Making Discards Dazzle--Fenglin's Cornerstone Community

Upon walking into the dusty air of the Cornerstone Workshop, many people find that they are attracted to the stone lamps arrayed on the counters. Made from rough sandstone that has been hollowed out to make space for a light bulb, they give a soft, yellow light. It seems that the stone carvers must have thrown their hearts in the work so as to allow peace and happiness to spread out into the world.

If the little lamps are a pleasant surprise, the story behind them and the whole workshop is truly moving.

(facing page) This corner of Fenglin is the future site of the Cornerstone Arts Village. The village will feature "betel thatch" buildings, which combine the best features of traditional Aboriginal and modern architecture.

No ordinary Aboriginal village

In 1994 Reverend Hsu Chien-cheng was on a tour with professors from various American and Taiwanese seminaries. Once, when he was praying, he suddenly heard God's voice calling him to provide service to Taiwan's Aborigines. Therefore he requested to be sent to a post in Shanhsing Village of Fenglin, Hualien County, where he hoped he could help Aborigines.

Much to his surprise, when he arrived in Shanhsing, he found a congregation whose members did not smoke or drink or chew betel nuts. And that wasn't all. They were also very knowledgeable about public affairs and helpful to people all around them. Coming from utilitarian Han Chinese society, Hsu hadn't expected this pure and innocent village spirit.

In reality, before Hsu arrived, members of the Shanhsing Church had regularly gone up to the mountains and down to the sea to provide service and spread the Good Word. They had been to Ilan, Taitung, Pingtung and even to the outer islands. In order to go to Ilan to deliver talks to prisoners, these faithful had left their homes in the wee hours of a morning and driven down the dark and narrow winding road to the Suao-Hualien Highway. Once they had finished their four talks in Ilan, they didn't rest their heels but instead traveled home at night. They had no regrets.

Forgiveness and love

When probing deeper into the nature of the Shanhsing Church, you learn that the church once experienced a period of great turmoil, and then found rebirth in fire. Chiang Hsien-hui, who led the transformation of the local church, recounts how it went through a troubled period when there were questions about the personal character of the minister. It was a big controversy in the village of 400-500. Chiang was then working in Hualien for the city government, and she would frequently get calls from her mother back in the village. Her mother's flustered and helpless voice slowly became a call for help that she could not ignore.

Looking for help, Chiang reverted to her childhood habits and got down on her knees to pray. After praying several times, she suddenly felt a marvelous sensation that she had never experienced before spreading throughout her body. "There was a great love, a great power pushing me forward." She recalls that at that moment she made up her mind to leave Hualien City and return to her tribal village, and together with her relatives and neighbors learn how to understand, forgive and most importantly love.

"When they found it in their hearts to forgive, a lot of members of the congregation experienced this kind of greater love," says Chiang in her soft voice. "This kind of love is contagious. It seemed as if the entire village had received a strong push; and it was as if nothing would be right unless we went out and loved!"

In order to become a vessel for transmitting the greater love of God, this group of Aborigines began to change their own behavior. Apart from no longer drinking or chewing betel nuts, the villagers, who previously had little contact with outsiders and a bit of an inferiority complex, started to go boldly outside the village, looking everywhere for opportunities to help people.

"In retrospect," says Chiang, "what we were doing back then was 'holistic community building': bringing people together and concentrating their power, rebuilding their sense of empowerment, improving the environment, helping them help themselves." This period of training provided a firm foundation for the holistic community building work carried out later by the Cornerstone Community.

Yet, although those who experience pure love will be stimulated by it, it may not move others. Chiang discovered that although they were sincere about "sharing," after a point their efforts weren't working. "It was a terrifying feeling-we wanted to do even more, but we struggled to find the right words. We wanted to share, but those with whom we wanted to share wanted us to leave!"

With these frustrations, they prayed, hoping that God would place in their good hearts a mouth that could speak. They prayed and prayed, until the Reverend Hsu Chien-cheng arrived, bringing a lot of new ideas and ways of doing things. It was then that they realized just how wonderful were the ways of God.

Mothers in the congregation organized the Chiehchuang Workshop, where they use needle and thread to show their devotion to God.

Seek and ye shall find

"The most important part of holistic community development is changing people," says Hsu Chien-cheng. When he saw the high moral fiber of this group of Aborigines, he realized that what he needed to do was just to strengthen their understanding of God's word and cultivate greater socialization, so as to ease their entry into mainstream culture.

After working in Shanhsing for two years, Hsu had an epiphany: he felt that he should leave the village and go to city of Hualien to find a larger stage and help more people. Therefore in 1996 he led some of the core members of his congregation from Fenglin to Hualien.

"As soon as we got on the road heading north and came to a fork in the road," he recalls, "we prayed. We left everything to God's direction." Eventually they came to the place from which grew the "Cornerstone Vitality Development Association"-274 Nanhai 4th Street in Chi-an Rural Township southeast of Hualien City.

"We stopped there, rented a house and became a new church: the Christian Gliding Church," Hsu recalls. "Then we waited for something to happen. It was several weeks later before we discovered that a group of disabled Aborigines lived the next alley over."

These disabled Aborigines had all been patients at the Buddhist Tzuchi Medical Center. After they were discharged from the hospital, social worker Hsieh Su-mei helped them obtain money from the Buddhist Tzuchi Foundation to pay rent on a studio where they painted. They hoped that they could support themselves by selling their art. After working with them over a long period, Hsieh ended up marrying one of them, a man named Shen.

With Hsieh Su-mei acting as the middleman, the Gliding Church started to help these disabled Aborigines. Apart from soothing the pain in their hearts, the members of the Gliding Church wanted them to understand that their trials and tribulations were not without meaning-that they could achieve a more enlightened form of vitality despite their bodies being broken. By showing even greater mercy to the people of the world, they could live lives of greater value than able-bodied people.

(below) Reverend Hsu Chien-cheng, the founder of Cornerstone, is supported by a congregation of Aborigines who gladly contribute their time and energy without any regrets.

Cutting and hollowing

"There is a passage in the Bible: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.' I await the day when all of these disabled people can become like that discarded stone, and find a higher purpose to their existence," says Hsu Chien-cheng. This is where the name Cornerstone Workshop comes from, and Hsu Chien-cheng selected stone carving as the work to do there.

Hsieh Su-mei explains that Hualien used to be famous for its carving of marble and rhodonite. But Cornerstone chooses instead to carve cheap and ubiquitous sandstone. The choice represents the idea of "not discarding any stone"-and by extension not giving up on the contributions of the disabled. After a rain, 40 or 50 volunteers from the Fenglin Church go to the banks of Papaya Creek to gather stones. The church also spent NT$3000 to rent a metal-sided building and buy some second-hand machinery. The water comes from a mountain spring. The church provides food and shelter, and also pays a salary to the carvers.

"Carving cornerstones isn't about creating works of art, but rather about gaining understanding about life," emphasizes Hsu. "Our ambition is to cultivate the person. The work produced is just an extra benefit." He thus tells the handicapped Aborigines that just because the outside of the stone is rough and damaged, it doesn't prevent the inside from containing a special shape. By "cutting away" and "hollowing out," any stone can be beautiful and useful.

Although the concept behind Cornerstone is beautiful, Chiang Hsien-hui admits that changing a person is very difficult. Many people couldn't handle the regimen and difficulties of living together, and left. But fortunately others have gradually joined to replace them. Others have gained faith in the vitality of life here, and gone back to school or taken other jobs. Any Aborigine who is registered as disabled is welcome.

(facing page) Wang Tseng-hsiung, who is severely disabled from polio, was out of work for five years before finding a second chance at employment with Cornerstone.

Reception village

With Cornerstone's success, the Gliding Church gradually extended its reach, establishing the Chiehchuang Workshop, which was aimed at providing employment for Aboriginal women, and the Ark Architecture Workshop, which was aimed at creating a new village architecture-"betel-thatch houses."

These "betel-thatch houses" are the results of long-term observations by Hsu Chien-cheng about the living habits of the Aborigines matched with their local resources: it's a new concept in residences that everyone developed together. The house is made with a modern steel frame. The walls are made with logs from betel nut trees. (Their cultivation has been implicated in landslides, and the government has thus been encouraging their removal.) A traditional thatch roof is on top. It provides the height and light of a modern house, along with the warmth in winter and coolness in summer associated with a traditional residence.

In order to promote "betel-thatch houses," and let more people come into contact with the Cornerstone concept, the idea of a "Cornerstone Arts Village" gradually came into being. Hsu Chien-cheng explains that in the future the Gliding Church will gradually shift its focus back to Tsaopi Village in Fenglin Township, and construct four or five buildings in the betel-thatch style at one corner of the village. They will form a new garden district that will allow the Cornerstone and Chiehchuang workshops to return to Fenglin. Currently, villagers are clearing the site, and the first model betel-thatch building has already been constructed. Although the work is slow, there is steady progress.

As for the future, in the conception of Hsu Chien-cheng and the Gliding Church, the Cornerstone Arts Community will become a "reception village." On the one hand, it will attract more discarded stones-disabled Aborigines-to come here to work. On the other hand, it will also serve as a place to receive visitors who want to check out Cornerstone.

In reality, Cornerstone is neither a cultural enterprise nor a tourist industry enterprise. "If outsiders want to come and make a purchase, we will display our works," says Hsu. "But we hope even more to let everyone know that there is this group of people who have for many years been holding fast to certain values. We hope that tourists who come here will be moved to action themselves to help more people."

Cornerstone's torch has been lit, but if it is to continue to bring light, others must pick it up.