Finding the Volunteer Inside
Comprehensive.
This is the word that I would use to describe everything that the staff and volunteers at Guandu Nature Park 關渡自然公園 do. There’s really no other word to best fits their service and level of expertise, from how they handle each visitor walking through the automatic doors at the Nature Center, to how they approach an invasive species of grass infringing on the flow of water in a gully next to their rice fields. In order to do something comprehensively, one needs to care. One needs to have patience. One needs to work through frustration of not reaching instant gratification, but realise that delayed gratification and learning can be so much more rewarding. Doing things comprehensively means to do things in a step by step process and focus on the learning that takes place during each incremental step. To rush and to race are the enemies of a comprehensive approach. While efficiency may be sacrificed, understanding is most likely gained.
Comprehensive.
Ever since my first experience with the people at Guandu Nature Park , I’ve been impressed with just how comprehensively they approach each and every challenge or learning opportunity they face or are presented with. The first time I cooperated with the park was during my previous job with The Hutong in 2018–2019 when I had to create a multi-day experiential education program for a visiting international school from Macao. The group of 60 high school students were on a 6 day trip to Taipei, and the teachers wanted to ensure that the students had an opportunity to take part in a service activity to fulfill their CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) requirements. Through research and upon visiting, I made my first introduction to Guandu Nature Park and the caring individuals who work their hardest to shine light on the importance of wetland conservation and the necessity of appropriate human interaction during the conservation process. Managed by the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST)since 2001, the society itself has taken measures into its own hands since the establishment of the park in 1983. With increased public awareness, hands-on events, a constant drive for funding and support, volunteer trainings, conservation-based landscaping, daily park maintenance, invasive species’ removal, and bird species’ surveys, it’s clear that there is plenty of work for the society to undertake on a daily basis.
It was through my first experience with international students that I realised there was something special about Guandu. Besides being a beautiful location close to Nature, yet in the city at the same time, it was really the thoroughness and dedication of the staff that stood out to me. Not only did the facilitators expertly set up what students would be doing during the volunteer labor activity (invasive grass species removal), but they also carefully led the group in outlining proper equipment usage, safety precautions, guidance and check-ins throughout the project, and best of all a clear and comprehensive debriefing after the activity was finished (this last part is often overlooked by facilitators).
This year has been a year of change for everyone, myself included. Although I have since left the organisation I worked with for almost a full decade, I realised that there were so many things about my previous job experience that stuck with me and that I wanted to continue moving forward. One of the aspects of pre-COVID-19 life that really left an impression on me was the idea of seeking challenge, trying new experiences, and participating with my body, hands, heart and soul in an impactful way. I saw Guandu as a chance to take an opportunity to sign up and learn about the world of volunteerism with an organisation I had seen first-hand. The trust and connections with certain individuals and their method was already there. The real challenge would come with the deeper involvement and immersion in the wetlands, both literally and physically with my boots in the sinking soil.
The process of volunteering and training to volunteer at Guandu is an ongoing one that has been…well…comprehensive. With a deadline for sign-ups, there was a limited number of applicants who could take part in this year’s trainings, and these applicants were then divided up into “environmental clean-up volunteers,” and “guiding and informative volunteers” according to interests and abilities. Prior to being accepted into the volunteer training program, each volunteer would be given a short interview with two members of the Guandu staff who were in charge of supervising the overall volunteer education program. According to the marketing materials (all in Chinese) that I received reminding me about the volunteer opportunity, it seemed that many of the volunteers would be recent local retirees looking for an opportunity to give back to their community after a lifetime of work, and Guandu would provide them with this chance to engage with the community and environment in a meaningful way. It was during the interview where I first met Amber 鄭澶湲, who I will call Captain Bubble from here on out because she is the captain of all the volunteer training, sends out all the e-mail reminders, knows all of our names and has an extremely bubbly voice and personality. In a way she is the living embodiment of a fresh cup of boba milk tea, naturally and organically running through a fresh mountain stream.
Guandu is a living and breathing wetlands classroom where visitors are only able to see a small portion of the actual wetlands belonging to the park, but the keys to the kingdom lies in how the volunteers and staff at the nature center introduce and explain all the treasures that we want to make sure we’re not taking for granted. In order to become Guandu volunteers, all participants have to undergo multiple classes over the course of a few months on the weekends. Each class takes place at Guandu itself, and the classes consist of a combination of inside lectures (all in Chinese) and outdoors exploration, explanation, observation, and hands-on participation. Each class’ lectures will cover different topics including how Guandu was set up, the background and history of the WBST, an introduction to the facilities and park itself, an overview of the types of plants and birds that visitors can encounter at Guandu, and a deeper biological understanding of the migratory pattern of birds. The lectures go into incredible detail and are hosted by various staff and volunteers at Guandu. To give specific examples, the lecture that included an introduction to the nature center’s facilities had the lecturer demonstrate how to operate the fire escape evacuation device; meanwhile, a lecture used to illustrate the density of bird’s bones in comparison with their body weight had us divided into groups as each group was given a braised chicken in order to separate the flesh from the bones, and compare the weight of the bones in relation to the weight of the meat, muscle, and flesh. It was hard to concentrate to this lecture due to the fact that lunch was soon to follow. I made the mistake in the morning of ordering chicken from Captain Bubble for that day’s lunchbox (only 90 NTD!), so in addition to my pre-ordered lunch, I also had to help finish our group’s braised chicken that day.
As I write this article I’ve currently earned my textbook, workbook, and volunteer name card with my picture for the numerous training classes that are still ongoing. But the more classes that I attend at Guandu, the more I’m reminded that volunteering is not a box to be checked off on one of life’s boxes. During our very first lecture back in April where we were all seated in the nature center’s auditorium in designated seats with our names labeled in order to ensure social distancing, I’m reminded of a statement that the day’s first speaker made that left a deep impression on me. He said something to the effect that volunteering is not something you “do” but more a state of being. To “be” a volunteer means that it is something that happens intrinsically and is part of our being. Volunteerism is something that becomes part of who we are, how we think, how we act. Out of all the classes related to migratory bird patterns, the biological make-up of the Avian world, and the various names of plants and animals, this is the lesson that I’m constantly reminded of as I continue my journey into volunteerism. Seen from one perspective, it’s something we feel we have to do in order to feel good about ourselves. Seen from another perspective, it’s something that is inside each and every one of us, and we do it because that’s who we are. I believe we all have a natural perpetual state of wanting to participate, to help, to communicate, to work together, to be part of a common process. It’s a state that we might not be able to notice when we try too hard, but if we relax and listen to our authentic selves we can feel it…we can feel it right down to our very bones.
