The colorful wool felt strips are coiled around and fastened with a colored strip to form round pointy objects. Yuma Taru and her partners are working on the new installation art overtime at the workshop. All materials they use come from the results of the hard work by all women and girls in her tribe.

Outside the glass window, coffee farmers are holding their breath and staring at the machine with a booming voice and swinging back and forth to pass green beans through a perforated container. In one more week, the annual Pingtung Coffee Evaluation Competition will be held and all coffee farmers will present their best green beans to compete.

That day, after the heavy rain, a glorious rainbow appeared in the sky. Where the rainbow fell was very close to the location which we decided to open the coffee shop for indigenous people. It’s as if we were blessed by the ancestral spirits of the Taroko tribe and we are destined to settle in here…

Before introducing “Aurora Social Enterprise”, we need to introduce “Manna”. A long-time volunteer, Chen Ya-Zhen, was inspired by the Indian Priest Zheng Mu-Xi who has cared for indigenous people in Taiwan for years since she went to Fu Jen Catholic University. Since then, Chen started to promote organic agriculture in Alishan and founded “Manna Organic Life Association” advocating “Help Yourself First & Others Will Help You”. Its objectives are to help indigenous families preserve their culture, improve their economic status & life and protect the ecological environment.

Established in 2003, TASAT was formerly known as the Mandarin Literacy Class for foreign brides in Kaohsiung City. In addition to teaching mandarin in Mandarin Literacy Class, liberating education and empowerment programs were also available.

In 2009, Typhoon Morakot caused a devastating mudslide that buried Xiaolin Village. This is the story of how the survivors rebuilt their lives with almost-wild local plum trees and developed a sustainable business for the community.