Taiwan Church News 2818 27 February ¡V 5 March 2006 Reported by Gu Hao-jan. Written by David Alexander
Designed to serve for many years as the most remote cyber classroom in Taiwan, a village computer center just began operation at the Presbyterian Church in the Smangus Village of Taiwan's Atayal people. It enables village school children to access real-time information and educational resources without the need to leave their homes and families to go for education in the outside world. The Rev. Yabu Syat, pastor of Smangus Church, hopes that the day will come when this venture in cyber-space becomes a testimony of good faith to all remote aboriginal villages in Taiwan.
Smangus is located at an elevation of 1,500
meters in the mountainous in Jian-Shih Township of Hsin Chu County. Access is difficult, and this affects children's education. The result is that they lag behind their age-mates from Taiwan¡¦s coastal plains. Following a typhoon in 1993 volunteers sponsored by the Keng-shen Educational Foundation and the National Science Association organized a group of university students to offer supplemental course work for the children in Smangus. After an earthquake in 1999 more Aboriginal university students joined the project, returning to their remote home areas to serve.
Yang Yaw-song, executive secretary of the Aboriginal Village Strengthening Association, says, "Churches are an important link. They have long been established in the villages, and are 'one with' village life. The faith they preach has taken root in Aboriginal society. By this faith, people are led> forward."
Mr. Yang said that help for setting up the cyber-classroom came from many directions. College students volunteered, transportation and equipment were donated, and technicians provided connection and set-up services. "By these means our children¡¦s dreams were fulfilled." The facility at Smangus church, he said, is the first such facility in the township.
Rev. Yabu Syat says that two elders in his church, Basa and Yulo, were instrumental in carrying the project forward. For his own part, Elder Basa said that he was thankful to God and to the many grassroots foundations and associations, including commercial concerns, who contributed to the work. In total, from concept to completion, the classroom took 2 to 3 years.
The facility is equipped with 20 new computers and their associated peripherals. The elementary school students participated in the opening day festivities. Each of them logged onto the internet and signed up for instant messaging. Through a cyber link the church communicated with a former pastor who is currently studying in Chicago. It is hoped that in the future the cyber classroom will be integrated into the distance education system operated for the Smangus school by teachers as far away as Chu-tung on the plains.
Pastor Yabu Syat says, "Having this village
cyber-classroom in operation serves to strengthen relationships between parents and children because children no longer need leave the village for schooling." He points out that for the sake of schooling the village has been divided for 50 years, and that has left a wide area in need of faith development. It is his hope that, through the development of education and family solidarity, Smangus village and church can become a model for all remote Aboriginal locales. He calls churches to take responsibility for the growth of faith for all of the people in their neighborhoods, and suggests that participation in cyber-classroom work can soon close the education gap between village and city children.
For more information: TEL +886 972153871
TEL +886 3 595 7128
Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan's local languages. Visit our web site: www.pctpress.com.tw