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1. Description of Our Community
Community: Puli Puli is a basin surrounded by mountains and is situated in the geographical center of the island of Taiwan. It is a town in the county of Nantou. Puli has always been known by its charm. This is because the town is blessed with a very strong heritage of culture and history. It also is a melting pot of different peoples and tribes. Its scenic beauty is breathtaking. Local people boast of Puli's four Ws, namely its water, weather, wine, and women. A tableland known in the past as Wu Niau Lan Table Land marks the entrance to Puli. Now it is known as Ai Lan Table Land. Its shape is like a ship sailing into the basin of Puli. Hence the Pulians call this tableland "The Docking of an Ocean Liner," meaning that this is a piece of land that has the auspicious symbol of a big ship bringing wealth and prosperity to its port.
Since the Ai Lan Table Land is blessed with so many natural and artistic potentialities, it is no wonder that it soon became a melting pot of peoples and tribes. Aboriginals of the Ping Pu tribe came from Fung Yuan and Tung Shih established the Wu Niau Lan society. They originally believed in their tribal gods but were later converted to Christianity preached by the Presbyterians. The church of Ai Lan has a history of 130 years. The main shrine of the Han people, the Temple of Soul Awakening (Shing Ling Temple) also is 100 years old.
Ai Lan Table Land has a good spring at Tie Ting Shan (Iron Nail Hill), which generates two local industries, the growth of Giau Bai bamboo shots and the famous Ai Lan Wedding Wine (the wine for President Chen Shui Bian's daughter's wedding feast).
2. Summary of Our Project
Puli, a small town dwelling in the midst of the Taiwan Central Ranges is generally known as the Formosa of the Formosa. Among its most prized treasures are the tradition of Chinese hospitality and the presence of a couple from Norway, the Gislefosses: Bjarne Gislesfoss and his wife Alfhild Jansen. Both are Norwegian missionaries who came to Taiwan almost half a century ago. They met in Puli and settled down there as medical missionaries. For fifty years they give relentlessly to the Aboriginal people living in Puli and its surrounding mountains. The Puli Christian Hospital (PCH) is their offspring.
The Gislefosses, known here affectionately as Ah Kung and Ah Mah (grandpa and grand ma) left their home in Norway and became missionaries of the Gospel. They came when Taiwan was in her most difficult moments of the early fifties when there was a desperate need of medical care and services. They gave without asking for rewards. Their work finally bore fruit in the many medical projects that they had initiated. Their lack of means was compensated by a strong faith in their cause. Nothing was too daunting for their work. Such a faith and dedication should be a model for all people who are in the medical service. It is because we feel that their life is edifying to all of us that we have created this web page in order to let their light shine in the world. We want the world to know that there are still people who are dedicated to the service of mankind.
3. Our Computer and Internet Access
A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:21-50%
B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1
C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection
D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6
E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):
Ai Lan is part of Taiwan's T1 Internet Network. The school web site is operated by a Windows NT, the school also has a Free BSD. There are 38 modern computers for the pupils. 40 veteran computers serve different classrooms and offices. The school has its own intranet, which is connected to the Ministry of Education Internet.
4. Problems We Had To Overcome
A. 24 pupils from grades 5 and 6 enrolled onto the program in the early months of 2001 when the school decided to conduct this project. By July, the gradating class ( grade 6) faced the pressure of entering junior high schools and left the program,. Grade 5 students became the main backbone of the project.
B. It is difficulty to interview people. We would like to thank Dr. Chen Jian-Shin, president of our parent's association for making arrangements to interview people who know grandpa and grandma. Yet since some of the people who knew the Gislefosses were not very forward going in accepting interviews, the project team had to find alternative interviewees. In spite of all the difficulties, the project team was still able to use email to interview Mr. Chen Ming-tang who is now working on his doctorate in New York.
C: Web page design, interview, script writing, and editorial work require group participation and intensive learning. We sometimes lost interest or got discouraged. Yet the encouragement and support of our teachers have been most helpful.
5. Our Project Sound Bite
We hope that the completion of this web page will enable the people of Taiwan to learn about the life of Ah Kung and Ah Mah and be inspired to follow their examples living the world.
6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?
Modern education is a giant leap forward from tradition so that one begins from the school and moves on to the greater world of our community, people in distant places, and nature. In this project we have made an attempt to embrace and live the true meaning of multi level teaching and a new look of life. From our interior world we reconstruct a link with other people. We learn how to work as a team. We learn how to trust each other and rely on each other. Such an attitude moves us closer to the true spirit of the humanities and to nature.
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