Jingle All the Way to A Warm Christmas- College of Nursing Students Craft Handmade Scarves and Beanies for Elderly in Remote Areas

As winter drew near, students from the College of Nursing transformed into Santa Clauses, joining forces to knit scarves and beanies for the elderly in the Fenbin Township, a remote area of northern Hualien County.

Chiou-Fen Ling led a student team at TMU College of Nursing to give away free scarves and beanies in Fengbin.

Since 2017, TMU College of Nursing has actively embraced TMU’s social responsibility, aiming to bring warmth and happiness through their small yet sincere dedications. This year, they chose Hualien as their destination, coordinating a two-day visit to Fenbin.

TMU students spent days and weeks preparing a total of 40 scarves and beanies to give away in Fengbin, bringing warmth to the elderly’s winter and reconnecting with Taiwan’s traditional cultures. Chiou-Fen Lin, Professor of the School of Long-Term Care and Dean of Student Affairs, shared that in a neighborhood of merely 400 people living among four indigenous tribes — Amis, Kavalan, Bunun, and Sakizaya — rich cultural exchanges have thrived. Throughout the students’ two-day visit to Fengbin, the elderly led the students on an insightful journey of tribal life and conveyed indigenous people’s idea of co-living with nature.

A student shared that this activity granted them a precious opportunity to be exposed to indigenous culture. The student noted that it was their first time experiencing the wisdom of the culture in person: living with the sea and appreciating the mountains, which conveyed the concept of natural sustainability, such as watching the elderly making cooking wares with bamboo sticks and stones.

Professor Lin remarked that students’ reflections testified to the core concept of conducting university social responsibility. It’s not a one-way devotion from academia to society but a two-way communication between students and cultures. Through the activities, students learn to reach their hands out to people in need while learning wisdom from existing cultures. In the future, TMU College of Nursing will keep expanding its possibilities to diverse cultural groups in Taiwan, promoting the sustainable energy of helping society.

TMU students took a picture with the residents of Fenbin after the two-day visit.