Awakened enthusiasm
The Tzengtsu Community's activity center was completed in 1979, and the community development association was formed in 1993. But it wasn't until 2000, when the county government sent four young people to coordinate planning and operations here in lieu of military service, that the entire community really began to take off.
The development association once conducted a survey that showed that before the community sprang to life many residents had already been serving as volunteers. Huang Shun-te, the association's former chairman, established the most urgently needed neighborhood watch and environmental clean-up crews first in order to resolve serious public security and environmental problems. Next, the folk dance group began to hold regularly scheduled practices in the front courtyard of the home of Hsieh Chao-chih's, its leader. "At first, old folk had objections, saying that if a bunch of women with nothing to do started to get together to dance, it would end up badly, with some of them running off with men," says Liang Su-yen, a member of the group.
Chen Hsiu-chin, of the community development association, had a similar experience. She relates that when she would go out to do volunteer work her husband's parents would say, "If you have time to spare, why don't you do some weeding." Even her sister-in-law would say annoying comments of this ilk, but her husband and she would still sneak out. Now that the community is getting more and more beautiful, and social relations are increasingly harmonious, her in-laws are not only actively participating themselves, but are also donating money to the foundation.
"Maybe the enthusiasm was always there. Perhaps the ethos of helping neighbors is so deeply implanted in farming stock that once someone ignited it, the whole community got on track," says Chang Chao-kung, one of the clean-up crew leaders.
Currently, 50 people participate in the neighborhood watch. It includes three generations of the same family as well as people from the neighboring village. The main work of the group is to ensure public safety. In the winter they patrol every evening, but at most times of the year they patrol only on Saturday nights, keeping mischief-making teenagers from committing any crimes. Moreover, they take time to check on elderly people living alone, and they maintain order at weddings and funerals.
"In the countryside there are still some people who are superstitious about going to funerals. The community watch can soothe the pain of the families of the deceased by maintaining order," says team leader Lin Chuan. They are even asked to work funerals or celebrations in neighboring villages.
The clean-up crew comes out on the third Sunday of every month to clean the streets. This year, when the community falls in a zone that the Department of Health considers at particularly high risk for Dengue Fever, the focus has been on eliminating breeding grounds for mosquitoes. There is nary an empty can or discarded tire to be found anywhere in the community.
The folk dance group and education in the community center classroom rely on local instructors. Members of the community take turns teaching classes on ceramics, paper-woven baskets and other crafts. Sometimes members of the community go elsewhere to learn crafts, which they then teach upon their return.
Because the population of Tzengtsu includes a diversity of professions, local masons, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, metal workers and other tradesmen have been able to handle local restoration work without need of outside help. The community activity center was completed in 1979, but sat idle for a long time, eventually becoming a temporary shelter for the community's poor and falling into disrepair. In 2000, responding to a call from Huang Te-shun, there were immediate donations of paint and tiles, and within a few weeks it was cleaned up, with a new coat of paint and new tiles, ceilings and phone lines, as well as new brick in the courtyard.
The confidence and sense of accomplishment that were engendered by the trouble-free completion of the community center really unleashed the spirit of volunteerism in the community. It spurred along several other community rehabilitations, including Shatzaigou Park, Kantzaitien Park, Pocket Park, and the Pond Frond Bridge. The environmental volunteers first picked up the garbage, then planted and weeded, and finally got other volunteers to take responsibility for the sites. One by one these places grew lush and green.
Mulberries, morning glories, pomegranates, and hanging sponge gourds...beyond its botanical largesse, the revived Tzengtsu also boasts a cornucopia of human sentiment and meaning.