Sending Tuvalu to the world
As this year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, with the support of the Tuvalu government and the ICDF, a number of Taiwan's overseas volunteers including Wu Yu-chuan, Lin Fangyu in tourism, Zhang Lingwen in livestock, Lu Xinxian in IT, and military service draftee Chen Qing'an, together planned and performed programs on four themes: "Drawing My Home-Stamp Design Competition," "The Story of Earth Day," "Send Tuvalu to the World," and "Restoring the Mangrove Forests."
First, they organized a stamp design competition with the theme of "Drawing My Home," and used this to introduce the story of Earth Day at Funafuti's two primary schools.
The children, who had never heard of Earth Day, all happily and innocently depicted the island as they see it: daily scenes of the endless ocean, the pink-bluish sky extending to the horizon, coconut trees, fishing boats, buildings covered with pandanus leaves and rainwater collecting tanks alongside roofs.
The schools then each selected two works to be printed and issued as commemorative stamps by the Tuvalu Postal Bureau. More than 400 postcards with eight styles and layouts were prepared by Chen Qing'an, who is good at graphic design.
After the postcards were printed, they visited every classroom in Funafuti over the next couple of months. This was an opportunity to visit primary schools in outer islands as well, inviting the children to write or draw on the postcards. Then the larger task was begun. They contacted in advance a well-known postcard exchange site (postcrossing.com) that was able to provide 422 random addresses from 66 different countries. Everyone was very busy sticking stamps on postcards, checking the details of names and addresses, and taking photos for filing. D-day was April 22, as the Fiji flight called at the capital on that day.
Since July, more than 100 postcards from people around the world have arrived in dribs and drabs (the senders are also randomly selected by the same website), and some overseas recipients have also taken the initiative to respond by e-mail to say hello. The responses from around the world will be displayed in the schools, providing a good opportunity for children to develop contacts with people from other cultures-and to improve their geography.
Grassroots ambassador
From September this year, Wu Yu-chuan will be the only Taiwan overseas volunteer left in Tuvalu, but she has no intention of feeling alone and helpless. She is enthusiastically preparing to participate in the Alliance of Small Island States on behalf of Tuvalu, attending the climate change conference to be held in Cancun, Mexico at the end of the year.
"I hope that by attending the conference I can learn more about the procedures and speaking skills involved in this kind of international forum. I'm also very curious, wondering what sort of approach the prime minister of Tuvalu will take to look after the nation's interests. And whether the international community will be more forward-thinking and sincere than in previous years."
Wu Yu-chuan has done a lot of thinking about the experience of the past year. It is really hard to live in Tuvalu. Despite the imported food, "every bunch of vegetables, every fish, and every coconut are all earned with our hands in our battle with nature." From her experience in Tuvalu, she realizes more forcibly that the average diet in developed countries contributes enormously to imperceptible additions to our carbon footprint. "No matter where we live, we need to think carefully about how our simple daily needs impact the environment, and to support local production as much as possible."