Reborn from Trash
Yurts Rebuilt by the Community

Category

Environmental Awareness and Issues

Introduction

Once there were two glorious and dynamic yurts at the English Village in Ling Jhou Elementary School. They were ruined due to time and weather, and finally abandoned in the corner of the campus after old buildings were torn down. As it is such a pity, our team decided to rebuild the yurts. Since we did not have rebuilding fees, we thought of the glamorous, trend-leading department stores in our neighborhood. There must be a lot of discarded trash. Thus, we visited them, gathered and reused the recycled materials. Turning trash into gold, we made the two yurts glamorous and vibrant again, and they have become a small performance hall in the community.

Our Community

Guotianzi Neighborhood, Lingya District, Kaohsiung

1. At the heart of Kaohsiung City, Lingya district is where the Kaohsiung City Government is located. The population in this district is about 180,000. It contains four neighborhoods: Linyaliao, Lingdeguan, Wukuaicuo, and Guotianzi. With a longer north-south side and a shorter east-west side, its shape is like a valuable “Jade Rui Scepter.”。

2.As the development of Lingyaliao reached its utmost, it extended towards the east (nowadays the east side of our school gate on Tzu Chung Road) to encompass enormous fields. That was how Guotianzi got its name. During the early Ching Dynasty period, there were only five households: Hsu, Tsai, Wang, Lin, and Zheng, living and cultivating in the Guotianzi neighborhood.

3. Ling Jhou Elementary School is situated in Guotianzi area, a bustling downtown nowadays. It is surrounded by department stores: Hanshin, Talee, and President department stores are to the north; Dream Mall and Mega FE21 are to the north; Pacific SOGO and Shinkong Mitsukoshi department stores are to the east.

4. Once there were two glorious and dynamic yurts at the English Village in our school. They were ruined due to time and weather, and finally abandoned in the southern corner of coconut groves after old buildings were torn down.

5. Through methods such as public promotion, sending official letters, and visiting organizations and department stores in our neighborhood to collect the recyclables (canvas, cartons, PET bottles, etc.) We used the recycled materials to restore the two yurts to provide our school and community with a performance place in the future.

Project Summary

Once there were two glorious and dynamic yurts at the English Village in Ling Jhou Elementary School. They were ruined due to time and weather, and finally abandoned in the corner of the campus after old buildings were torn down. As it is such a pity, our team determined to rebuild the yurts. Since we do not have rebuilding fees, we thought of the glamorous, trend-leading department stores in our neighborhood. There must be a lot of discarded trash. We hope to devote ourselves to care for our environment. Therefore, we gathered and reused the recycled resources to make our yurts glamorous and vibrant again. Turning trash into gold. We also made them became a small performance hall in our community.

After much discussion, we decided to get acquainted with our community environment, and to understand the past and the present of the English Village by interviewing a senior citizen in Guotianzi Area, Chengsi Neighborhood Chief, and the Founder of the English Village. Then we tried to do research by questionnaires to understand whether the community residents are satisfied with the environment, and what they expected for the restored yurts.

As the last main event, we started to visit some department stores, such as FE21’ MegA Kaohsiung Store, Dream Mall, and New Century, and sought their agreement to donate their recyclable resources to our school. Then, with many people’s help, we used the recycled materials to decorate the yurts and turn them into a place that everyone can use.

In the course of the study, we built a bridge that connected our community and our school. In the opening ceremony, we invited the community residents to share our joy with us. Through the project, the strengths of our school and local department stores were united. Being the best ally, they set a good example of working together to benefit the community, and to care for the Earth.

Internet Environment

We used computers on an optical fiber network, which were connected to Taiwan Academic Network through a T1 line at school. We also used computers equipped with ADSL to search and send information at home.

Challenges

1.Tight Schedule:

As every team member’s free time differs, we reached an agreement meet time on Wednesday afternoons. Even at a later phase, in order to work as a team and complete the project on time, we spent weekends working. Sometimes, we gave up our after-school classes and then made up the missed lessons afterward. We all tried and worked hard.

2.Contact Difficulties:

We owed thanks to our teachers and parents. With their good personal connection (good relationship with the operators of the department stores), the managers of the department stores agreed to accept our interview. On our own, it would be very difficult to do it.

3.Computer Skills:

At first, it was difficult for us to collect and integrate information, and to make webpage because everyone’s spare time and computer abililities are different. It was hard for us during the learning period, but after our continuous discussion and modification, we finally made our web pages.

4.Interviews:

Our interviewees are busy executives of department stores. In addition, we didn’t have any skills and experiences with interviews. We were all worried about the interviews. Therefore, to be comfortable with interviewees, we prepared well and practiced several times before interviews.

5.Questionnaires:

It needs courage to ask strangers to fill out questionnaires. At first, we were shy and hesitant to speak to strangers. Sometimes, we were rejected and we felt hurt. But after frustrating attempts, we finally learned how to successfully ask people.

6.English Translation:

We hope to participate in the international contest, but translating our web pages into English is very difficult for us. We therefore spent an enormous amount of time on looking up dictionaries, writing sentences, and learning grammar. We also asked our English teacher’s help to correct our writing.

Our Reflections

It was very hard for us to do the project while we studied at or after school at the same time. But we felt honored and happy to interview the long-retired Teacher Tsai, the manager of Dream Mall, and the head of our neighborhood. We saw them unselfishly dedicate themselves to environmental education. They left beautiful and useful works of art to our school and community. We admired their spirit.

It is a big project to call all from our school and community to donate recycled cartons and PET bottles. To sort, classify, and clean the recyclables are also lessons for us to learn. Finally, the process of designing and restoring the yurts was a big challenge.. But being personally involved in restoring yurts is a rare experience for us. It is impossible to learn from books and school studies. The atmosphere of teamwork was great. It was also rare that our teachers, janitors, and parents worked together. The work will stay in our mind for a long time .

Although we are children, environmental issues are the responsibility of every global citizen. After those interviews, we achieved the outcome of cross-industry alliance and of caring for the Earth together. Through the study of the project, we hope to awake the community’s awareness of environmental protection. We also hope that the relevant decision-making organizations can take our study results into account and see the maximum benefits for the community residents.