A Full Documentary: "Let Orchid Island Speak – The Rebirth of Langdao Elementary School"

Text/Compiled and Reported by Li Xinyi, MOOK Travel Life Network

 

Do you remember the scenes in August this year when Typhoon Tembin swept across Orchid Island? The island’s only farmers’ association supermarket and gas station were completely destroyed by the storm surge, the airport and harbor were left in chaos, and all sea and land transportation came to a complete halt. A similar scene also occurred more than three years ago after Typhoon Morakot. At that time, Langdao Elementary School in the Orchid Island tribe suffered severe damage to its teaching building, which was left as a dangerous structure. The principal sought help everywhere. This spring, the school’s newly reconstructed “Evergreen Sunrise” building was completed. It withstood the harsh tests of every typhoon from summer to autumn, including Typhoon Tembin, and also resisted the most severe winter northeastern monsoon.

“Don’t worry about it—I’ll build it!” With a wave of his hand, Evergreen Group Chairman Chang Yung-fa uttered these words, giving five schools across Taiwan that had been devastated by Typhoon Morakot a chance to rise again. From being ravaged by the disaster, to reconstruction, to the Tao people of Orchid Island observing their most solemn traditional ceremony to joyfully welcome the completion of the new building, and then passing the test of storms—Langdao Elementary School’s emotional journey is now documented through the lens by the Evergreen Foundation and director Huang Hsin-yao, capturing the process of “rebirth.”

 

“These schools are the real protagonists. We want to let teachers and children speak their minds, especially the people of Orchid Island. In my heart, there is no difference between ethnic groups,” Chang Yung-fa mentioned multiple times during the documentary filming, expressing his hope to make more people aware of the increasingly severe urban-rural divide and to explore the issues of limited educational resources for underprivileged communities and remote areas.

In April this year, the “Evergreen Sunrise” building at Langdao Elementary School, reconstructed under the adoption of the Evergreen Foundation, was completed. Seventy members of the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra braved the waves to perform on Orchid Island, marking the first time in history that a symphony orchestra had visited the island. Wen Wen-long, former principal of Langdao Elementary School, said that most students in the Orchid Island community come from economically disadvantaged families, making it very difficult for them to travel across the sea to Taiwan, let alone have the opportunity to experience cultural and artistic events. But this outdoor symphonic feast has had an enlightening impact on the music education of tribal children. The documentary “Rebirth” faithfully records this warm interaction.

 

The documentary “Rebirth” is directed by the well-known young Taiwanese documentary filmmaker Huang Hsin-yao and took six months to complete. In addition to Langdao Elementary School on Orchid Island, it also features footage from other schools supported by the Evergreen Foundation, including Kaohsiung Liouguei Senior High School, Pingtung Evergreen Lily Elementary School, Pingtung Laiyi Elementary School, and Yunlin Zhanghu Elementary School, which is still under construction. The premiere of this documentary will be announced, and it will later be made available for public viewing on the Evergreen Foundation’s official website.

 

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