Hakka week ~ so got ma Hakka shoes out!

Wikipedia says that about 15% of Taiwan‘s 23 million people are of Hakka origin, with a worldwide population of about 80 million….

And that includes my good friends, Rev. and Mrs. Hsu, who live up the road in Shuang-Lien Elderly Care Home.  September 1 was Rev. Hsu’s 91st birthday.  The family had celebrated with them earlier in the summer, but they are such a lovely couple that we just had to celebrate this big day on the very day itself.  Rev. Hsu totally loves Japanese sashimi, a glass of Taiwan beer and red bean ice ~ so off we went on Tuesday to celebrate!

This amazing couple are just so multi-lingual, it’s incredible. They talk to each other and their children in Hakka, to staff and friends in Taiwanese, to some of the residents in Japanese, to the grandchildren in English, to me in Chinese, and then they sometimes come out with French and Creole, long-remembered from serving for many years in a church in Mauritius.  Amazing!

Actually there’s been a lot of Hakka language spoken over the last week in Taiwan ~ with a huge gathering in Hsinchu of over 1,200 Hakka people from all over the world for the ‘2015 Global Hakka Gospel Assembly’ run by the Global Hakka Gospel Association…..

Our Hakka friends, Rev. Paul Lau and his group of 8 from St. James’ Anglican Church, Kudat, Sabah, E. Malaysia came to attend the conference, then a weekend of mission in a Hakka Church in Toufen, and then to Taipei for a few days.  Paul’s wife, Audrey and her mother Evelyn have been my very best Sabah friends for many years.  We love Sabah! Anyway, this time, there was enough time for a meal in Taipei and then for 6 of them to visit St. John’s University and Advent Church ~ YES!

I even got in the photo – ‘leaning in’ ha ha!  And the night before, the group were wearing conference T shirts using the red version of the Hakka fabric that my shoes are made of ~ YES!

Hakka week, Hakka style – even with Hakka shoes to match!