Cyberfair Entry Category: |
Local Leaders |
| Description of |
Lanyu is a pearl on the Pacific Ocean.The Yami people that live on the island still follow tradition and culture, they plant taro in the fields with wooden or metal rods plow sweet-potato fields with their hands.They also catch flying-fishes under the summer moon and peddle boats to fish for dolphin fish.The tribe¡¦s cultural characteristics is not only shown in the men¡¦s T-bandages and the women¡¦s hair-dance, but also in their respect for nature when they only take what¡¦s needed but not what¡¦s desired.They are just as adorable as the other Taiwanese Aborigines, and their lifestyle was passed down from the ancestors through stories and legends, though with a social changes the village and community is facing a verdict:everything still seems like the way it was, but change is about to occur! |
Summary of Our Project: |
Different groups shown different ways of expression when faced with the subject of ¡§Death¡¨.In Han culture, when an elderly person passes the family face it with content as they feel that the elder can finally enjoy the deserved after-life.In Taiwan the majority of aborigines will, when faced with a relative that died from natural aging, almost always go by tradition and simply bury the deceased in a hole dug under their house as the dead can then protect their families.This is also a tradition1 unique to the Taiwanese Aborigines, except for the Yami people on Lanyu Island who are afraid of ¡§Death¡¨, as they believe after people die they become anito (evil spirit) who are the cause of disasters and disease2.This Good and Bad belief concerning Life and Death is the reason why the Yami people face ¡§Death¡¨ by avoiding it, thus many elderly living alone feel lonely and hopeless when they approach dying, which is unbearable situation!Yet the volunteers of the ¡§Lanyu Homecare Association¡¨ has, in this tabooed and feared area, chosen to care and comfort these elderly while they face that unknown world!There you do not feel that tradition is being challenged and questioned, but rather that a powerful and spontaneous breeze is warming this island. http://www.kgu.com.tw/minority/per/12/09-12.htm Yung-chuan Hsieh (2004). ¡§Introductory View of the Traditional View of Death in Tao ¡V the Perspective of Iraraley¡¨, http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~lanyu/paper/death%20concept.pdf |
| Our Computer and Internet Access: | The students are limited by their family environment and only 3 students had computers in their homes, but they were not linked to the internet and could only be used for basic data collection and compilation.Therefore most of the time the students had to use the school to access the computers and internet resources, which although was expanded in 1999 and a school network was built, however as the school is far from the telecommunications station thus currently the alternative solution, a direct FT1+BB512 line that has 1.5Mb Up and Download rate, is being utilized, but the actual download rate is approximately only running at about 60%.It is however adequate for this project¡¦s requirements, except that since the students could only use the computer and resources while at school their time for learning was limited. |
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Problems We Had to Overcome: |
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¡§Death¡¨ has, from the past till now, been a subject felt to be surrounded by mystery, though here we also felt the fear towards the unknown world as the students still needed time to accept the profoundness of this subject.However, ¡§Profoundness¡¨ is not in only feeling of the fear for ¡§Anito forms when people die¡¨, but contrastingly it was to be able to care for those living and still able.Though we believe that for culture to be passed down there must be reasons and we do not wish to overthrow it, but do allow us to think and discuss it!Both the students and parents had difficulties and from the time the topic was chosen there were pressures from various fields: |
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| 1¡BStudent: | In the beginning the students had all reflected that researching this subject required interviewing many people, which required audio-recordings, as well as typewriting and compilation of data.Although it was a huge burden for the students, it allowed understanding of the work of Lanyu Homecare Association and interview tools.However it was a big burden to students that were slow in typing. |
| 2¡BParents in the Community: | Frankly speaking this proved to be the most difficult problem, as traditional beliefs were still buried deep in the parents¡¦ hearts, thus they did not want their children to approach the issue of ¡§Death¡¨, which was evident as even after they had agreed for the children to participate in researching this project, they still often enquired the children about the project¡¦s content and progresses. |
| 3¡BTeachers: | Part of the tutorials had interfered with the children¡¦s school time, for example we had arranged for two excursions to interview subjects who worked in governmental units thus time-wise we were limited to their working-hours, thus we limiting us to use the children¡¦s school time, however prior arrangements with the teachers and the children¡¦s classes were made, though it did affect their planned school curriculum and caused partial interference. |
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| 1¡BDifficult Data Collection: | The main informant is currently studying a master¡¦s degree at Dong Hwa University, far from us, thus an interview would be very difficult, but fortunately the school teacher provided us with MSN and Skype for communication and assisted us in completing our interview, but without being able to interact with the interviewee in person certain messages seemed to have been missed.Also, the ¡§avoidance¡¨ of the Yami people when met with this topic often prevented the students from probing further during data collection. |
| 2¡BSlow Data Compilation: | We did not only want to simply finish a report, therefore all interview topics, summary of data and webpage content were only decided after repeated discussions.The students¡¦ typing speed was still slow therefore during the data compilation progress they also felt overwhelmed! |
| 3¡BDifficult Interactions during Research: | Due to that fact that since the students could only use the computers and internet resources at school and since they were beginners to using Skype, it was difficult for them to interact with the interviewee.The students¡¦ ability to re-clarify questions also needed improvement. |
Our Project Sound Bit: |
¡§We can start by helping our own akey and agers!¡¨ ¡§Is there no way for the government to help these elderly people?¡¨ These were messages expressed by the children when they visited the elderly people being cared for.The words are blunt but it expressed direct feelings!Is this not what we wish for our children to deeply experience with this research topic? In fact there is more that we wanted to tell these children and bring more out of them!We all believe that in every child¡¦s heart lies a seed which will always grow towards the sun, and during the interviews and investigations every student¡¦s seed was fertilized with some ¡§Caring¡¨, ¡§Respect¡¨, and ¡§Empathy, so we hope that these children will not only grow to have strong arms and solid determination, but also that they remain good-hearted!These are hard to learn from the blackboard or from books, but by actively caring for others it will be obtained ¡V at least we fell so¡K This research project, with such a profound topic involving the unbearable sight of the sick elderly and poorly sustained social minorities, gave the guidance teacher a mental workout as I pondered whether traditional thinking was being challenged by deeper investigation, and whether the discussed topics had reflected real-life situations.My thoughts became knotted and focus was lost, but while the direction of development and the accompanying research elements were continuously being decided, the children¡¦s eyes had slowly concentrated on the important issues during the research process¡KEven more was that everyone did it while laughing! This research topic was¡K really tiring! This research topic was¡K really worth it! |