In October 2018, the USR project of the Social Sciences College of National Taipei University(NTPU) invited a hundred children from the Mind Painting Class of Taiwan Foundation of Rare Disorders to enter the campus of NTPU to sketch. In June 2020, the USR project framed these paintings and the life stories of children for permanent display in the lobby on the first floor of the Social Sciences College, with the title "Vitality Gallery-Rare", We hope that the paintings and stories of children can touch students and make them more considerate and empathetic to the disabled USR project invited children with rare disorders to join the opening ceremony of the Vitality Gallery and Father's Day concert. The host of the USR project, Professor Min-Chieh Tseng, especially reminded the assistants: "Children with rare disorders participated in this activity, they may not be able to participate next time, so we needed to be more enthusiastic and attentive to receive ".
When children arrived in the lobby of the Social Sciences College, they excitedly took their parents to view their compositions. We found that some children who had participated in sketching on the campus of NTPU who had not come. After the personnel of the Taiwan Foundation of Rare Disorders informed that some of the children already passed away. The mood of the children was slightly affected, but they were still very happy to have the opportunity to visit NTPU again and even happier that their compositions could be seen on the university campus.
In the opening ceremony, an activity was specially designed for children to say to their parents "Dad, Mom, I love you!" in front of their paintings. After recording this sincere confession, they can receive a collection of exquisite works from the assistants. The collections were designed with a childlike style by the assistant's ingenuity. The content includes every painting and the life stories of the child, as well as the introduction of the origin of the Vitality Gallery. It is also presented to every child and guests as a souvenir. Looking at the happy smiles of the children, a smile appeared on the serious faces of the parents.
After the opening ceremony in the morning, the USR project invited the “Life Jazz Orchestra” to perform so that children could enjoy the music up close in the lecture hall. The head of the orchestra Bo-Yi Wu is a visually impaired saxophone player. His growth process and story were turned into music, sharing his own life philosophy of not being afraid of difficulties, overcoming obstacles, and optimistic and grateful. The head’s story deeply touched the audience. Teacher Lian-Ye Wang from the Mind Painting Class of Taiwan Foundation of Rare Disorders also shared, “This concert had shown us that every disabled person has the ability to change and grow, but the time they need is different, So what we need is wait and believe!".
Rare disorders cannot be cured by medicine, and children of rare disorders suffer all kinds of discrimination and bullying from childhood to adulthood. After the activity, the children timidly said, "Now you know the members of rare disorders!", a short sentence, behind the scenes I don’t know how many tears and sadness there are. The USR project hopes that the optimistic and positive life stories of children with rare disorders can also spread to the campus.
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There is a special scene at the abandoned pond next to the college of Humanities of NTPU. "Can we grow vegetables in the university? " Yes, this first food forest within the university among Taiwan, supported by the USR project of College of Social Sciences and driven by professor Xin from the Department of History, makes a link between manager Qiu and designer Chen from the Wutong Foundation. The USR project invited 20 elders in the community and curriculum students to participate in this campaign. After taking care of the field for a semester, all the vegetables and plants have grown to a harvestable stage.
The compost, fences, etc. used in the entire food forest are all local materials. Taking environmental protection into consideration, the students and the seniors pick up the dead branches of the school trees on the campus, collect raw food waste from the restaurants in the campus food court. Using layer and layer of the natural materials like compost, and then covered them with soil to plant the vegetables. There will also be a workshop held in the future to share the harvest with everyone. What was taken from the campus will be giving back to campus. "This course reminds us of our childhood. Now we can grow vegetables on campus! People can communicate with others. It's really fun to do this with classmates. Hope that the experience growing the vegetables can make students and elders have more topics.” Mrs. Chen, one of the members, said.
The USR project of the College of Social Sciences contributes to the integration of NTPU and the communities nearby and makes it a college-town. Advocating that residents can participate in the lecturing in the university, the teachers and students can go into the community. By bringing young and old learners into the same course, students and elders could have meaningful interactions in the classroom. This allows students to improve cross-generational communication skills, and also allows elders to regain their self-worth and resolve loneliness, which is the goal of the project: eliminating age discrimination through generational interaction, creating a harmonious environment for youngers and seniors.
"NTPU Food Forest" gives the elderly a sense of mission. They show up at the vegetable garden on time every morning and evening to water and weed. No longer just walking on the campus, but can make a contribution to the school, feel participated in the school, and more importantly, create a deeper emotional connection with NTPU. By launching the food forest campaign, we expect that the goal of USR, NTPU College-town, can be gradually achieved, and we will continue to implement the "youngsters and seniors co-learning and intergenerational integration" on campus.