Taiwanese Aboriginal Healthcare
Inititaive Formosa
As a deeply-rooted citizen born and raised in the agricultural south of Taiwan, my cultural awareness, however, has largely expanded through adopting a global perspective studying at an international school. From learning about the history of the freedom riders to other racially motivated incidents such as the death of Asian American Vincent Chin, I was imprinted with a lasting consciousness: the ability to recognize who is left out in the big picture. This ability carried on to inspire me during a personal account.
I once visited and stayed for vacation at multiple suburban counties where indigenous tribes resided, and realized that tribal cultures and locations would be exploited for exhibition use to strengthen the domestic tourism economy. I began to think back to my 16-year journey living in Taiwan, in which I never felt the solid transition and acceptance of Taiwanese indigenous groups into central society. More importantly, having a personal interest in health sciences, I noticed that education and healthcare opportunities have also been lacking for the unrecognized Aboriginals compared to those of the mainstream citizens.
This is mainly because of the rustic nature of their places of residency. My mission was then established; I aim to attain awareness for the underprivileged indigenous tribes and build a foundation to give them well-rounded education and healthcare opportunities. Seizing the chance in my school to create a functioning club to enact this mission, I founded Initiative Formosa to complete my mission through working with students in local Aboriginal schools and creating cultural workshops for them.
We visited a school in Jianshi Township, Hsinchu County, where the students there all have family roots in the indigenous tribes of Taiwan. From there we set up a one-day lesson agenda for a class of 20 to 30 students that showed interest in our arranged workshop.
During the designing phase, the Aboriginal students all exhibited design ideas that were unique to themselves, including patterns and colors of Atayal weaving, drawings of religious and monumental tribal figures, as well as depictions of symbolic objects that represented their culture.
Our prototype designs proved breathtaking. One colossal drawing commemorated the “Jianshi Rock” that held the symbolic meaning of giving birth to the local Aboriginal children, and the other portrayed black and white colored scythes adorned with indigenous patterns. After collaborating with clothing manufacturers to finalize shirt designs and mass produce hundreds of shirts, we initiated a method to sell these phenomenal products online for the public. The earnings totaling $3200 were all donated back to the school to enhance the school’s educational programs, especially in funding health education and providing financial aid for students’ healthcare deficiencies.
Discovering Taiwanese Tribal Medicine
Origin of Curiosity
My gaze narrowed on a group of tribesmen in front of me, circling a pile of seed-like objects and deliberately transferring them piece by piece onto a lofty wooden statue. The group of Taiwanese Aboriginals marched forward to bow before the statue in a reverent gesture to these peculiar plants. As they caught sight of my presence, they halted me with defensive looks. I immediately stepped back differentially, but as I did, I captured a glimpse of the objects. They were indeed what I thought: betel quids–seeds of the fruit of the areca palm found in southeast Asia and are able to act as stimulants. Surprisingly, the tribesmen proceeded to devour them. I gaped in disbelief; these were virulent plants, yet the Aboriginals consumed them one after another. Mystified at the veneration they displayed toward these harmful entities of nature, I longed to delve deeper into their eccentric betel quid practices. With a burning curiosity, I ventured far into Taiwanese aboriginal history, investigating the traditional medicinal practices that the 16 different Taiwanese tribes had adopted and unexpectedly discovering ancient herbs that contain chemicals invaluable to the human body.
Research Process
To shed light on these healing practices of antiquity, I immersed myself with the development of research articles on Taiwanese tribal medicine aiming to merit further scientific experimentation on these tribal herbs. While being set back by a lack of information relevant to this topic, my thirst for knowledge empowered me to scavenge for primary sources by traversing Taiwanese tribes and interviewing local biochemists. Once I narrowed down to the most common types of herbs the Aboriginals consumed in their daily lives, I looked into the chemical properties of the herbs and how they function to advance the health of the indigenous peoples–preventing inflammation, curing influenza, and promoting blood circulation. The result–a discovery of the presence of betulinic acids in the phyllanthus reticulatus herb that proved potent in battling cancer.
Read My Aboriginal Herbal Medicine Compendium in the Blog Posts