Indonesian-Taiwanese student becomes advocate for cross-cultural understanding

Indonesian-Taiwanese student becomes advocate for cross-cultural understanding

2023-09-12

A student has launched a project to share her mother’s Indonesian culture with classmates. Lai Fang-yi has been helping her mother share Indonesian heritage since she was tiny. Lai takes pride in her Indonesian identity and in the many cultural traditions that her mother has handed down. From music and dance to weaving and cuisine, Indonesia has a rich heritage that Lai has studied for many years. Now she’s branched out to share Indonesian musical instruments with her peers. She hopes to become an even greater advocate for cross-cultural understanding in the years to come.

Lai Fang-yi is teaching traditional Indonesian dance for older people in the community center with her mother, Hsu Ching-ying. Then everyone tries their hand at Indonesian weaving.

Lai becomes her mother’s teaching assistant, helping the students resolve problems big and small. She began this work of spreading Indonesian culture as a second grader. As if by osmosis, she was inspired to devote herself to cultural heritage transmission as well.

Lai Fang-yi
Second-generation Indonesian-Taiwanese
At the time I thought it was really fun to tag along with my mom. “It’s so fun to go to all these different places!” And I could spread my mom’s culture. I think it’s something special, because my identity is different from everyone else.

Lai’s mother, Hsu Ching-ying, is Indonesian of Chinese descent. When she married a Taiwanese man and settled here, her Mandarin wasn’t perfect and she felt a lot of self-doubt. But she was energized by cultural transmission work. She started the work by herself, while hoping that her daughter would actively identify with Indonesian culture.

Hsu Ching-ying
Mother of Lai Fang-yi
I wanted my daughter to understand the culture, and to have a certain respect for it, and to feel a little proud.

With her mother’s encouragement, Lai made a project based on her Indonesian identity and applied for the government’s Journey of Dreams scheme. She taught classmates at her school to play the angklung, a traditional Indonesian instrument. With the support of the scheme, she made a visit to her maternal grandparents’ home, building deeper understanding of the place where her mother grew up.

Lai Fang-yi
Second-generation Indonesian-Taiwanese
I think there’s no “bad” in culture, it’s just that everyone is different in some way. It’s just that there’s an extra cultural difference. So if I can share with everyone in my own way, then of course people will understand better.

Lai doesn’t put any limits on her own future. For now, she wants to keep on finding new ways to bring Indonesian culture closer to the hearts of her friends in Taiwan.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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和媽媽推廣母國文化印尼新二代用行動展現認同

2023-09-12

印尼新二代賴芳誼，從國小二年級開始就跟著媽媽深入社區，推廣印尼的傳統文化，印尼舞蹈、音樂、編織手作他樣樣精通，還參加了移民署舉辦的「築夢計畫」與「新住民及其子女海外培力計畫」，更了解媽媽的母國文化，未來立志成為文化推廣大使，希望能透過各種方式讓大家認識印尼文化。

穿上印尼的傳統服飾，印尼新二代賴芳誼，與媽媽徐菁瑩走進社區，帶領長輩跳印尼的傳統舞蹈，還和大家玩起，印尼的手作編織。

課堂上化身小助教，幫大家解決問題，賴芳誼從小學二年級開始，就跟著媽媽到處推廣印尼文化，耳濡目染之下，也讓她跟著投入文化傳遞的行列。

[[印尼新二代賴芳誼]]
“那時候是覺得說，跟著媽媽好像覺得很有趣，去各種地方覺得好像很好玩耶，就可傳承媽媽的文化，我覺得是一個很特別的事情，因為我跟大家有身份上的不一樣”

媽媽徐菁瑩是印尼華僑，嫁來台灣時語言不通，總覺得沒有自信，直到走進文化推廣大門，越做越起勁，由自身做起，也希望孩子能夠認同媽媽的母國文化。

[[賴芳誼媽媽徐菁瑩]]
“希望小朋友就是比較了解這個文化，他對這個文化有一種尊重，有一點驕傲的感覺”

賴芳誼對自己新二代的身份認同，在媽媽的鼓勵之下，參加第8屆的築夢計畫，在學校裡教同學印尼傳統樂器安克隆，也拿到新住民及其子女海外培力計畫，回到外婆家，更近距離認識媽媽成長的地方。

[[印尼新二代賴芳誼]]
“我覺得文化其實沒有不好，只是每個人有不一樣的地方，只是有多了另外一個文化差異而已，所以我可以用自己的方式，去跟大家分享，當然大家會更了解”

對未來不設限的賴芳誼，希望能夠透過各種方式，讓大家更認識印尼文化，了解台印之間的文化差異。

以上內容由《我們一家人》節目提供內政部移民署監製

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