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AI-LAN Primary School (2002 CyberFair Project ID 1896)
Taiwan,
Nantao County,
PULI
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 1. Local Leaders
We estimate 9 student(s) from 12 to 13 will work on this entry.
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 woman. 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).
Project Description: 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 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 bears fruit in the many medical projects that they have initiated. Their lack of means is supplied by a strong faith in their cause. Nothing is 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 giving themselves relentless and silently to the service of mankind.