NAME ORIGIN: Hai Ou, or “the Seagull”, is an island rich in marine resources and abounds in more than 300 kinds of fish.The name Hai Ou, or the Seagull, was selected by the villagers to replace the former village name of Ta Chuang with the construction of the Hai Ou Recreation and Shopping Center.
GEOGRAPHY: Hai Ou is located 47 kilometers southeast of Kaohsiung at the end of a gravel road running between Tung Hai and the Hai Ou Recreation and Shopping Center.
POPULATION: Fish and dairy farming, hogs, and poultry raising were among the successful farming ventures. The rice fields and ponds flooded when the Chia Tung stream overtook its banks with seasonal and typhoon rains, providing only one good rice crop each year. As a result, the average income was static. 3/4ths of the labor force had been drawn away to the urban centers removing potential village leadership from their communities. Village industry stimulated economic enterprises after improving agriculture and business technology. The village huddles near the coast along the recently constructed seawall at the end of the gravel road from Tung Hail The Chia Tung stream to the northwest and the irrigation canal to the northeast complete the boundaries. The village is divided into four lins, or neighbor hoods, and the community recently received a citation for its good lin meetings. Villagers can be seen knee-deep in the fish ponds cultivating crabs, prawn, eels, baitfish and seaweed. Watching over these ponds and fields i’ a towering white ceramic tile statue of a seagull, symbol of the Hai Ou recreation center. These same rice fields and ponds are flooded when the Chia Tung stream overtakes its banks with seasonal and typhoon rains, providing only one good rice crop each year. As a result, the average income remains about NT$3,000 per month. Family sustenance is supplemented with duck, chicken, pig and goose raising and coastal fishing. Although every hand is needed at the rice harvest and the fish runs, out of necessity some families have members working in Kaohsiung.
CHALLENGES: Focus was on updating and activating new technology to be able to provide more services and opportunities. The Hai Ou Human Development Consultation was the initiating step of a comprehensive demonstration development project. The Hai Ou Human Development Project is a corporate effort involving both social and economic development and is set in the midst of rice fields, edged by coconut trees with tree-clad mountains in the distance. The determining feature is the southwest coastline on the Taiwan straits. The Project area seems more remote than the 47 kilometers to the Kaohsiung International Airport, with no telephone or public transportation. Even though — the primary school children must walk the 30 minutes to the school in Tung Hai, their school work is standard or above. Electricity has brought light into the homes and streets and powers the pumps for irrigation and drinking water. The community has many sealed pit toilets, though garbage collection is irregular and expensive. The homes are generally brick and concrete, built in U-shapes with a small paved courtyard in the center. Some bamboo and cement structures of a former era can still be seen. The village’s five stores provide simple supplies and there is a family Jau Dze restau rant as well as the shops selling food in the recreation center shopping area. Bicycles and motorcycles ply the dirt road into the village all day long, and occasionally a car or truck. The traditional Chinese temple is a center of community activities with children playing and sacks of rice stored there at harvest time. Nightfall finds the villagers gathering on the seawall, in shops along the road and in the fields to discuss the events of the day.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The shift from agriculture to aquaculture has tripled family income.
Of one million dollars invested in Hai Ou, 93% came from family savings and loans.
A new paved road and a new bridge give easier access to the community.
Thirty-seven new houses have been constructed.
Pond technology seminars secure technical assistance and investments.
Ninety-five per cent of all eligible children enrolled in the preschool.
