A Visit to Siloam Joy Fellowship in Taiwan
by Joan Lew
In Taipei, Taiwan, I
was treated like royalty by our friends at the Siloam Joy
Fellowship. They run a coffee house as an outreach centre
especially for those with mental handicaps. They hope to teach
those with disabilities to be able to work in the coffee house.
The coffee house serves 170 kinds of beverages—teas, coffees,
and all organic herbs are used, some of the herbs are grown right
on the premises. They also serve western meals salads and pannenkoeken (Dutch pancakes), spaghetti, etc. All meals include
soup and a beverage. Upstairs of the restaurant is a meeting room
for Sunday services, choir practice and Bible studies. On the
third and fourth floors are rooms for guests and rooms for the
people whom they hope to teach as they will live there. On the
fifth floor is the laundry room with a washing machine and a
kitchen. It was wonderful being with them.
They closed the Coffee House for the day and we went into the
mountains where we built a clay oven over a pit which was already
prepared to cook wrapped and waterlogged chicken, yams and corn.
The food took 2 hours to cook so we went off to a nearby
mountain spring to cool off as it was very hot. We had some of
Siloam House's handicapped people who had never been on such an
outing and it was a thrill for me to see them enjoying
themselves. After two hours we returned to eat our 'BBQ' food
which was delicious. We went to another place where we "made" our
dessert and tea.
The tea had peanuts, pine nuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and
a few green tea leaves. All of this had to be pounded and blended
together with a thick stick made of guava wood. It had to be
pounded until the oil came out of the seeds and nuts. When all was
ready a few grains of rice that looked like white small puffed
rice was put into a bowl with the 'tea' which we had prepared and
hot water was poured over the mixture. I cannot really describe
the taste but if one does not think of it as 'tea' then it is OK.
It is called Lei Tea, meaning a tea that took effort to make.
What a send off I had. When I arrived 6 from Siloam House met
me and when I left there were 6 to see me off. It has been a
wonderful trip with many happy memories.
Birthday:
