Dragon Boat Festival: Taipei Detention Center Hosts Dumpling-Wrapping Event with Detainees

As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, the Taipei Detention Center under the Immigration Agency's Northern Region Affairs Bureau has organized a dumpling-wrapping event to allow detainees to experience the festive atmosphere and enjoy the fun of making zongzi. Special consideration has been given to the religious and dietary requirements of detainees from different countries, with ingredients tailored to their cultural backgrounds.

The center released a press statement today announcing the "Zongzi Fragrance Carries Affection, Warmth Fills the Dragon Boat Festival" event, held just before the holiday. The activity invited detainees to participate in hands-on zongzi wrapping and cultural exchange, showcasing a spirit of warmth, religious diversity, and ethnic integration.

Hong Shih-ming,队长 of the Northern Region Affairs Bureau, said in a phone interview that the dumpling-wrapping event was designed to help detainees feel the festive spirit and better understand Taiwan's societal values of multicultural tolerance and respect.

According to statistics, the Taipei Detention Center currently holds 360 detainees, with males forming the majority and females numbering between 50 and 70. Vietnamese nationals make up the largest group, followed by Indonesians. Most cases of foreign overstayers are male.

In addition to traditional Taiwanese zongzi ingredients, the event provided diverse food materials suited to various national dietary habits, with special attention paid to religious and dietary restrictions.

Since many Indonesian detainees are Muslim, the center avoided pork entirely, using chicken instead as a filling. Common Southeast Asian ingredients such as coconut milk and pandan leaves were also prepared, allowing detainees from different countries to create zongzi with flavors reminiscent of home.

A Vietnamese detainee named A-Wen (pseudonym), speaking through the press release, said, "In Vietnam, we eat square or round zongzi wrapped in banana leaves during Tet. I never expected to be able to make them myself and taste familiar flavors here in a Taiwan detention center. It made me feel truly warm inside."

Filipina detainee Anna (pseudonym) added, "This was my first time trying the Taiwanese method of tying triangular zongzi. It was a bit difficult, but completing it together with others gave me a real sense of achievement."

With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, the Taipei Detention Center also took the opportunity to raise awareness about African swine fever prevention. Detainees were urged to inform relatives abroad not to mail pork products to Taiwan, to avoid penalties.