did not make it to university. "While there, I often thought of the icy springs that bubble through rock cracks along the coast, and of the wide seas. Each time I got back I would have to take a dip in the ocean to wash off the dust of Taipei!" Hsieh adds that he would not dare swim in the sea off Taiwan because the water is "not the right color."

Shih Nu-lai returned with his wife and daughter after years of hard work in Taiwan, so that his offspring could learn the special Yami qualities. "Beyond the age of thirty, the majority of Yami in Taiwan get weary, and often think of the ocean and home, and the harmonious atmosphere of traditional ceremonies," he remarks. "There are many who want to return, but the paradox is that returning cuts off their only source of income."

Newly married Huang Li-mei and her husband have agreed that they will work in Taiwan until they have earned a little money, and then in their forties return together to Orchid Island, "maybe to learn traditional weaving from the elders, or another craft, as long as it is something that is passed on." Like the current crop of youngsters eyeing Taiwan, they too once could barely wait to stretch their wings and fly away. But after years in another land they only want to return home like migratory birds. This is a force that perhaps represents the best hope for Yami culture.

David Lin, director of the Christian Culture Education Foundation, is one for whom this is more than just a hope. He arrived alone on Orchid Island fourteen years ago, and since then has set up the island's only kindergarten, reading room, publication, and dentistry. He remembers with a smile how he had to "trick" pupils into attending the kindergarten at first, even though it was free and there were snacks provided. Lin counts as a good friend to the islanders. Known to all the young as "Brother" Lin, he was the first outsider to be elected as a representative of Orchid Island County. "What they most need here is knowledge, not material wealth," explains Lin. In his opinion, since the island's ties to Taiwan cannot be broken, and the migration of youth in search of education and work is unavoidable, what they need is knowledge and a better understanding of Taiwan, as well as more confidence in the strengths of their own culture. Then the youth can walk proud, and not lose their way as before.

At the moment Orchid Island lacks even a single bookstore, yet karaoke and video game machines are already well established. David Lin has thus been making loud appeals for the construction of a youth cultural activities center, to include a library, places of instruction for Yami handicrafts and dance, computer training and more. The youth will be able to learn traditional skills from the best practitioners on the island, helping them to respect their own culture, and it is also hoped that those soon to set off for Taiwan can be inculcated with attitudes that may benefit them in their work there.

Lin's idea has stirred the islanders and won the support of the Cosmic Light Media Center, which has just launched a program of fund-raising activities in the name: "In Time for the Neediest, 1991," with a target of NT$20 million. In the absence of government funding, Lin has to rely on the economic muscle of private organizations. Says Liu Pin-hsiung: "If somebody didn't do this, I'm afraid that Yami language, folklore, buildings, dance, wood carving, clay sculpture and knowledge of the ocean would all die out."

There are those on the island who have doubts about how much the project can actually achieve Says Shih Nu-lai: "The best of intentions are often a waste of effort on Orchid Island, because the people who hold them don't spend the time to understand what the people really need. The public housing that they once built is an example." But Huang Ah-chung, the island's second university graduate and a staff member at the civic affairs office, disagrees. In his view, housing belongs to the infrastructure and cannot easily be altered once built, whereas cultural and educational work can be developed and improved through mistakes, and is a long term project that cannot be left undone.

The site for the youth cultural center has been selected and preparatory work proceeds apace. Donations are currently up to NT$8 million, though there is still a long way to go to meet the target figure. If Orchid Island interests you, and you would like to help benefit the Yami youth by building that "bridge," you can make a donation to the special post office account No. 11546546, held by the Cosmic Light Media Center, and please specify: "In Time for the Neediest."

[Picture Caption]

(Left) Pupils from Langtao Primary School out drawing by the sea with their art teacher. Blue skies and green seas is the first impression that everyone gets of Orchid Island.

(Right) Traditional Yami houses of this type with the main room below ground level and also a work room and sun cabin are now only seen among the Yeh-yin tribe. Other housing has been supplanted by concrete block structures. (photo by Arthur Cheng)

(Above) Orchid Island is a children's paradise, where anytime is playtime for the kids.

(Right) An air service was opened between Orchid Island and Taiwan in 19 71. The airfield is only large enough to receive 8-seater and 20-seatercraft.(photo by Arthur Cheng)

Fishing is a major part of life for the Yami, and the canoe hand-carved from a single beam of wood is a speciality of theirs. A few have begun to use motorized sampans instead of the traditional craft. (photo by Arthur Cheng)

David Lin, director of the Christian Culture Education Foundation, is like a brother to the island's youth. The overgrown plot behind him is where the youth activities center will be built.

Shih Nu-lai (left) is one of the four Yami with a university qualification. In his opinion, paradise for the Yami is right at home on Orchid Island.

In class at Orchid Island Junior High School. After graduation the pupil s all face a big test, whether they wish to continue their studies or find a job.

The only reading room on the island. Though it is cramped and basic, children are as keen as ever on reading there.

Religious faith is a comfort for Orchid Islanders in Taiwan. Every Saturday in Taipei, members of the Orchid Island Youth Christian Club meet to encourage and support each other. (photo by Vincent Chang)

Shaw Yu-ming (third from right), director general of the Government Information Office, strongly supports the fundraising campaign for the future youth activities center on Orchid Island, and generously donated 100 books for the library. (photo by Vincent Chang)

The Cosmic Light Media Center held a grand fundraiser on May 17, in its "In Time for the Neediest" campaign, aimed to support the building of the youth activities center. (photo by Vincent Chang)

（Right） Traditional Yami houses of this type with the main room below ground level and also a work room and sun cabin are now only seen among the Yeh-yin tribe. Other housing has been supplanted by concrete block structures. （photo by Arthur Cheng）

（Above） Orchid Island is a children's paradise, where anytime is playtime for the kids.

（Right） An air service was opened between Orchid Island and Taiwan in 19 71. The airfield is only large enough to receive 8-seater and 20-seatercraft.（photo by Arthur Cheng）

Fishing is a major part of life for the Yami, and the canoe hand-carved from a single beam of wood is a speciality of theirs. A few have begun to use motorized sampans instead of the traditional craft. （photo by Arthur Cheng）

David Lin, director of the Christian Culture Education Foundation, is like a brother to the island's youth. The overgrown plot behind him is where the youth activities center will be built.

Shih Nu-lai （left） is one of the four Yami with a university qualification. In his opinion, paradise for the Yami is right at home on Orchid Island.

In class at Orchid Island Junior High School. After graduation the pupil s all face a big test, whether they wish to continue their studies or find a job.

The only reading room on the island. Though it is cramped and basic, children are as keen as ever on reading there.

Religious faith is a comfort for Orchid Islanders in Taiwan. Every Saturday in Taipei, members of the Orchid Island Youth Christian Club meet to encourage and support each other. （photo by Vincent Chang）

Shaw Yu-ming （third from right）, director general of the Government Information Office, strongly supports the fundraising campaign for the future youth activities center on Orchid Island, and generously donated 100 books for the library. （photo by Vincent Chang）

The Cosmic Light Media Center held a grand fundraiser on May 17, in its "In Time for the Neediest" campaign, aimed to support the building of the youth activities center. （photo by Vincent Chang）