Projects

This project is to provide 493 Tibetan, 450 Chinese, 347 English books, and 230 cartoon books and storybooks to Wenle Orphanage in Shang Zhuang Village. The overarching goals of this project is to improve the quality of education and to increase the students’ interests in study; to expand the student’s knowledge, which is helpful for their entrance exams of middle schools; and to reduce financial pressure that comes from money spent on buying books.

Funds needed: $4,515  (28,418rmb)

Tashi Wengmu (Betty) is from Shangzhuang Village, Chengwen Township, Chengduo County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Currently she is studying at Qinghai Nationalities University for a BA degree; she will graduate in 2012.

Project Location

Wenle Orphanage is located in Shang Zhuang Village，Chengduo County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Shang Zhuang Village is about 200 kilometers from Yushu Prefecture. Shang Zhuang Village consists of 3 groups, which are Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3. People in this area are mostly Tibetan, except for a few Chinese people.

Population

There are 300 households and about 900 people living in Shang Zhuang Village, which consists of 3 groups. Group 1 has 125 households, Group 2 has 100 households and Group 3 has 75 households. Altogether there are about 360 women, 312 men, 228 children. There are 377 people in the orphanage, including 362 students (147 girls, 215 boys), 10 teachers (6 men, 4 women), and 5 staff (2 men, 3 women).

Education

There are 300 primary school students in Shang Zhuang Village, including 170 boys and 130 girls; 200 middle school students, about 120 boys and 80 girls; and 79 high school students, about 49 boys and 30 girls.

There are 362 students in Wenle Orphanage School. The education is very poor compared to other schools. There are only 15 teachers and staff to take care of all the students. There aren’t any reading books except for textbooks. There are only 2 computers for teachers to use. There is no equipment for physical education class.

Cash income

Most villagers of Shang Zhuang Village are farmers. They plant barley and potatoes. Each family owns 2-3 mu of land, and it is just enough to support their living. Some families who have more family members can earn some money by digging caterpillar fungus during the summer. On average, each family can earn 8000 RMB per year. However, each family spends about 1000 RMB on food, 500 RMB on clothes, and 500 RMB on fertilizer per year. If the family has a university student, they need to spend more than 4000 RMB for tuition and 500 RMB for monthly allowance, such as for food, clothes, and study materials.

Families also need to spend some money on festivals, such as the New Year Festival and the Horse Race Festival. Each of them costs more than 1500 RMB.

Agriculture

Shang Zhuang Village consists of 3 groups. Each family has 2-3 mu of land for farming. Most of them only plant barley and potatoes because of the high altitude. They can get 350 kg of barley from 2-3 mu of land, so they have to buy rice, wheat flour, and vegetables. A few of the families who own bigger land can sell 20-30 kg of barley each year to buy rice or other food.

Herding

Most of the villagers are farmers in Shang Zhuang Village. 80% of the families don’t have livestock, 20% of the families have 20-30 yaks, and few of the families have around 40 sheep. The families who have yaks and sheep can get milk, butter, cheese, yogurt and meat for food. Some families also sell yogurt, and yak and sheep skin, and sometimes they sell one or two sheep for emergency needs such as for medical treatment for their family members.

Project goal

The immediate goal of this project is to donate 493 Tibetan, 450 Chinese, 347 English books, and 230 cartoon books and storybooks to Wenle Orphanage in Shang Zhuang Village.

The overarching goals of this project is to improve the quality of education and to increase the students’ interests in study; to expand the student’s knowledge, which is helpful for their entrance exams of middle schools; and to reduce financial pressure that comes from money spent on buying books.

Problems
1.Limited opportunities to learn from outside;
Shang Zhuang is a small village in Chen Duo County, and due to inconvenience of transportation, the school has very little materials to assist students to learn. Most of the students in Wenle Orphanage are from nomadic areas and they can’t watch TV or listen to radio at home. They just learn things from their textbooks, which are given by the school.
2. The students’ spare time is not wisely used;
Most of the students in Wenle Orphanage just wander around the countryside with friends and go to internet cafes to play games after class. The students do not have any reading tasks, except reciting new words from the textbooks, which they mostly do in the early mornings. Students don’t have a library where they can read picture books or storybooks.

3. Students’ lack of enthusiasm for study;
During the class, teachers only teach from the textbooks, and students only learn from the textbooks, which not only limits the students’ knowledge, but also makes them bored with school.
Benefits of the project:
1. Increased reading can broaden students’ knowledge;

By providing the books to the orphanage, the school will have a library where the students can borrow books and read whatever they are interested in. Reading books from the library would increase students’ knowledge, and even reading only a few sentences from a book could make a difference in students’ vocabulary development and knowledge.
2. New books will give students a new reason to study
Lots of new books for students will give them a new reason to study hard after school. By doing so, they will develop the habit of reading. This can improve their writing and speaking skills.
3. Stimulate students’ interest in study:
By providing the books, the teachers also can use these materials to help students to learn. The books will help teachers to improve their teaching skills and help students to create their own world for study in school and at home.

Government approval
The project manager, Zhaxi Wenmao, has asked the township leader, Caiga, on Febuary 7^th 2011, for his approval to do this project. The Township leader has expressed his great appreciation of this project and said that the government will support it.

Beneficiaries

This project will directly benefit 420 people, including four hundred students and twenty teachers. Three hundred households will get benefits from this project indirectly as well.

Project steps

(1) Discuss the problems with leader of village. (Done)

(2) Discussions about the most essential needs, and how to solve education problems. (Done)

(3) Decide which projects should be done for Shang Zhuang Village. (Done)

(4) Collect information from bookstore where books will be purchased. (Done)

(5) Write project proposal (Done)

(6) Wait for funds

(7) Receive funds

(8) Go to Xining to negotiate book prices.

(9) Transport the books to village

(10) Ask the headmaster to hold a meeting of how to take care of books.

(11) Write project report

(12). Send report to donor

Time frame of project

 This project will take a total of 30 days to implement.

1. Inform the school leader that the funding arrived (1 day)
2. Hold meeting with the school leader and teachers about how and when to buy the books and transport the books to the school. （4 days）
3. Project committee goes to Xining to buy books (5 days)
4. Transport the books to the school (1 day)
5. Put the books in the library (2 days)
6. Hold meeting with the school leader and teachers about how to take care of the books (1 day)
7. Interview the teachers and students and take pictures（1 day）
8. Write final report (4days)
9. Send the final report to Shem Women’s Group with receipts and pictures (1 day)

Detailed Budget for Books:

Tibetan Books:

Items	Price of Item	Quantity of Item	Total
Dictionary of Buddhism	180	2	360
Tibetan Word Dictionary	23	8	184
Tibetan Chinese Dictionary	45	8	360
Tibetan English Dictionary	145	5	725
Children’s story (in Tibetan)	10	150	1500
Tibetan Grammar Book	20	30	600
History of Tibet	25.5	10	255
Simple Composition	29	20	580
Children’s Book	11.5	30	345
Primary School Students Tibetan Exercise  Book	13	30	390
Primary and Middle School Students’ Composition	15	30	450
Learning Words By Looking at  Pictures	10	30	300
Exercise Book for Graduation Students	15	30	450
Uncle Dan pa (storybook)	9	40	360
The Collection of Tibetan Grammar	15	5	75
Tibetan Calligraphy	10	15	150
Tibetan Literature and Composition	25	5	125
Explanation of Tibetan Buddhism Sets	30	5	150
Total		453	7359

English Books:

Items	Price of Item	Quantity of Item	Total
English-ChineseChinese-EnglishDictionary	45	10	450
Children’s Reading	16	30	480
Ten Thousand of Why (science books)	25	5	125
Oxford Progressive English Readers	Level (1)  17	8	136
	Level(2)   23	8	184
	Level (3)   24	8	192
Story of Princesses	26.8	20	536
Book worm (书虫)	70	8 packs	560
Picture books	10	50	500
The Little Mermaid	14.8	5	74
Aladdin	14.8	5	74
Beauty and the Beast	14.8	5	74
The Lion King	14.8	5	74
Snow White	14.8	5	74
Let’s Clean Up	9.9	2	19.8
Side by side the edition	33	12	396
English Grammar	25.5	28	714
Total		214	4662.8

 Chinese Books:

Items	Price of Item	Quantity  of Item	Total
Children story	19.8	200	3960
Primary composition	24.5	30	735
Chinese grammar	20	5	100
Children’s book （好娃娃看天下：美图注音版；恐龙、植物、动物、海洋、船舰、国旗、汽车、自然、兵器）	12.9	90	1161
Elementary Chinese	10	70	700
The Big Encyclopedia	19.8	10	198
Incredible Magic of Nature (science books)	16.8	3	50.4
Dreams with Wings	16.8	3	50.4
Ten Thousand of Why	99	5	495
The Collection of Stories	22	5	110
The Knowledge of Science	21	5	105
Wonderful World Exploration	16.8	3	50.4
Chinese Classical National Geography	98	1	98
Natural Wonders of the World	98	1	98
Civilization of the World	98	1	98
The Guiding Tour around Whole	98	1	98
Children’s encyclopedia (地球、气象、探险家、人体、海洋生物、发明、科技)	98	7	686
Total		440	8793.2

 Art books

Items	Price of Item	Quantity of Item	Total
Simple Stroke Books	14	20	280
Children’s Drawing	9.9	20	198
Coloring Books	43.2	20	864
Princess Drawing Books	9.9	30	297
Origami Books	14.8	30	444
Girls Craft Books	16	30	480
Boys Craft Books	9.8	50	490
Pop-up Fairy Tale Books	12	30	360
Total		230	3413

 

Total

Item	Number of Items	Price Per Item	Donor Contribution	Local Contri bution	Shem Contri bution	Total in RMB
Tibetan books	453		7359			7359
English books	214		4662.8			4662.8
Chinese books	440		8793.2			8793.2
Art books	230		3413			3413
Book shelf	10	479		4790		4790
Transportation			3890			3890
Project management expenses			300	200		500
Project management payment					500	500
Total			28418	4990	500	33908

Sustainability:

The books will well-kept by putting them in the coding system on the bookshelf, and making a list of the books and their prices on the computer.

Each month, 2 teachers will take care of library books according to the library rules. For example, a student is allowed to borrow only 1 book each week. Students will be asked to take notes or write thoughts, and students must not write on the books or damage the books. Students can’t borrow books before they return the books they borrowed. If they fail to comply to the above rules, the student has to clean the library for a week or more.

If a student loses the book, he or she has to pay the price. If any books are missing without knowing who lost it, the responsible teacher has to pay for it. In this way, all the teachers and students will take care of the library and this project will be more sustainable.