Entering Kalala, Ghana: The Beautiful Hometown of Baskets
Photo credit / Hualien-Taitung Field Study Camp
Editor's note: The field study camp of the Hualien-Taitung Happiness Association draws members from all walks of life; some are veterans of related issues, others are newcomers, yet their passion for the development of Indigenous communities in Hualien and Taitung is the same. Pan Hsin-jung planned the camp's itinerary of community visits with the aim of understanding the needs and situations of different communities, then, through everyone's collective brainstorming, working out the cooperative economic model best suited to Hualien and Taitung. For related reports, see Hualien-Taitung Field Study Camp: Rolling Up Our Sleeves to Transform New Life in the Rift Valley.
Kalala Community is located in Wuhe Village, Ruisui Township, with the main river Xiuguluan Creek to the east and Hongye Creek flowing to the north. It is the third site of the community's migration; Kalala, meaning "basket" in the Amis language, is also the origin of the community's name. Its sunken basin topography nurtures this beautiful settlement filled with the aroma of coffee and fruit. This article records the experience and discussions of the second group of participants during their visit to the community.
Turn at kilometer 276 on Provincial Highway 9
When you see this sign, turn the steering wheel without hesitation and welcome to Kalala Community. As soon as the second group of participants entered the village, what first caught their eyes were the houses the residents had built from makino bamboo. The area is abundant in makino bamboo, and the variety of agricultural products is extremely diverse.
Inside the bamboo house, a resident praying before the meal
Like most settlements, Kalala Community faces the loss of its young population and the difficulty of sustaining traditional industries, but the Kalala Community Development Association, established collectively by the residents, has brought a turning point to this predicament. With the help of counselor Yan Chia-cheng, the community changed its original farming methods, shared labor and tools (such as a harvesting vehicle), sold agricultural products through online channels, and shared the surplus through a cooperative, gradually building the Kalala Community brand.
Falling in Love with the Land
The group members met with association chairwoman Chen Yu-ying, Sister Yu-ying, and under the guidance of farm manager Huang Cheng-hung, they personally felt the Kalala residents' love for the land. Huang Cheng-hung was originally a young Amis man from Taitung; after marrying a Kalala woman, the two worked in the city, but their hearts were never at ease, so they returned to the community and took on the work of industrial development. From an outsider he became a skilled coffee maker, and people in the community nicknamed him "Coffee Prince." Brother Cheng-hung also calls himself a poet, constantly reciting poetic phrases along the way, which made the participants laugh heartily.
The handsome Coffee Prince
The Coffee Prince took them to a pineapple field. Mr. Chang Te-fu, who is responsible for tending the pineapples, originally used conventional farming methods to grow fruit, but now has switched to green ecological farming, which reduced disease and greatly improved the flavor of the pineapples. Because no pesticides or chemical fertilizers are used, the soil fertility has also gradually recovered. Although yields are lower, he steadily produces high-quality pineapples. Mr. Chang's "Sweet Honey Pineapples" are now one of Kalala's flagship products, and every harvest season a box is hard to come by. "This is falling in love with the land," he said happily.
Compost made from recycled pineapple peels
Besides pineapples, another specialty of the community is its exceptionally flavorful coffee beans. Kalala has fertile soil and an abundant, high-quality water supply, and with natural-farming cultivation, the coffee beans are of good quality. In October 2010, they launched the "Coffee Community Experiment Project," inviting one hundred coffee lovers to subscribe to a year's supply of Kalala coffee beans. Beyond the transaction, they also hoped consumers would write down their taste impressions, to serve as a guide for understanding the product and for future improvements. Although in the end the number of subscribers fell short of the plan, the customers supported the farmers and the farmers insisted on growing coffee in a way that loves the land; this spirit of mutual help and mutual trust deeply moved the community residents.
"Sister Yu-ying told us that the association and the cooperative farm have not had an easy journey, and some farmers were unable to persevere," a group member shared. But the scenes we actually witnessed let us know that Kalala's efforts have gradually borne fruit. "When we arrived, the association just happened to be holding a gathering of community elders; they come here every Tuesday and Friday to chat, and it is funded by the surplus provided by the cooperative." In this spirit of sharing together and helping one another, we saw a new turning point in Kalala.
The Kalala Old Trail
On another experiential itinerary, the Coffee Prince took the group members to an old trail beside the settlement, and he recounted his memories connected with the trail. "In the past, when we came back from harvesting rice in the fields, we would put the rice on the water buffalo, and then I would lie on the water buffalo and let it walk the old trail, carrying me home," Brother Cheng-hung said. "And do you know how to brake? Just pull the buffalo's ears to make it stop." Scenes that could never play out in the city left the participants spellbound. This old trail also served several other purposes: it could be used as a place to train young warriors, and it was the necessary route for carrying the coffins of ancestral spirits.
The old trail is actually not easy to walk
The Difficulty of the Group's Proposal
Some of the products the association has developed are still in the experimental stage, such as jam made from pineapples. But since Kalala Community already has its own cooperative model, the group members thought again: could they offer suggestions on sales?
"So I asked them, what is the current repurchase rate for the local coffee beans or pineapples?" The answer was about thirty percent. "Thirty percent really isn't high, so I asked them how they ship it." They used ordinary cardboard boxes, and inside they put a DM and an introduction to natural farming, green ecological farming, and so on. "At that moment I blurted out, that's not good enough." In the eyes of this participant, who studies marketing, the DM design simply could not attract repurchases, but she immediately reconsidered: given the purpose of the Kalala cooperative farm and the struggles of the community residents up to now, what right did she have to judge? Deeply reflecting, she apologized to Sister Yu-ying, and realized that some things can only be judged through understanding.
The group then engaged in a heated debate over whether to propose a plan. In the end they decided not to, because Kalala's own cooperative model has already developed to a certain stage, and too hasty an opinion from outsiders would not be a wise choice. But the example of Kalala can serve as a good case study, a reference and learning model for other communities.
Field study team members posing with the Coffee Prince
Community Life in the Basket - Kalala (KALALA) Official Blog (agricultural products can be ordered)
Hualien-Taitung Field Study Camp: Rolling Up Our Sleeves to Transform New Life in the Rift Valley
Hongye Dahdah, a Community Just Starting Out