We (Tony and Shu-min Coolidge) left Orlando, Florida in the morning of January 15th, 2003. We took the Northwest flight to Detroit, and a connecting flight to Osaka, Japan and continued to Taipei, Taiwan. The travel time was about 23 hours. We took a 5 hour bus ride from Taipei to Tainan to stay at my mother-in-law's house. After two days of rest and getting over jetlag, we were ready to begin our mission. We had a chance to spend some time with freelance writer and journalist Steven Crook of Tainan before we began our whirlwind mission.

We were excited about all of the possibilities that lay before us. We worked for over a year to build the foundation for our organization in America, and we were now ready to build our connections in Taiwan and really start making a difference for the indigenous culture. We were also here for several other organizational objectives.

Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan (1/21/03)

Public Television Service Foundation (1/22/03)

A well-known indigenous TV anchorman (1/22/03)

The first part of our trip was organized to build relationships with Taiwanese organizations that could really make a difference for our mission and projects. ATAYAL has partnered with MeGa Productions of Canada to produce documentary films promoting the indigenous culture of Taiwan. Before we left Tainan, we were joined by the staff of MeGa Productions, Wendy Kang (producer), Eric Huang (director), and River Ko (scriptwriter). We left as a group to visit the Kun Shan University of Technology to visit our first influential individual. Dr. Jwomin Chen is the president of the University, and he is also the Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Endowment of Culture. We were received very well in our first business meeting.

That evening we took the train to Hsintsu to stay the night and then to Taipei for our next meeting. We were meeting with Minister Tchen Yu-chiou of one of the largest government departments of Taiwan, the Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan. This meeting put us in touch with a government department teeming with cultural resources.

Modern Taipei (1/22/03)

Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (1/22/03)

Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (1/22/03)

The next day we met with the Taiwanese Public Television Service Foundation to present a partnership opportunity. We were looking for a production partner to work with that would increase the credibility of our documentary project in Taiwan. Afterwards, we met with the Minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, Dr. Fu-Mei Chang. This meeting took us by surprise, as they prepared a formal meeting, and assembled a staff to discuss ideas and offer assistance. We even had the meeting shot for a TV newscast. Their encouragement and offer for support were very gratifying. They even helped us secure our next appointment with the Council For Indigenous Peoples.

The Council for Indigenous Peoples is obviously the branch of the government we were hoping to establish a relationship with. The meeting went well, and the representatives were very enthusiastic about our mission. We are confident that we will be working together very closely in the future.

Council for Indigenous Peoples (1/24/03)

Our friend, Henry Liao (1/24/03)

The first part of our trip was pretty eventful. We didn't receive any money or written commitments, but that wasn't expected. We did receive verbal commitments of support that ATAYAL will follow up to convert them into writing. There will be much work ahead to prepare proposals and plans. The most important thing accomplished was that we established contact. People in Taiwan know about our organization and what we are trying to accomplish. Who knows what opportunities will open up in the future? We also build a foundation for future relationships.

As we said goodbye to our friend Henry Liao, who gave us valuable assistance, we had little time to ponder and evaluate our trip so far. We had to go to the airport and pick up Marvin and Nancy Couch to begin the second part of our tour...