Kitchen is the core to every household and is also where the spirit to help and support each other that Atayal people uphold lies. They rediscover the values of growing crops by starting from “eating”. “Daan River Indigenous Tribal Kitchen” is always open, connecting the hearts of all generations of 15 Atayal tribes.

Outdoors, there are grilled pork, edible wild plants, gluten rice, and mysterious cocktails on the dining table; all you can eat. On the square next to it, children are singing ancient folk ballad and young people and elders are dancing around them. This is not a traditional indigenous festival but the annual cultural exchange where people get together in Donghe Village.

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.

Remote towns in Taiwan face population aging and youth emigration. Without enterprises devoting funds to a rural area, how are young labors willing to stay in their hometown? He Jun-Xiong is one of the young men like a stray bird returning to his hometown. He leads people at the Ca’wi Community Development Association to build sightseeing attractions in the tribe. He succeeds to help people in his tribe make money and further bring Ca’wi into sharp focus in Hualien.

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…