This project is to buy 745 books, 363 Tibetan books, 173 English books and 209 Chinese books. Niandu School already has Chinese books and some Tibetan books donated by Gesang Meiduo Organization. However, the Tibetan books and Chinese books they have do not fit the students’ level.The purpose of this project is to improve the students’ study level, promote gender equality by providing the same materials for both girls and boys, and create access to more information on a variety of educational topics.

Funds needed: $3,493(22,051.6rmb)

SonamTso is from Lhaka Village, Niandu Township, Rebgong County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. She graduated with an associate’s degree in English at the Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program. Recently she works at Children of Shambala Organization as a social worker. 

Contact information

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Contact person: Kalwangjyid

Address: Qinghai Xining, Xining Shi You Zheng Ju, Xin Ning Lu You Ju, 20-5 Xin Xiang, 810008, P.R.C

Telephone: 0971-6302115(Shem office)

Email:  info@shemgroup.org, kalwangjyid@yahoo.com

Project location

This project is for Niandu School. Niandu School is located in Lhaka Village, Niandu Township, Rebgong (Tong Ren) County, Rmalho (Huang Nan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Niandu Township is about 2 kilometers from Rebgong County. Rebgong County is 178 kilometers from Xining (the capital city of the Qinghai Province). 

Niandu school background

Niandu School is located in the center of Niandu Township, in the northern part of Rebgong Autonomous County, Qinghai Province and it was established in 1952. The school teaches grade one to grade nine (primary school). There are 246 students (116 girls, 130 boys) and 19 teachers in Niandu School. Their salary for their work is 3,500 rmb per month. The students in the school study mathematics, Chinese and Tibetan. Although the students need to study subjects like social studies, science and ideological education, schools in the countryside rarely teach these subjects. In rural areas like Niandu School, children cannot afford the necessary textbooks and the teachers often lack relative knowledge and skills to teach these subjects. Therefore, in Niandu School they only teach three core subjects (Chinese Language, Tibetan Language and Mathematics). These children have no access to information outside of their core textbooks. Niandu School teaches English only for the sixth grade. There is only one teacher who teaches English. Also, Niandu School sometimes hires temporary English teachers who only stay for about one semester or sometimes even one or two months.

Niandu School’s library was built in 2005 by Niandu School’s headmaster Sonam Tso. The local teachers and headmaster collected some money from Niandu Village and the local government established the library. After building the library, the school did not have any books in the library except textbooks, so the school got their first donation (Tibetan books) from Gesang Meiduo Organization in 2006. Secondly, the project manager herself did a small book project, which was funded with 3,000 RMB from an Australian private donor under Shem’s help in 2008. However, due to the small amount of money, the number of books bought was limited. So the school still needs more books to help students have more reading materials and give them a better chance to get higher scores on their entrance exams. It also helps the teachers have more access to teaching material to enrich their lessons to ensure more interesting classes.   

Population

Niandu Township is located in the east central part of Qinghai Province in the northwest part of China, west of the Rongbo River. There are 250 households in Lhaka Village; the total population is approximately 1,500 (740 men and 620 women). 

Education

In Lhaka Village if each family has two sons, one of them is typically sent to the local monastery to become a monk. Sons who go to the monastery begin to learn how to write and read Tibetan. Traditionally, girls are kept at home to help the family do house chores. In this village, only 10% of the young people are literate, and they have completed their nine years of compulsory education. 

There are 198 school-aged children in the village. Among these, only 58 children are attending school (10 university students, 18 high school students, 20 middle school students and 10 primary students). The rest of the children stay at home to help their parents with household chores, farming and digging caterpillar fungus. Many villagers believe it is a waste of time and money to send their children to school. Some villagers believe that even if their children go to school they will not be able to get a good job.  

Cash Income

All of the villagers in Niandu Township earn their living by farming. People usually earn money by selling their excess barley and earn about 300 rmb each year. However, most families only have two to four mu (one mu= 0.07 hectares) of land, which is not enough for their living expenses. 

People also earn money by doing construction work. Adults do construction work in the county town. Men can earn 60 to 80 rmb per day, but women are only paid 60 to 70 per day. The workers can earn approximately 1,000 rmb in one month. Workers are not guaranteed this money because sometimes work group leaders abandon the workers without paying their owed wages.    

People also can earn money by digging caterpillar fungus. Some villagers don’t let their children go to school and ask their children to dig caterpillar fungus to earn money. Each day they can dig 15 caterpillar fungi, and each fungus can be sold for 7 to 10 rmb. On average, a person can earn about 12,500 rmb from digging for caterpillar fungus for one month (people from Niandu often dig for caterpillar fungus in distant places such as Yushu and Golok because the caterpillar fungus there are worth more). They must pay a land fee of around 10,000 rmb for the privilege of digging on other people’s land. So they are only left with 2,500 rmb.

In total, the average family can make a little over 2,000 rmb in cash income per year.  Families have to spend about 1,500 rmb per year for electricity fees and water fees. On average, each family keeps 500 rmb per year as saving. However, families who have university students must borrow money to pay for their tuition.

Agriculture

Niandu villagers grow wheat, potatoes, barley, rapeseed and beans. The villagers only have one productive harvest each year due to limited fertilizer, rainfall and weather conditions. The villagers cannot irrigate their lands often because they have to pay a fee to water their fields. Each household shares 5 mu of land with their family members (5 to 7 people on average in a family). One mu of agricultural land can produce around 500-600 jin (=1/2 kilogram)of barley if the weather is good. Some families have financial difficulties if their land is not productive and they cannot afford to buy fertilizer. These families are not able to harvest extra products to supplement their income. In some cases, households are not even able to harvest enough to feed their family.

Herding

In all of Lhaka Village, there are only about 10 livestock. Most villagers sold their livestock because there was not enough grass for the livestock to eat. 80% families do not have any livestock and the other 20% only have a few cows. The families who do have livestock are not able to sell dairy due to the poor grazing conditions. 

Project Goal

The immediate goal of this project is to buy 745 books, 363 Tibetan books, 173 English books and 209 Chinese books. Niandu School already has Chinese books and some Tibetan books donated by Gesang Meiduo Organization, however, the Tibetan books and Chinese books they have do not fit the students’ level.

The overarching goal of this project is to improve the students’ study level, promote gender equality by providing the same materials for both girls and boys, and create access to more information on a variety of educational topics. Also, it can save some money and time because teachers do not need to collect money from students and do not need to go to the county town to copy or print the materials. 

Problems

1.     Not enough books; no copy machines or printers: I did a small book project with Shem Women’s group for Niandu School a year ago which was funded by some private donors. At that time, we only bought Tibetan books and there were not enough for students to read because of the small amount of money (3,591.5 RMB). Also, the teachers suggested that it is better to buy Tibetan books than English books because it is very hard for Niandu School to find English teachers, and students do not have any English classes until grade six. Therefore, a lack of study material affects students’ results on important advancement exams, and without many books to read, students will not be able to improve their knowledge. In Niandu School, children just carry around their textbooks and do not have access to any other reading materials such as magazines, exercise books and books for free reading. Also, when they graduate from school or transfer to different schools, they are disadvantaged. Compared with others students, they have never had the opportunity to learn about subjects like social sciences and the environment. Niandu School does not teach these subjects because they do not have the appropriate teaching materials.    
2.   Low literacy skills: The school cannot provide books for the students to read other than textbooks. The learning environment is very poor. Students just memorize things from their textbooks. This has a negative impact on their motivation to learn how to read and write.   
3. No money to buy books and no money to print or copy studying and teaching materials: For the poor families, they try their best to send their children to school, but they have do not have enough money to buy other study materials like reading books for their children. Even if they could afford one book, they could not afford to do this very often. Also, during the advanced exams, other schools always provide study materials and every student can get copied materials for studying, but not at Niandu School. At Niandu School, teachers always collect some money from students for copying and printing fees, so poor families cannot pay it and the family members are sometimes angry with the school because they ask the students for money. Therefore, it is very hard for teachers to provide students with printed or copied materials.   
4. Difficult to buy books: If students could afford to buy a book, they would need to walk to the county town, which is about 2 kilometers away from school. Also the road to the county town is in poor condition; there are many bumps and the cars or other vehicles pass by very fast. Students can easily become injured on the way.  
5. Lack of interest in teaching: In Niandu School, teachers’ motivation to teach is low because of the school’s poor conditions. Students constantly review the textbooks but show little improvement. Teachers do not have access to other educational material to enrich their teaching. Gradually the teachers lose their interest in teaching.  

Benefits

1. Textbooks will not be the only books students have access to and they will have more books and materials to read. Thus students will have more interest in studying.
2. Access to more reading materials will improve students’ literacy skills and give them a better chance to do well on their entrance exams. Also, if students have access to more reading material, they will have a better chance to learn more about other places and people, helping students have a better understanding of this world.
3. Families will not need to worry about not being able to buy books for their children or paying for copying and printing fees. Students in the school can read books and study materials continuously.
4. If the students have access to books, copy machine and printer in the school, then they will not need to walk to Rebgong county town to buy books and copy or print study materials which means it is very convenient for both teachers and students. Also, parents will not need to worry about their children’s safety.
5. Teachers will have more access to teaching material to enrich their lessons. Teachers will also be more motivated to plan interesting lessons, which will lead to better teaching. Also, if students are more interested in going to school, this will make teachers more motivated to teach in Niandu School.  

Beneficiaries

This book project will directly benefit 246 students and 19 teachers from the school and it will indirectly benefit about 1,500 people, including the people in Lhaka Village.  

Gender equality

Generally, in this project area, the boys can study in a monastery during the holidays but girls cannot join the monastery to study. This project will balance this current gender inequality by providing books for both boys and girls. 

Also, the project manager will encourage girls to study hard and serve as a good role model for girls. Villagers often look down on girls and they do not think girls are able to accomplish these kinds of projects. If this project is completed, then villagers’ opinions about girls might change, and this project might bring a new perspective on women in the village.

Government support

In July 2011, the project manager talked about this project with the village leader Dan Dai. Both of us had a meeting with a local government leader, Renchen. He gave me full permission to go forward with this project and encouraged me to do it. 

The steps of the project

1. Met the school principal, asked about the school’s problems, gave advice about what could be done to solve these problems.  (Done)
2. Asked both teachers and students what kinds of books they need. (Done)
3. Found the books, copy and printing machine’s price. (Done)
4. Figured out the transportation fee. (Done)
5. Wrote a proposal. (Done)
6. Funds received.
7.  Buy books from Xinhua bookstore and buy a copy and printing machine from Sheng Li Lu machine market. .
8.  Transport the books and copy machines.
9.  Distribute the books and copy machines to school.
10. Hold a meeting in the school to discuss the sustainability of the book project.
11. Take pictures of books and machines when project is completed.
12.  Write final report and send it to the donor with pictures.

Time frame

This project will take around 8 days

2 days: buy the books from Xinhua bookstore and buy a copy machine from Shen Li Lu machine market in Xining city, Qinghai Province.

3 days: transport the books from Xining to Rebgong County and distribute the books and copy machine to Niandu School. Hold a meeting with villagers, teachers and students on how to protect the books and copy machine. Take photos of the book project.

3 days: write the final report and include some pictures 

Project Budget

Donor Contribution: 22051.6 RMB

Local Contribution: 4910 RMB (One teacher and two students will volunteer to be a librarian. They will be responsible for managing the library and see that it is running successful.) 

Detailed list of Tibetan books 

Detailed list of Chinese books 

Detailed list of English books  

Sustainability

Firstly, I, as the project manager, will ensure the books and copy machine that are purchased are of good quality. Additionally, the teachers and students will work together to take responsibility of the books and copy machine. The books and copy machine will be stored in the school at the school library. When the books are distributed, teachers will make a schedule and let students borrow books every day. Also, the school librarian, book manager and teachers will enforce strong rules for both teachers and students to follow when they need to borrow the books or copy materials. If anyone loses or damages a book or copy machine, he or she will need to pay for the book’s replacement and fix the copy machine. Finally, if any of the library staff members are found to be neglectful of their duties, new library staff will be chosen. 

Map of the project location

Photos of Niandu School

This project is to buy 675 books, including 415 Tibetan books, 205 Chinese Books, 55 English Books; 3 book shelves, 5 tables, 10 chairs, 4 LCD-projectors, and 20 teaching VCDs, for Gser lung Junior Middle School in Gser lung Township. Aiming to provide rich learning and teaching conditions for both teachers and students; to increase the rate of students passing examinations; to improve local students’ educational levels meanwhile ensuring that the female students’ higher chances of getting higher education; to reduce families financial burden and increase the number of students’ enrollment. .

Funds needed: $6,393(40,360rmb)

Bkra shis sgrol ma is from the Number One Production Brigade, Gser lung Village, Gser lung Township, Henan Mongolian Autonomous County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Currently, she is studying for her Bachelor’s Degree in 2008 BA Class, Qinghai Nationalities Teacher’s College, Qinghai Normal University.  

Project Location

Gser lung Junior Middle School is located (107.08 E, 34.28 N) between Gser lung Village and Sga khas village, in Gser lung Township, Henan Mongolian Autonomous County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. It is the only school where all of the villages’ children can complete both their primary and middle school educations in Gser Lung Township. This school is about 63 kilometers away from Henan County in the west, and 325 kilometers away from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province.

Population

1)      Township Population: There are 678 households with 3678 people (1978 men and 1700 women), among them there are 747 students (381 males and 366 females) in total in Gser lung Township. 

2)      Gser lung Junior Middle School Population: There are 375 people in this school. 340 students (168 boys and 172 girls), 25 teachers (16 men and 9 women) and 10 none teaching employees (6 men and 4 women) in Gser lung Middle School.

Education

For Gser lung Township, there are 747 students in total: 340 primary (168 boys and 172 girls), 185 middle school students (101 boys and 84 girls), 182 high school students (88 boys and 94 girls), 40 university students (24 boys and 16 girls). Among university students, 33 students are studying for Associate’s Degrees and 7 students are studying for Bachelor’s Degrees. In total there are about 747 students are receiving education. However, this is a small number according to the population of this township. In this township, approximately 62% of the villagers are illiterate and around 38% of the villagers are literate. The villagers who are literate also includeds both the people who have attended schools and the monks in the monasteries. They could read and write Tibetan and a few Chinese words, but none of them could speak Mandarin Chinese except some of the students. A few villagers could speak Ningxia  dialect (Han Chinese and Muslim province near to the project site) with Han Chinese businessmen selling livestock. None of them could speak English.

Among the students, primary and middle school students receive the government nine-year free education. As soon as the students finish their nine years’ free education, they have to attend high school. And many of them lose the opportunities to continue their education in the school because of financial problems. Since parents themselves never have been educated, many families don’t know the value of education. Thus, because of these families’ conditions, it is difficult for many families to afford tuition for their children. For all these kinds of reasons, not all children get  the chance to attend school.

This is especially bad for girls because when they finish primary or middle school and try to get further education, the traditional idea or gender inequality causes most of the villagers to think that girls are not as capable to deal with difficult matters as boys are. Some of the parents hold the idea that girls have to marry, and they can’t help their parents’ homes. So, most of the villagers believe that sending girls to school is just waste of money. And brides go to live in their husbands’ village, so it is better that girls keep doing housework in the home until they marry.

Traditionally, the male is considered the head of the household, and a wife’s duty is to help and obey her husband, serve her husband’s family, and follow his parents’ orders. If a woman doesn’t know how to do housework and can’t be helpful for her husband’s family, the woman will be sent back to her parents’ home, villagers jeer at her inability, and it is difficult for them to get remarried. Because of this traditional way of thinking, there are fewer female students receiving education in the school. 

Cash Income

Gser lung Township is a nomadic township with has five villages.  NInety-eight percent of the families depend on livestock. Each family raises three kinds of animals,:horses, yaks, and sheep. Villagers earn income from selling yaks, butter, cheese, sheep, sheep wool, and animal skins. Some families earn money from renting their land to the caterpillar fungus collectors, caterpillar fungus is a medicinal herb that grows in certain areas. In total each family earns about 8,000 RMB to 9,000 RMB each year.

They need to spend around 4,000 RMB for buying different kinds of food: such as wheat flour, barley, rice, oil, vermicelli, potatoes and other vegetables. They spend about 3,000 RMB during the New Year and other festivals for food to share with family members and friends, clothes, gifts to give relatives and neighbors. Since villagers don’t have construction work skills, they have to spend about 1,000 RMB each year for hiring construction workers to repair old things or build new houses and walls.  For example, wall repair to keep animals safe from wolves, thieves and cold weather; fence repair for dividing land between different families; winter home construction, and digging wells for water. Families spend about 1,000 RMB for daily necessities, such as electricity, medicine, children’s birthday celebrations, offerings to the monasteries, etc. Additionally, some families have to rent extra land for the animals to have enough grass to eat, because their own land doesn’t have enough grass or the land quality is too poor. Usually they don’t have any money left for saving.

If a family has a university student, they have to borrow money from thevillage leader or a local bank for tuition fees. Families who are poor and with high school students or middle school students pay tuition fees by borrowing money from rich villagers or relatives. 

Herding

       Gser lung Township is a nomadic area where families depend on livestock. In 1983, the government divided the common area into land plots with sizes coordinating to the number of their livestock and common among the families，according to family sizes. Each family has three kinds of animals: horses, yaks, and sheep. Men only herd animals, other house chores are done by women. For example, collecting yak dung, milking female yaks, producing butter and cheese, tailoring clothes, carrying water, and cooking food. Each family plot was separated it into two parts: ‘summer land’ and ‘winter land.’  Therefore, each family needs to move at least twice a year. So, women have to sew new tents for shelter and make homemade stoves for cooking at least twice a year. Some families have to move three times due to insufficient grass for livestock. They move to either ‘spring pasture’ or ‘autumn pasture’ for one or two months. Both ‘spring pastures’ and ‘autumn pastures’ were rented from other families which sold all their livestock and moved into the town. These families left their nomadic lifestyle to be drivers, businessmen, or security guards.

Agriculture

      There is agriculture in Gser lung Township but because of the climate, which is dry in summer and cold in winter; and geology, rocky mountain ranges with deep canyons and valleys, it is not suitable for planting any crops.  It is even difficult to grow trees in this place.

Project Goals

       The immediate goal of this project is to buy 675 books, including 415 Tibetan books, 205 Chinese Books, 55 English Books; 3 book shelves, 5 tables, 10 chairs, 4 LCD-projectors, and 20 teaching VCDs, for Gser lung Junior Middle School in Gser lung Township. The overarching goals of this project are to provide rich learning and teaching conditions for both teachers and students; to increase the rate of students passing examinations; to improve local students’ educational levels meanwhile ensuring that the female students’ higher chances of getting higher education; to reduce families financial burden and increase the number of students’ enrollment.

Problems

No. 1) The Problems Caused by Book Shortage

1)      Lack of study materials for students

Gser lung Junior Middle School only provides textbooks with basic knowledge. Each student has one book for each subject. They have few extra exercise-books to practice with and don’t have any other books to read from the in library. It is difficult for students to improve or get enough knowledge by only depending on textbooks.

2)      Few students pass the high school entrance examinations

When students finish in primary school or middle school, they need to take entrance examinations of entering middle school or high school. It is also time to compare with other school students. Students get really depressed after they fail in competitions. Most of the students feel very embarrassed and under heavy stress after all the scores are shown in public. And it is also very hard for their parents to accept such bad results after 6 or 9 years of schooling. So they ask their children to stay at home and do housework. Entrance examinations stopped many students’ chances of getting a higher education.

3)      Lowered interest in studying and development of bad habits

Because of lack of books to read from the library and few exercise-books to practice with, students can only depend on teacher’s own knowledge and skills. Since teachers don’t have any materials to use for teaching except the textbooks, the teachers have to make some exercises with their own knowledge. During the spare time teachers are busy preparing for class and making exercises, but the students don’t have any practice exercises to do if they felt that they understood the covered material so they just play all the time. If students pass the entrance examinations they tend to try to keep the traditional way of learning and following teachers’ arrangements or orders. This bad habit will continue and at the end, it would lead to a lazy learning environment for all students.

No. 2) The Problems Caused by Lack of LCD-Projector

1)      Wasted time

In primary school, teachers have to write everything on the blackboard to teach the students. Sometimes it takes the whole class time for the teacher to write notes on the blackboard, for example, if the teacher writes an explanation which is not mentioned in the text book, and students need to copy on their note books, so it takes double the time. In middle school, teachers also have to write all the extra exercises which are arranged for practice. Therefore, writing wastes a lot of valuable class time.

2)      Difficulties in understanding the textbooks

It is very difficult for the students to understand the words and some texts which are not related to nomadic areas or nomadic cultures, because all the students are from nomadic areas and have never traveled.  Their knowledge of the outside world is very limited. For example, it is difficult for the students to recognize different kinds of vegetables and fruits through oral descriptions. It is also difficult for them to get any knowledge about farming, city life, etc.  It is easier to remember vegetables and fruits when presented with shown by a LCD-projector. Without the LCD-projector, teachers can’t make use of their government-issued laptops.

3)      Health Issues Related to Dust

When teachers write everything on the blackboards using chalk, classrooms are filled with dust. It makes the classroom dirtier and breathing in the chalk dust causes throat problems for students.  It also leads to eye problems and other illnesses. If the teacher uses an LCD-projector, chalk use would reduce, and thus the classroom will be cleaner and it will be better for the students’ health.

4)      Waste of teachers’ energy

Teachers not only have to write on the blackboards with chalk, but also have to stand up while they are writing, so they feel very tired after writing for a long time on the blackboards. If they show the notes and other material with the LCD-projector instead of writing all of them on the blackboard, they will waste less energy and time. 

Benefits

No. 1) The Benefits of Library

1)      Save time and money

If there is a library in the school, students can save both money and time. Students wouldn’t need to waste study time to buying books from far places.  They can simply read books in the library. Students would save book buying money for both and the transportation fee for going to the book stores.  This would reduce their families’ financial burden.

2)      Students get more interested in studying

If there is a library in the school, students could learn more things and expand their knowledge by reading different kinds of books according to their interests. Students wouldn’t get bored by studying the textbooks only. They can be enriched through other stories or books. Students can also be inspired by reading many kinds of autobiographies of famous and successful people.

3)       Improve student’s skills

By reading different kind of books, students can improve their comprehension skills, writing skills, as well as helping students to develop their thinking skills, creativity, and vocabulary. It would also help their examinations, too.

No. 2) The Benefits of LCD-Projector

1)      Improve teaching quality by visual aid

If there is a LCD-projector in the classroom, teachers could teach new words by attaching pictures, and teach histories or stories by showing videos. It is easier for the students to understand with visual aids than with only oral explanations. Teachers can improve their teaching skills by using the latest and most up-to-date teaching materials which are used by other teachers on LCD projectors.

2)      Reduce teachers’ burden

If there is an LCD-projector in the classroom, teachers can provide more materials that they collected from the internet by showing them on the LCD-project instead of taking a long time to write them on the blackboard. Thus the teachers could save both time and energy. It also can increase the teachers’ options of teaching methods.  For instance, visual teaching methodology or auditory teaching style..

Broaden the perspective of the students

Because of land formations and inconvenient transportation, there are few people who have gone out of the township and there are few outsiders who come into this area. So both the students and parents do not have much knowledge of outside world.  They just know what they can see in their daily lives. If there is an LCD-projector in the classroom, students will have more chances to watch movies and videos, and it will broaden students’ understanding of other cultures. Students will also get more information that could inspire them. For example, for the female students, it would be helpful if they see women from other cultures with successful stories and great experiences. Female students can be encouraged by that. In Gser lung Township many villagers hold the idea that girls are weaker than boys, so it would be helpful and necessary for the students to see movies about successful women or the struggles of women.

Gender Equality

       Firstly, a library benefits both boys and girls equally. Secondly, LCD-projectors could encourage female students through showing movies about famous women; let students believe women are as capable as men. The school leader promised the project manager that they would show a female movie or film twice a month. Thirdly, the school leader and the project manager will choose 1 woman as the librarian among the teachers, which will help them to have extra working experiences. Additionally, if this project is funded, the project manager, a female will implement this project and she will be a good example for the female students. This will improve villagers’ perceptions of educated girls and which will raise the villagers’ awareness of the importance of educating girls. 

Beneficiaries

       This project will directly benefit more than 340 students and 25 teachers in Gser lung Junior Middle School and indirectly benefits 678 families in Gser lung Township.

Government Approval

On July 12^th 2010, the project manager asked Gser lung Township leader, Angke, about this project. The leader gave her full permission to do this project.

Steps of Project

1. Discuss the problems with the villagers in Gser lung Township and decide which is the most important one. (done)
2. Collect information of the project location. (done)
3. Talk about the problems and the benefits with school leaders and teachers. (done)
4. Discuss with the teachers what kind of books they need in their library. (done)
5. Go to the bookstores/ market to get the information about the books and things to buy and collect price information. (done)
6. Calculate the prices of all the books, tables, chairs, and projectors. (done)
7. Check extra fees including transportation fees, fees for technicians to install the projectors. (done)
8. Write project proposal.
9. Receive funds.

10.  Buy books and LCD-projectors in Xining City.

11.  Transport all the things to the school, put the books in the library and install the LCD-projectors in the classrooms.

12.  Have a meeting with school teachers, village leaders, and students about the goals and plans of the project, take pictures and interview some beneficiaries

13.  Write the final report

Timeframe

This project will take two weeks to complete

First Week: 1) two days: to buy all the books, book shelves

2) one day: to buy LCD-projectors, electrical curtain/screens, hangers, and wires

3) one day: to transport materials to the school

4) one day: to put the books in the library

5) one day: to install the projectors in the classrooms

6) one day: to hold a meeting, take pictures, and interview beneficiaries

Second Week: Write the final project

Project Budget 

Donor Contribution in RMB: 40,360 RMB

Local Contribution in RMB: 3,050 RMB (Village leaders and school leader will pay for this)

Shem Contribution in RMB: 500 RMB

Total Cost: 43,910 RMB

Detailed Budget                                                                                                 

Sustainability

In order to make sure this project will be sustainable we have selected two women as librarians. Their duties include organizing the books in the library, lending and returning of the borrowed books, keeping the library clean, keeping the books in good condition, and opening the library on time during the weekends and weekdays. Students and teachers are allowed to borrow only one book at a time. Dictionaries and exercise books cannot be borrowed and can only used in the library. School leaders will inspect and review the conditions once a month. Librarians are responsible for any lost books, unreturned books and destroyed books.

       LCD-projectors will be hanged in the ceiling of the classrooms; teachers use them during the classes. Class teachers are responsible for keeping them clean and in a good condition. If the LCD-projector is damaged after one year and nobody knows who damaged it, all the class teachers and the ones who use it will be responsible for maintaining the projector. But if the projector is damaged within one month, the business company or seller will replace the damaged projector with a new one; if the projector is damaged within two years, the business company or seller will take responsibility to repair the damaged projector as it will be under warranty.

Additional Information

1)      The project manager has done a school project which is about to buy Chinese Dictionaries, notebooks, pencils to improve their studying situation, and some balls to play in the Physical Education class for the students of Gser lung Primary School. When she was in Huangnan ETP in 2003, she explained to the teacher the students’ poor studying conditions. Then, the teacher helped her and solved the problem. They gave the students some notebooks, dictionaries, and pencils to improve their study conditions; they also provided some balls to them for sports during the spare time.

2)      In the spring of 2011, she has coordinated a Solar Flashlight Project with Shem Group’s help.

3)      In 2011, she organized a library building project for the Third Primary School in Nin mtha Township of Henan County. She was helped by a teacher in Qinghai Normal University.

Map of the Project Location

This project is to buy 58 solar panels for 58 households in Budu Village to provide enough electricity to the 58 families in Budu Village, increasing the students’ study time at night and making it possible to watch TV during their spare time. It will also decrease the amount of money spent on candles, flashlight batteries and butter lamps.

Funds needed: $9,710.52 (61,118rmb)

Blo bZang dPal sGron is from Luhuo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. She graduated from Qinghai Normal University. Now she is working as an officer in Ladao Township.  

Contact information
Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group
Mailing Address: Qinghai, Xining, Xining Shi You Zheng Ju, Xin Ning Lu You Ju, 20-5 Xin Xiang, 810008, P.R.C
Telephone: 0971- 6302115 (Shem office),

Email: kalwangjyid@shemgroup.org  

Web: www.shemgroup.org

Project Location:

This project is located in Budu Village, in Zhuwo Township, Luhuo County; Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Budu Village is about 45 km away from Luhuo County town (called Zhanggo in Tibetan); Luhuo County is located in the southeast of Ganzi Prefecture and Luhuo County is 650km away from Chengdu City, the capital of Sichuan province.

Population:

There are 431 people of 58 households in Budu Village consisting of 165 men, 158 women and 108 children (under the age of 18). 

Education

There are 104 students (49 males and 55 females) in Budu Village, including 16 college students (9 males and 7 females), 15 high school students (7 males and 8 females), 33 middle school students (12 males and 21 female), and 40 primary school students (22 males and 18 females). 23 people (18 males and 5 females) have official jobs and 50% of men and 3% of women are literate in Budu Village (not including students, monks, nuns and functionaries). The rest of the people are illiterate because the older generations don’t believe Tibetan people can get a job after their children attend school since there are very few Tibetan people who have an official job in their areas.

Cash Income

Except for the 25 official workers, all of other villagers are farmers, so their lives depend on agriculture. They plant barley, wheat, potatoes and peas in their fields. The richest families own 15-20 mu (1 mu = 0.0666 hectares), they can earn 2,000-2,500 RMB per year from selling their barley and wheat. The poorest families only own 1- 3 mu of land, so it’s impossible to sell their barley and wheat, sometimes those poorest families even need to buy barley from others to live off of.

The villagers are dependant on agriculture, but they also own at least 4-7 livestock, such as cows, female yaks, and horses, and three families also own 10-15 sheep. From livestock, they can earn around 900 to 1,000 RMB by selling the livestock, and can earn 200 to 400 RMB per year from selling butter and cheese . The sheep owners can earn 300-400 RMB from selling wool. The young villagers who did not attend school are earning money by doing outside work, such as construction work, earning 40-50RMB per day, or or working in restaurants and hotels, earning 20-30 RMB per day. The village’s adults can earn money by digging caterpillar fungus(Caterpillar fungus: That is a kind of herb, which grow on high mountains and grasses. People can dig it during the months of May and June; the best fungus can sell for 20-25RMB). Each piece of fungus can sell for 15 to 20 RMB, and the best fungus can sell for 25 to 30 RMB. Each person usually can earn around 4,000 RMB from digging fungus, and 30-40% women earn around 900 RMB from collecting medicinal herbs and selling sapodillas in the county town. There are 25 official workers; they can earn 1,800-2,000 RMB from the government per month.

On average, each family can earn around 5,000 RMB per year, and all of this money is used on food, clothes, festivities, children’s school fees, electricity, medicine, building houses and transportations. Families usually have around 700-800 RMB left after all those costs.

Herding

Each family has at least 4 to 7 livestock (cows, female yaks, horses, or sheep); they use them for work (plowing fields), milking and transporting things. Their village leaders made a rule that each family has to take turn to herd all the livestock in the village according to the number of livestock each family own. For example, if one family has ten livestock, then that family has to herd the whole village’s livestock for ten days. They sell livestock such as female yaks, horses, and sometimes male yaks and cows. Each animal can earn about 1,000 to 1, 200 RMB. They also sell butter and cheese to earn about 200 to 300 RMB per year, and wool to earn 300-400 RMB.

Agricultural

The villagers are dependent on agriculture; they plant barley, wheat, potatoes and peas. The richest families own 15-20 mu of land, and each mu can produce 500-600 jin of barley, wheat and peas per year. The poorest families have only 1-3 mu of land, which makes their life very difficult.  They must buy or borrow barley from the rich families. Since the village is mostly dependant on farming, the weather is very important to their livelihood; lack of rain brings serious consequences, such as starvation.

Weather

The village is located at an altitude of about 5834 meters. There used to be a stable source of electricity, but in 2009, the county Secretary sold the best hydroelectric plant to Ganzi County (near Luhuo county). Now in Luhuo the electricity is too weak to provide enough for every household, so there are always power cuts, and now the biggest problem in rural areas is electricity. During summer and spring there is lots of rain and lightning, so the hydroelectric plant always shuts off the power, saying that it is very dangerous to use electricity in bad weather. During winter time, the river gets covered with thick ice, so it is very difficult to produce electricity from the water.

The project goals

The immediate goal of this project is to buy 58 solar panels for 58 households in Budu Village. The overarching goal of this project is to provide enough electricity to the 58 families in Budu Village, increasing the students’ study time at night and making it possible to watch TV during their spare time. It will also decrease the amount of money spent on candles, flashlight batteries and butter lamps. 

Problems

1. Unstable source of electricity: Until 2009, the hydroelectric plant in Luhuo(尼奇大电厂) had been a very good source of electricity, but at the end of 2009, the county town leader sold the Niqi plant to Ganzi County, which is near Luhuo. The plant always cuts power in Luhuo County and sometimes there will be no light for three or four days, especially in rural areas. Power is also cut because of weather changes. During the rainy season, there is a lot lightning, causing the hydroelectric plant to cut the electricity. During the winter time, the river freezes, and there is not enough water to produce electricity for the entire county, especially in the rural places. The sudden power cuts create inconveniences for families both at night and in the daytime. During the daytime, villagers are not able to watch TV, listen to music, or listen to the radio. Also, 12 families said they have to use light during the day at home because their houses have no big windows. So there is no light to use when light is needed in the house. Therefore, for 12 households in particular, it has been a very big problem to cut power both at night and in the daytime.
2. Lack of money: In the village, only 20 households said they have no problems buying candles and flashlight batteries, but the other 38 households are strained by the cost of candles and flashlight batteries. Each candle costs 2 RMB and they have to buy at least 10 candles per month. Each flashlight costs 20 RMB and each of the batteries costs 4 RMB. Families buy at least 6 to 8 batteries per month, costing around 30 RMB in total. The total expense is around 70 RMB per month and about 840 RMB per year. Even when there is electricity, the cost is higher than in the county town. In the county town, each degree of electricity costs 0.33 RMB, but in the rural areas, it costs 0.7 RMB, amounting to 700-900 RMB per year for families in Budu village. So most of the families only use electricity at night when they have dinner. The poor households cannot afford to use power during the daytime. 
3. Health problems: There are some health problems associated with the use of candles and lamps, such as pneumonia and deterioration of eyesight. Pneumonia is caused by the smoke from oil lamps and candles. Children lose their vision, perhaps because they study at night with their flashlight and candles.  An example of this is the experience of a woman called Renzhen, who always works hard for her family, but in 2010 she got pneumonia. When they went to the county town hospital, the doctors said it was caused by the smoke from oil lamps and candles. Also, some children have no time to study during the day; they always use candles and flashlights to study at night. So now many of the village’s children are having vision problems, and usually their vision gets worse and worse. The biggest problem is that they can’t even see the words that teachers write on the blackboard. Thus, their grades have dropped. Some children tell their parents about their eye problems, and their parents have taken them to the county town hospital for treatment, where they are given a pair of glasses. 
4. Inconvenient for people to work at night: Only 20 households can afford to use candles and flashlights all of the time. So at night, the other families have to stay in the dark. For old people, it is very challenging to go to the lavatories at night. Women have to milk at night and early morning, and without light, it is very dangerous for them to milk because they can be injured from kicking yaks and cows. Also, when women give birth, without light they have to face a very difficult night. Midwives have to wash both the mom and new baby, cut the umbilical cord, and then wrap the baby in a cloth, all of which are much more difficult in the dark.
5. Lack of news sources: There are always powers cuts, so people have no chance to watch TV. In rural areas, the main source of news is TV. If there is no light, then it means people cannot watch TV and they have no chance to learn and know other things from outside, especially because many people are illiterate. If they have light and can watch TV, it would not just be for entertainment; they could also learn valuable information, such as how to keep healthy.

Benefits

1. If 58 households are provided with solar panels, there is no need to worry about power cuts. Even if it is raining, and lighting, or if the water used to generate electricity is frozen, they will not need to worry. Whenever they want the light, they can use their own solar panels.
2. If this project is funded, they don’t have to buy candles and flashlight batteries, and to pay the fee for electricity. The villagers can use the extra money on food, clothes, medicine and buildings.
3. If this project is funded, the health problems would decrease. For example, children won’t need to use flashlights, candles and butter lamps for studying; instead, they can use the electricity provided by the solar panels, decreasing loss of vision and pneumonia.
4. It is very helpful for disabled and old people to go to the lavatories at night. It is also beneficial for the women who milk at night and early morning. It can provide more time for children to study at night.
5. If this project has funded, people can watch TV to get more information about their country and the world.  It can also help with learning new languages.  Since many people are illiterate, TV or radio is a valuable source for new information（ The solar panels that will be provided are high enough quality to power TVs, radios, and stereos.

Gender Equality

In this village, most hard work is done by women and girls, such as washing clothes, fetching water, milking, and farming (except for plowing fields). During the daytime women have to do lots of housework, so they have no time to watch TV, and at night they have little time to relax because electricity in rural areas is very limited, especially during the winter time. So they have no chance to watch TV, and almost never hear about country news and world news. The children can’t study at night because many of the children’s families have no money to buy candles and flashlights. So if this project is funded, it would be very helpful for those women and children. Also in those villages women never have opportunities to attend activities, such as meetings. According to village custom, women should stay at home to do the hard work and only men can attend activities or meetings. Because of this situation, I made a decision to let both men and women attend this project’s meetings, and let the village women share their skills and ideas. This project will help women to prove that not only men can do heroic things—so can women if they are given opportunities. This project will allow women to manage activities and make decisions in the process of implementing this project.  

Government Approval

The governmental township leaders (Chos ‘dzam, and the clerk, Yama) are very eager to have these kind of projects in their community. The project manager had done two projects before (running water project in 2009 and solar panel project in 2010 for Zhuwo Village), so in October 2011, the project manager asked the leaders for permission, and both of them immediately agreed with her to do this project.

Time Frame

This project will take a total of 5 days to complete.

1st day: Receive funds, and discuss the price of solar panels with Blo bzang dphal sgron, the person who is responsible for the project activities in the village.

2^nd -3^rd day: Purchase and transport solar panels from Seda County to Luhuo County, then transport them to Budu village.

4th day: Hold meeting and give the solar panels to the villagers, teaching them how to install them and take care of the panels, as well as explaining its guarantee by the company. Take pictures during this process.

5th day: Interview the beneficiaries.

The steps of project

1. Asked the village leader how many households in the village and had a meeting to ask what kind of problems the villagers have. (Done)
2. Asked the price of each solar panel at the Dian neng Factory in Seda county (Done)
3. Got government permission to do this project.(Done)
4. Hold a meeting with the villagers.
5. Take pictures
6. Write the project proposal
7. Purchase materials from Seda county
8. Transport the solar panels from Luhuo county town to the village.
9. Interview the 58 households members (both men and women)

10.  Write final report for the project.

Project Budget 

The total donor contribution is 61,118 RMB 

The background of the 58 households

Out of 58 households, 54 families have children and all of them are attending school. The other children and young people stay at home, but when it’s time to dig caterpillar fungus, they go with their families, and when there is no fungus, they go to do construction work in the county town and townships. Under the age of 15, children always go to herd livestock. The income for the villagers is from livestock, digging for fungus, doing construction works, farming, and waiting tables. Many families have no money to pay for electricity(电费), so it is without question that they have no money to buy a solar panel. Each family will contribute 204 RMB for this solar panel project.            

Sustainability

The 58 households are very eager to have solar panels, so the project manager Blo bzang dbal sgron is sure the 58 families will take good care of the panels. Also, the project manager asked the leader (马先生) of the company(岗井电器公司) if they could exchange the solar panels if they have any problems in 1-2 years. Mr. Ma(马先生) agreed and said they will guarantee to repair them if they break within 2 years. If they have problems after 3-5 years, there is someone in the village who is skilled in repairing them, and the families will be responsible for this cost.

Past Experience

In 2008, the project manager did a second-hand clothes project in Rilangda Village.

In 2009-2010, the project manager completed a running water project in Rilangda village, Zhuwo Township, Luhuo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The total funding for this running water project is 23,394 RMB.

In 2010-2011, the project manager completed a solar panel project for Zhuwo village, Zhuwo Township, Luhuo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The total funding for this solar panel project is 39,282 RMB

Map of the Project location

This project is to provide 21 computers and a projector for Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School. In order to rebuild the school’s infrastructure which was damaged in the earthquake while at the same time motivating students’ study interests, increase their knowledge and better prepare the students for higher learning and job opportunities.

Funds needed: $4,515.09 (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:

English Books:

 Chinese Books:

 Art books

Total

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.

This project aimed at financially supporting an urgent need of 35 solar panels for 2 villages in Gyegu Township, Yushu Prefecture that were severely damaged by an earthquake. The solar panels will supply light and power for basic heating tools during a 3-year or longer period for 500 victims of the earthquake who are still living in tents.

Norlha funded this project

Project manager
Basam dorlma is a native citizen from lower Menzong Village, Gyegul Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and China. She is graduated from Qinghai Normal University in 2008. Having grown up in a rural Tibetan area, as well as majoring in  English and Tibetan languages with development studies and sociology as subjects while in school, she holds a deep interest and obligation toward the development of rural areas. She joined Shem as a member in 2007. She has worked for a local NGO dedicated toward livelihood improvement of a rural Tibetan area in Ganzi Prefecture from 2009 to 2010. She is currently working for FFI on a Tibetan project, the Community Grassland Project, mainly undertaking grassland conservation and sustainable management projects in Yushu nomadic areas. 

Project location:

Aerial view of Mengzong Village after the earthquake from Jiajie Mountain 

Mengzong villages (upper and lower) in Zhaxidatong community is one of the places where earthquake damage is most severe. Upper and lower Mengzong villages are located in the northern part of Gyegul Township, Yushu Prefecture, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. It is about 896 kilometers from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province.

Approximately 35 people died from the earthquake in Mengzong Villages, and 20 were severely injured. Many people suffered minor injuries. Only about 4 houses have survived the earthquake; all other houses have collapsed. Recently 170 households in Mengzong villages are staying in tents, which were provided by the government and other groups. Some families have not received tents from the government for many months after the earthquake, so they have been living under damaged roofs or outdoors. According to the new reconstruction policies, some land of local families would be used for road expansion, new infrastructure, and adding of service departments. As land is the only property that locals have left after the earthquake, these local people will find it difficult to recover from the earthquake’s damages.

These 2 villages are typical plateau areas with dry and cold weather, and are some of the only villages in Gyegul County that still retains a farming culture. Residents of Mengzong villages are local people of Gyegul County whose ancestors have been residing in the place for several generations. Economic condition of these 2 villages is relatively very poor due to having no reliable natural resources, and there are rarely any people from this area who work in the government office. Last year, under Shem Women’s Group’s help, potable running water was provided for these 2 villages from the spring sources located 5 km away on top of a mountain. These 2 villages have been lacking running water for over 11 years, but the government has not done anything to help them get water.

The running water not only provided clean and safe water for the 2 Mengzong villages, but also acted as the only source of water for most parts of Geygul Town during and after the earthquake because other underground water facilities had been destroyed.

Population:
There are approximately 170 households comprised of over 1,491 people in upper and lower Mengzong village. There are 534 women, 565 men, and around 392 children according to the data statistics of the village kept in the village leader’s home

 (2009).

The direct beneficiaries: the total number of households is 35, and the total population is estimated to be 318, including 107 children under fifteen, and 106 males and 105 females. These selected 35 households are the most impoverished, having no lighting and the least ability to recover from the earthquake damage in upper and lower Mengzong Villages. 

Education:
30% of the people in Mengzong villages are literate; 10% are literate in Tibetan. These people learned how to write and read Tibetan letters from their parents by reading epics, stories, and by carving Mani-stones (carved scriptures on stone). The other 20% percent are students in middle and primary school. There only around 20 university students in these two villages. 

Cash income:
Most of the villagers in upper Mengzong village are farmers. They grow barley exclusively because of the high elevation of 3700 meters does not allow for cultivation of any other crops. Most households in this village own only 2-3 mu (1 mu = 0.7 hectares) of land, which produces enough barley for those families’ survival. Families who own 8-9 mu of land can often sell their excess barley to earn about 900 rmb annually. However, this potential income is vulnerable due to changes of the weather– no excess barley is produced after a hot, dry growing season.
Villagers’ main cash income recourse is by digging caterpillar fungus. They travel to mountainous areas where the fungus grows, and stay there from the beginning of May until July. A good caterpillar fungus can sell for around 30-35 rmb, but people have to pay a tax of 1,000-3,000 rmb (it depends, some areas ask for higher tas and some area’s is lower) to the local village leader to be allowed to dig in a specific area. A single person from Mengzong Village can earn approximately 3,000-4,500 rmb (after tax) annually by digging this fungus. Each year, people in Mengzong Village spend around 1,500-2,000 rmb for foods like potatoes, vegetables and meat, and 350-500 rmb on clothes. Villagers must also spend money on school tuition.
For other expenses, like school tuition for children to receive university education, villagers have the chance to sell their land in town to nomads (there are many nomads moving to the county town in recent years), who need a place to build their house. Villagers can receive approximately 20000-30000 rmb for one mu of land. Those farmers who don’t need to pay tuition for their children typically try to use that income to improve their living condition. However, selling one’s land does not always succeed as expected. After selling their land, people sometimes do not have enough food to eat because they no longer have land on which they used to grow barley in sustainable amounts. In addition, many people are illiterate and/or innumerate, and almost all lack the skills of doing good business. For example, when they go to sell caterpillar fungus, they don’t know where the best place is to gain a high price because they have a very limited understanding of the outside market. Unfortunately, these people often sell their caterpillar fungus to the businessmen in town for a low price, and the businessmen can sell them for a much higher price in the cities.  

Local people often use the little savings they have to build houses that are poor quality. All the houses that have collapsed during the earthquake are houses of families who are financially poor and have no workers in the family. They are farmer residents of Yushu and nomad immigrants from other nomadic areas of Yushu. As result, these families do not have any savings in the bank. In addition, these people are suffering from the effects of rebuilding policies, such as land use/contribution (most of the households need to give certain areas of land for public infrastructure, including expansion of roads and additional construction for service organizations). In addition, as many households will not be rebuilt in their original place but in different areas, they feel fear and worried when concerning about the loss of previous living way, because they are used to it feel comfortable with previous life. In short, there is lots of dispute between local people and the government over the remapping and reconstruction of Gyegul Town, and people spending a lot of time on negotiation.

Agriculture:
Most families in upper and lower Mengzong villages are farmers that depend on barley cultivation. There are only a few families who also have pastures with around 20 livestock to herd. Farming families used to have 2-3 mu of land, but as the price of land has increased in Gyegul Town in recent years, those families sold their lands for added income and gave up farming. The incomes earned through selling these lands are mostly used to pay for their children’s education and to build houses. Now they must buy everything, including barley, from businessmen coming from outside of the villages. 

Herding:
There are around 10 families in Mengzong Villages who own pastures and some livestock. However, due to a decline in the condition of the grasslands, and in order to receive education for their children, most of them have moved back to farming areas. At present, none of the villagers have many livestock.

Weather:
Yushu Prefecture is cold for most of the seasons.  People who travel to the plateau often say, “You can see all four seasons spontaneously on the plateau.” The weather can change dramatically in one day. It is very cold during wintertime; the average temperature in winter is -10°c and the lowest is -27°c. (Gyegul, Yushu)

Project goals and benefits
This project aimed at financially supporting an urgent need of 35 solar panels for 2 villages in Gyegu Township, Yushu Prefecture that were severely damaged by an earthquake.  The solar panels will supply light and power for basic heating tools during a 3-year or longer period for 500 victims of the earthquake who are still living in tents.

Problems:
1. Electricity is frequently cut in Gyegul County since the earthquake
Due to the earthquake’s destruction of the hydroelectric plant, electricity in areas of Yushu has been completely cut off. The only exception is the government’s use of portable electricity generators for emergencies, including medical treatments and digging people out of the wreckage. There is no electricity for the locals who have been living in relief tents for more than 3 months. In the beginning of July, 2010, the government received a power generator that has provided some electricity, but not enough for all residents. The 3 main parts of Gyegul County; Zhaxidatong (the 2 Mengzong villages belong to this community), Dangdai, and Mingzhu communities receive very little electricity and must alternate who has access to lights and power.  

2. People are living in tents without heating
Many of the wealthy families have moved to cities like Xining and Chengdu while Yushu is being reconstructed. However, families with poor conditions had to stay in tents, but living in a tent without heating is very difficult. Especially during the winter time, the weather in Yushu is extremely cold. “Living in atent is like living in a big refrigerator,” described an earthquake victim from Mengzong Village, Tseduo, whose grandmother and 5 year-old nephew were killed by the earthquake. Tseduo, like many other victims, has poor living conditions and did not even receive a tent for a month. Some people had to wait for much longer to get a tent from the government. “Vegetables are frozen in the tent even if we make a fire during cooking time, and we don’t have any electrical heating. We have to wear 2-3 quilts to warm ourselves during the night. Children are suffering, especially the babies,” said Tsering Dorlma. Her youngest daughter was killed by the earthquake. In addition, Terengdorma’s husband died from a construction accident. Her oldest daughter, age 17, was given to a middle-aged local businessman as a wife short after the earthquake. Tsering Dorma wanted her daughter to have an easier and happy life.  

In addition, families of Mengzong villages can’t afford to buy other heating tools like solar water heaters, so they collect wood and ruins (mostly plastic) that can be burned to make a fire. However, burning plastic is very unhealthy and dangerous as well. Elders have gotten severe headaches and some tents have burned. These families also can’t afford to buy heating materials like coal and yak dung.

Every year, young members of Mengzong villages who are able to handle hard labor go to nomadic areas to dig caterpillar fungus and to work in construction sites from mid-May to July. The elders stay in the village, taking care of the tents. However, collection of fuel is a big task for them, so they go out to the street or to construction sites to collect plastic waste.

3. Lack of outside information
As electricity is cut off for most of the time, people can’t watch TV or listen to radios. Therefore, local people lack access to important information concerning the reconstruction of Yushu and the government’s new policies. Many villagers reported that they didn’t know where to get the rescue food and other equipments, or how to sign the relative papers for taking the donated rescue goods. They also do not know where the goods came from and how much is available. There are no households in Mengzong villages that have internet access.  

4. Electricity will be frequently cut off for over three years during reconstruction
It has been over a year since the earthquake hit Yushu, but reconstruction in Gyegul County has still not started. This is due to lots of internal conflicts and problems between locals and the departments responsible for reconstruction about use of land and remapping of infrastructure. Therefore, the date of return to full electricity is still unknown. As estimated by village committees, which are now obliged to negotiate between locals and reconstruction departments, the completion of reconstruction will still take 2 more years. This means local people will continue to live in tents, and often without electricity, for much of this 2-year period.Another serious problem is that some families use a refrigerator to save meat, but since electricity is cut most of the time, meat and other food is wasted.

5. Health problems from using candles and oil lamps
Candles are the main source of light when electricity is cut off. When used for a long time, they create heavy smoke and a strong smell of paraffin wax that increases the risk of cancer. Many people have headaches and nose bleeds from candles. It has a worse effect on students, as they have to do homework by candlelight, giving them difficulties such as headaches and eye problems.

Moreover, candles and oil are very expensive. One candle costs 2.5 rmb, and a family uses approximately 16 candles a month (40 rmb per month), so annually a family needs to spend around 500 rmb on buying candles. Oil is relatively more expensive; one kilo of oil costs 7 rmb in Yushu, and a family needs to spend around 50 rmb a month and more than 600 rmb annually. This amount is enough to pay for medication or clothing for a poor family for a year.

6. Other dangers of using candles
It is always very dangerous to burn candles in tents. Many tents have burned and resulted in injury and loss of property. Within Mengzong villages alone, 2 families have burned their tents by lighting candles while doing family rituals.

Benefits of project

1. 35 families with poor living conditions from Mengzong Villages will have regular electricity for lighting and be able to power basic heating tools during 3 years of tent-stay.
2. As local people can buy cheaper heating tools to be powered by the solar panels, it can reduce the money spent on purchasing fuel and decreases the danger of elders getting injured while collecting plastic garbage on streets and construction sites. In addition, children and infants will have warmer homes to stay.
3. According to the introduction of the solar panel company, with good solar panels, the villagers can charge radios, cellphones and flashlights. If the project is funded, the villagers don’t need to pay bills for electricity; instead, they can use their money on household items. In addition, they will have regular access to listen to news and learn about outside information through radios. Having a stable source of electricity will provide great convenience while living in the tents, especially for women with house chores.  They will have more time to rest and work on their own hobbies.
4. Around 400 people will have healthier lighting, so health problems would decrease. Children can use the light from solar panels to study, so it would decrease the number of children who are losing their vision. The risk of developing lung cancer from smoke inhalation from the candles and oil lamps will also decrease. Students from these 35 families will especially benefit and will be able to finish their homework under healthy lighting.
5.  This project will help reduce the injuries and loss of property from tent fires, as well as reduce the challenges for people who are elderly and disabled when they go to the lavatories at night.

 Gender Equality

In Mengzong villages, women are responsible for household chores, including washing, cooking, and milking (about 10 households in Mengzong villages have cows). However, life is more difficult for them without electricity. Their time spent on these household chores will be decreased if they have solar panels to provide regular lighting and they will stay warmer while doing chores since they can use basic heating tools. Moreover, they will have access to news and outside information. 

Project Plan:

1)      Local people shared this problem with Shem staff when they came to Mengzong villages to evaluate their running water project. (September, 2010)

2) Interview the villagers and contact the village government workers, Jamga and Tsewa, to gathernecessary information for the proposal. (Done)

3) Write project proposal. (Done)

4) Contact the Solar Panel Company in Xining and Chengdu and research the price. (Done)

5) Once the funding is secured, go back to the project location and hold a meeting. Also, collect local contributions.

6) To purchase solar panels in Xining from Tianyu Company(天宇太阳能公司) which sells good ( three-rays三光) quality solar panels (three-ray brand is the most commonly purchased and trusted solar panel brand in nomadic areas in Yushu).  

7) Transport solar panels to Gyegul County, and then to Mengzong Villages. In order to have all panels well-operated and kept in good condition, villagers Mr. Tashitsering and Gasangwangdu, who have experience with solar panel installment, will teach the installment process and interpret the operational instructions to the recipients of the solar panels.

8 ) Complete the project. Interview the villagers and hear their thoughts about the panels.

9) Take pictures

10) Write final report.

11) Send final report with all pictures and receipts to Shem Women’s Group.

Time frame:
This project will take in total of 12 days to complete.

1. 3 days to purchase the solar panels.
2. 3-4 days to transport the solar panels to Mengzong Villages, Gyegul County, Yushu. (As the roads within in Gyegul County are being rebuilt, there is only one major road to use, so transportation of the solar panels to Mengzong Villages might take longer than usual.)
3. 2 days to distribute the solar panels, as some of the families from Mengzong Villages have moved to rural mountains to herd their cows.
4. 3 days to install and interpret instruction of solar panel use, and interview the recipients and take photos. 

Detailed Budget:

 Note: Due to the earthquake, most of the properties that Mengzong villagers owned have been destroyed. Also, some families whose members died from the earthquake have spent all money that the government has given on holding rituals for the dead members and medical treatments for the injured ones. Therefore, villagers cannot provide a large local contribution. 400 rmb is even difficult to collect from some of the poorer recipients.
Types of solar panels:
Solar panels provide different functions depending on price; some of the options are:
4, 0000 rmb: (this price is almost the highest) can power refrigerator, TV, radios, computer, and lights.
5,000 rmb: (120W) can power a small TV, radios, computer and light
3,000-4,000 rmb: (80W) can power a small –black-and-white TV, radios and lights. This option can also charge small heating tools if the TV is not used, as told by the leader of the solar company in an interview. Therefore, solar panels costing 3,000 rmb can solve the basic problems that these people have.

 Sustainability:

Quality of solar panel:
Solar panels costing 3,000 rmb are mid-level quality among the solar panels for basic family use, with a one-year guarantee if they need repairing. 三光(sanguang ) brand is the most trusted and commonly purchased in Qinghai Province.

Sustainability of usage:
Since nomads of Yushu purchase many solar panels every year, there are lots of solar panel repair shops and retail stores in Gyegul Town. Mengzong villagers have the ability to get the panels checked and repaired when it’s needed.

 According the government news, Yushu will be reconstructed as a modern Town, with new and modern technical infrastructure supplies. Therefore, everything will probably be expensive, including electricity. However, due to lack of education and business skills, locals from Mengzong Villages will still be the ones without stable income, and it will be very difficult for them to afford the electricity for several years. Good quality solar panels will be valuable to them for a long period of time, even after they have a new house. 

Reference information:
Since 2004, I have successfully implemented 5 small-scale development projects mainly to assist impoverished rural families in Yushu areas with basic living conditions. The projects are tent distribution for earthquake victims (Gyegul County, 2010), running water in Mengzong Villages (2009), solar panels (Xialaxi nomadic areas, 2007) second-hand clothes distribution (Zhaxidatong farmers, 2005), and solar cookers (Zhaxidatong famers, 2004). These projects benefited around 2500 people.

I have been personally experienced the difficulties with basic living condition in Mengzong villages, as I have grown up in the village. One of the 2 biggest problems in living without a stable income in Yushu Prefecture are having fuel for heating and electricity. Fuel for heating has become very expensive in recent years; the price of yak-dung and coal has quadrupled in the past 5 years. Locals from Mengzong villages (usually women) collect plastic garbage and ruins to make fire and boil water. Cutting down trees and other wood from nearby mountains is another choice, yet this is dangerous and harmful to the environment. The price of electricity has also risen fast, yet the only choice for poor households is to save energy, and use as little as possible. They cannot afford to watch TV regularly, and their children have less chance to study at night. Using educational tools, such as computers, is totally impossible without adequate electricity.

However, among these two major problems, having stable electricity is most urgent right now, since living in a tent without light is inconvenient, dangerous, and unhealthy. In addition, access to news and lighting is even more important when trying to rebuild the villages. This urgent need was explained when Shem members came to Mengzong Village to evaluate a running water project. Therefore, I am writing this proposal to try my best to bring them lighting and more heat while the survivors are living in relief tents for multiple years. . These families could never afford to buy solar panels on their own. 

Government Support:
Since the earthquake on the 14^th of April, 2010, electricity has not been stably provided to Mengzong Villages, since the major hydroelectric plant in Gyegul County was damaged during the earthquake. An electricity generator (gas powered) has been provided for urgent needs and mainly for reconstruction. Also, the demands for electricity have increased largely due to about 100,000 people moving to Yushu to do business and work on the reconstruction.

Therefore, the government or the village committees are also unable to solve the problem and have no extra time, since reconstruction is the biggest task at the moment. 

However, Jiamga and Tsewa (the major leaders of Mengzong village) have told me that lack of electricity is the most serious problem for the poor residents, and if this project can be funded, this would give the locals both an easier life and improved health.

Photos: Life of Mengzong Villagers after the earthquake: 

Tashidorlma’s family has not received tent from government for several months after the earthquake, so they made their kitchen outdoors.

There are 2 people dead from the earthquake in Tashi darjie’s family, and now they live in their yard after the house collapsed. The daughter in-law’s waist was injured in the earthquake, so she lies in bed all the time.

 Renchen’s family from Mengzong Village. Everything was destroyed by the earthquake, and the family is trying to rescue their grandmother from underneath the ruins.  

 All properties are destroyed by the earthquake– Wujing’s family in lower Mengzong village

 4 months after the earthquake

 Dechenchuzhun is making tea for the family in their yard; their house is totally collapsed.

11 months after the earthquake

A glimpse of life in tent (taken 11 months after the earthquake)

 Map of Gyegu Township, Yushu County:

This project is to buy 154 carts and 154 shovels for Gongqing Village for collecting yak dung and carrying yak dung from the livestock yard to the drying place in order to reduce Gongqing village women’s workload, and allow them to have more time for taking care of the babies and elders in the family. This project will also help the villagers to increase fuels and income by collecting more yak dung by the shovels and carts.

Shem’s Private Donor Mr. Hans and Mr.Wang funded this project

Shawo Dolma is from 5th group in Gongqing village, Duofudun Township, Zeku County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. She is working toward her BA degree in the English Tibetan Department at Qinghai Normal University.
Contact Information
Contact person: Shem Women’s Group
Address: Qinghai, Xining, Xining Shi You Zheng Ju, Xin Ning Lu You Ju, 20-5 Xin Xiang, 810008, P.R.C.
Telephone: 0971-6302115

Project Location
There are 7 groups of households in Gongqing Village (compare to other groups the group NO.1^st、5^th,7^th have poorer condition), Duofudun Township, Zeku County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. The other three groups are about 30 kilometers from Duofudun Township; Duofudun is about 40 kilometers from Zeku County. Zeku County is about 90 kilometers from Huangnan Prefecture, which is about 210 kilometers from Xining the capital of Qinghai Province.

Population
All the people in Gongqing village are Tibetan. There are about 737 people living in 154 households including 225 men, 216 women, and 221 children (102 boys and 119 girls). 75 of the villagers are elders (35 old men and 40 women) who are in their sixties and not able to do work to help the family.

Education
In Gongqing village, 90 percent of the population is illiterate; 4 official workers in these three groups, all of them are men, 2 of them as teachers and 2 as drivers. There are 59 children who are students in Gongqing village. 44 students are in primary school (25 boys and 19 girls) and 10 students are in middle school (8 boys and 2 girls). There are 3 students in high school (all of them are boys) and 2 students in the university (one boy is at Qinghai Nationality University and the other student is me, the project manager).

Cash income
All the Gongqing villagers lead a nomadic life. They earn money from selling yaks and sheep. Each family owns 20-25 yaks and 30-40 sheep. The main income of the family is from selling livestock, but they only sell a few of the livestock (each year they sell two or three yaks and sheep, each yak sells for around 800 rmb and sheep for around 300 rmb, so they earn 1200-2000 rmb each year). Since livestock is their only property, they can’t sell many of them at one time.,   They also sell yak dung and sheep wool to earn money, and one sack of yak dung can earn around 10 rmb and a jin of wool is about 7 rmb.

Herding
In Gongqing village, all of the villagers depend on the livestock to live. Ten years ago, each family had more than 100 sheep and 80 yaks. Families could earn good cash income, around 10,000 per year, by raising livestock. But in 1998, the grassland and livestock were hit by a terrible snowstorm, killing most of the livestock. From that year on, the livelihood in Gongqing Village got worse. Villagers don’t have other ways of earning income because most of the people are illiterate. If the people are illiterate, they don’t have any income except selling their own properties. They can’t do migrant labor because they have no education and cannot read or write. This makes them likely to be rejected for hiring, and they can be easily cheated.

During summer, the villagers move to the summer pasture, which takes 5 hours on foot to get there. In the winter, it takes four hours to travel to their winter house.

Project goals
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 154 carts and 154 shovels for Gongqing Village for collecting yak dung and carrying yak dung from the livestock yard to the drying place.
The overarching of this project is to increase family income by using carts and shovels because it will save time, reduce women’s workload, and allow them to get more yak dung for fuel. Village women’s health condition will be improved because they don’t have to carry heavy yak dung on their backs. Village women will have more free time to spend with their elderly parents and take care of their children, The percentage of school enrolment will likely be increased because families won’t need children to help mothers do the labor. The quality of education will be improved because children have more time to study.

Problems in Gongqing Village
Gongqing is a big village in Duofudun Township, which has 9 groups, but the 1^st, 5^th and 7^th groups have more disadvantages than others, including sectors such as the economy, education and the environment.

In the traditional culture of this area, milking, making butter and collecting yak dung are always considered women’s work. This work does not seem very hard when you look at it briefly, but this work actually requires lots of time and energy. Moreover, the work is endless, which means it must be done throughout the whole year. Collecting yak dung requires a lot of energy because it is heavy and must be carried long distances. Following are some of the crucial problems in Gongqing Village.

Poor health
Health is one of the most troubling problems in Gongqing Village, especially for women, children and old people. Especially it is difficult for the women because they have to get up very early (about 6 a.m.) and do a lot of work, so generally they do not have time for breakfast. If the mothers can’t cook breakfast, their family members can’t eat a good breakfast, causing the whole family to suffer.

In the morning, it takes more than one hour for the women to milk yaks, and the men drive the yaks and sheep to graze. After finishing milking the females have to collect yak dung.

In summer, there is more yak dung to collect because the livestock have plenty of grass to eat. Each yak would have more than 7 times This project is to buy 503 books for Hor nag Central primary school including 306 Tibetan books, 114 Chinese books and 83English books. And 10 computers, In order to improve the students’ general knowledge, and increase the number of students’ who pass the Middle school and High school entrance exams. The normal amount of dung, with each of them weighing 5-6 grams. They use their hands to collect the yak dung because they don’t have any tools. While collecting yak dung, germs from the dung stay on their hands and other parts on their body, making it  easier for them to get diseases, including gynecological diseases. Backache is also common among women because they have to carry the yak dung on their backs for a long time. It is especially hard for women in winter, when the weather is very cold and they use bare hands to collect dung.

Lots of time spent on yak dung collection
After collecting a basket of yak dung, they have to carry it far distances to dry (from the livestock yard to the drying place, which is usually 30 meters away). Then they pour the wet yak dung out and spread them on the ground and carry the dried yak dung back home. It takes a lot of time because they can take only one basket at a time, so they must repeat it nine or ten times a day, which takes a total of 4-5 hours every day just to collect the yak dung. Girls who are above 7 years old have to help their mothers collect yak dung and do other housework. Therefore, they can’t go to school.

Less income because lack of good equipment
When people use only their hands to collect yak dung, the amount collected is reduced. This limits the amount of money families can earn. Families also must buy baskets for collecting yak dung. Each basket costs 30 RMB, and one basket can only be used for one month. So each family has to spend 360 RMB per year on the baskets.

Benefits

Improve health condition
People from Gongqing Village use their hands to collect yak dung and they carry it on their backs, so it is easy for them to have health problems, such as backache and gynecological diseases. But by owning carts and shovels, they don’t need to use their hands to pick up wet yak dung and they don’t need to carry it on their backs. As a result, village women will be healthier.

Save time
Without carts, villagers use baskets and carry the yak dung to a far place to dry them. And because of the size of the basket and the weight of the wet yak dung, they can’t carry a lot at a time. Thus, it takes a lot of time. If the families receive carts, they can carry more yak dung at a time, and it is faster than carrying it on the back. Consequently, it saves time and energy for the village women.

Usually, without carts, they need four or five hours to carry yak dung. During this time they don’t have enough time to do house work, but if they have carts it can be done in two hours because one cart can carry the equivalent of five baskets of dry yak dung or two or three baskets of wet yak dung. So the carts can save time and energy for the village women.

Improve education
Collecting yak dung is both an energy-taking and time-consuming task. Therefore, if a family has children, especially girls, they can’t go to school because they need to help their mothers. But if they have carts and shovels, women can do the yak dung collection by themselves; also, men can help them because they don’t feel embarrassed by using carts. Families are more willing to send their children to school if they can handle the housework by themselves. As a consequence, the education in Gongqing Village will eventually improve.

Save money
Firstly, since the health conditions of the village will improve, they don’t need to spend as much as they used to spend for seeing doctors. Secondly, families can sell more yak dung by the help of equipment. Thirdly, families won’t have to buy baskets as they used to. They can save the money that they would spend on buying baskets and spend the money on other needs.

Beneficiaries
Gongqing villagers are the main beneficiaries of this project. Among the total population of 737 people, 335 people will directly benefit from this because they are the women and girls who directly benefit from using the carts and shovels. 402 people will benefit indirectly from this project because mothers will have more time to prepare food for their family, and the families also can save money by using carts and shovels.

Gender equality
In Gongqing village, women get up very early in the morning to do a lot of work, such as collecting yak dung, milking yaks and making butter. Collecting yak dung is especially hard work because men don’t help. Traditionally, people hold the idea that it is shameful for a man to carry a basket. But with this project, men can also help carry yak dung because they won’t feel embarrassed by using carts. Therefore, men and women can work together and it will reduce women’s work and create gender equality.

The project manager is a woman; she is going to implement and manage the entire project. By doing this, she sends an important message to the villagers that women also can do great things for the whole community. Thus, this might change villagers from Gongqing village and other villages (near Gongqing village) attitudes towards girls, especially opinions on the value of women’s education.

Government approval
On August 15^th, 2010, during the summer holiday, the project manager discussed getting permission from the government with Jiezeng (village leader) and Zhaxi Nanjian (township leader). Both of these leaders thought it was a great project for the village and gave their full support and permission for this project.

Time frame
It will take 13 days to complete this project:

3 days to hold a meeting and discuss the starting date of the project.

2 days to prepare for purchasing the equipment (to find two big trucks).

2 days to purchase the materials from Xining.

2 days to transport the carts and shovels to the village (2 days to arrive to Gongqing village).

2 days to hold a meeting with Gongqing village’s leaders and villagers in the village and distribute the materials.

1 day to take pictures from each family and interview them.

Project steps

1. Contact Gongqing villagers, ask and find out their biggest need. (done)
2. Hold a meeting with the villagers and village leader to collect information about the project. (done)
3. Find the price of materials. (done)
4. Ask permission from the government. (done)
5. Write proposal. (done)
6. Go to village and discuss with the villagers about how to purchase the materials.
7. Get funds.
8. Purchase the materials from Xining
9. Carry the equipment back to the village.
10. Distribute the carts and shovels to the villagers.
11. Take pictures of the project after it is completed.
12. Interview the villagers to see the impact of project.
13. Write the final report.
14. Send final report with receipts and pictures.

Detailed Project Budget

Total cost: 72,740 RMB

Donor contribution: 5,7410 RMB

Local contribution: 14,830 RMB

Shem Women’s Group: 500 RMB

Sustainability
In order to make this project sustainable, the project manager and villager leader (Jiezeng) are going to Xining to buy the best quality carts and shovels with warranty. If there are any problems with the equipment then they can exchange it or have it repaired for free within a certain period of time. Secondly, the project manager will be there to distribute all the carts and shovels to each family and let them sign their signatures.

After distribution of the carts and shovels the village leader and project manager will hold a meeting with the villagers and tell them how to take care of the carts and shovels.

When the project manager buys the tools, she will ask the company to provide a warranty for the tools and make sure that they provide the best quality carts and shovels; broken shovels and carts will be replaced with new ones within 1-3 months.

Villagers will be informed that the equipment warranties should be kept to be used for exchanges if there are problems. The equipment is made of steel, so it can easily  rust, It will be explained to the villagers that the tools should not be stored outdoors, and also should be kept dry and oiled regularly. Since local villagers are in extreme need of these tools, they will be responsible in using and caring for the equipment, and the warranty will be used in time if needed.

Project Photos

This is the project location where women are collecting the dry yak dung in summer

The map of project location

This project is to hire 50 villagers for a 17-day employment contract to collect the garbage throughout Kawagebo sacred pilgrimage route; giving financial assistance to the villagers, and more importantly protecting the environment of the sacred mountain. 100 locally-made bamboo baskets will be left on the trees along the sacred route. Additionally, the villagers will bring saplings back to the home village, and grow them on the barren mountainsides, where the pine trees were logged down for various reasons.

Funds needed: $13,760 (89,000rmb)

The project manager, Gelsang Lhamu, is from Chalitong Village, at the foot of Kawagebo Mountain, where the sacred route starts. Her village is located in Yunlin Township, Deqing County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan Province, PRC.

Contact Information

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Address: Qinghai, Xining, Xining Shi You Zheng Ju, Xin Ning Lu You Ju;

20-5 Xin Xiang, 810008, P.R.C

Telephone: 0971-6302115 (Shem Women’s Group’s Office)

E-mail: info@shemgroup.org

Background:

The aim of this project is to improve the environmental situation on the pilgrimage route of the sacred Mt. Kawagebo. Mt. Kawagebo is one of the most famous Buddhist sacred sites in China, and even the world. With a height of over 6470 meters, it holds the rare characteristic of never having been successfully climbed. Since 1902, groups of international mountain climbers tried to conquer its peak, but all failed. It was not until 1991 that it became better known to the world when 17 professional climbers from Japan and China all mysteriously disappeared on the final day of their ascent to the peak.  The bodies were not found until 7 years later, at the foot of Mt. Kawagebo. After the incident, local Tibetan residents asked the government to ensure that nobody ever climbed that mountain again because it is so sacred to all Tibetans in the world.

Each year, there are thousands of pilgrims, mostly Tibetan, who come from all over China to worship the sacred Mt. Kawagebo on the 700-year-old pilgrimage route. The number of pilgrims reached its highest point in 2003, the year of the Sheep, which is believed to be the birth year of Mt. Kawagebo. In recent years, it has become a popular place of travel for tourists.  However, a severe problem jeopardizes the pristine nature of the pilgrimage route, threatening the delicate environmental balance. Colorful plastic bags and all kinds of food packaging are thrown everywhere along the sacred route. Additionally, I believe the ecosystem of an originally remote and quiet mountain region would be affected from the huge flow of pilgrims and tourists constantly moving in and out.

From this project, I hope to protect the environment from the trash thrown by the pilgrims and tourist groups by giving short-term employment to the villagers living near the pilgrimage route and providing them with payment for their labor. The job is to collect rubbish all along the route. In order to make this project sustainable, the villagers will bring 100 locally made bamboo baskets and hang them on the trees along the route. We will order the largest baskets, and villagers can bury trash after emptying the baskets every year. If the baskets are filled too quickly, a small part of the funds will be kept to hire a few villagers to bury and empty the baskets. Additionally, they will collect saplings of pine and any other kinds of trees to re-plant again on their arrival back to their village. The village mountain used to be very dense with forest a few decades ago, but the number of trees has decreased due to logging for fuel and house construction. The mountain is now bare and empty with little green coverage. Villagers are still unaware of the danger from all kinds of natural disasters such as landslides, flooding and soil erosion that happens frequently. In order to decrease the soil erosion and other environmental disasters due to frequent logging, the saplings will be planted in chosen areas where trees are have been cut and soil is eroding. The estimated time period will be 17 days.
Project location

The sacred Mt. Kawagebo stands on the border of Tibet and Yunnan. The area is characterized by extraordinary topographic extremes, ranging from arid canyons to snow-capped peaks that have led to the region’s significant biodiversity.

Population involved

Yunlin Township is 927.7 square meters of space with a population of 5,700.  It has mainly groups of Tibetan agricultural villages along Lancang (Mekong) River. Within this project, 50 people will be selected from Chalitong Village as the targeted groups. The direct beneficiaries of this project are all 34 households (152 people total) in Chalitong village since Chalitong is located at the point where the pilgrimage route starts, making it a convenient starting point for the project.

Education
70 percent of people in Chalitong village are illiterate, with women accounting for 50 percent and men 20 percent. In the past years, most parents had difficulties affording tuition fees to send their children to go to middle school in the county town or the prefecture city. It used to cost more than 1,000 rmb per year. About 24 school-aged children in the village attend primary school on account of the government’s newly enacted law, “Nine year compulsory education,” which means the government provides free education for all the children till they graduate from middle school. Parents these days still need to pay for many school-related services, such as food, insurance and class money (a small amount of money which is collected from everyone in a class, usually 100 rmb, to spend on class activities like picnics). In total, each school semester costs parents between 1000 and 1200 rmb. However, parents usually keep their children at home in order to help them during busy work times or to assist in farm work (plowing, seeding, weeding and harvesting all year around). This is especially common during times when families collect (matsutake) mushroom to sell and when they need to collect fuel in the mountains. As a result, some of the children are kept at home to do the house works for busy times and some are not sent back to school again. People traditionally believe that girls can be better assistants to their parents. At present time, Chalitong Village only has 1 college student and 2 secondary school graduates (2 girls and 1 boy), 2 high school students and 7 middle school boys. According to local government statistics, school enrollment in Yunlin Township lags far behind other places in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Cash income
Chalitong villagers own a little land on the surrounding mountain range; the smallest is 0.9 mu(1 mu=0.07 hectare) of farming land where people grow corn and wheat in different seasons. That is true for the majority of the families. This is certainly not enough for them to eat and feed their animals. So, the villagers find other ways of making money:

Firstly, villagers go up to the mountain forests, collecting a special kind of Japanese favored (matsutake) mushroom for three months, from July to October each year. In the past years, the villagers could find more than 10 kg of mushroom in a day, and sell them in the small market at evening near the village. At this time 1 kg of mushrooms could sell for around 180 rmb, with the price decreasing to 30 rmb per kg towards the end of the season. In more recent years, the forests have become smaller since people cut down the trees as their main fuel source. In order to find more mushrooms, people now dig big holes, sweeping away the topsoil in the forests. Last year, the average amount people earned was 500 rmb, however in the previous years, each family could earn more than 3,000 rmb in the same time period.

Secondly, if a family has more than two members capable of performing laborious tasks, usually one is sent away to earn money. Usually these people work as construction laborers and miners. These families can earn 1,000-3,000 rmb per year. In families who have no extra laborers, very little extra money is made at all. And this is an amount only applied to about 20% of the households.

Villagers can barely support themselves all year around as they can barely depend on the little land they have.  Therefore, extra money is needed to purchase barley, meat, wheat and rice. This costs at least 1000 rmb per year for each family. On average, each family has to spend more than 600 rmb on everyday expenses per year, as well as at least 15 rmb per month for electricity. In total, families have to spend around 2,500 rmb per year, as well as keeping 1,000 rmb aside for emergencies. For families with high school and college students, 8,000 rmb is required per year. As a result, these families have no money to spare, and lack even enough money to use for their own needs.

Agriculture
People harvest twice a year in Yunlin rural mountain areas: corn, wheat, potatoes and many kinds of vegetables are harvested within one year. A rich family owns 6 mu of fields, and the low-income families own 0.9 mu of land. On average, each family owns 2.2 mu of arable land. The average harvested wheat and corn each year is around 1000 kg for one household. However the majority of the households need to spend extra money on purchasing wheat and corn till the next harvest season. This is due to their relatively smaller land.

Herding
Villagers raise domestic animals, such as pigs, donkeys, horses, cows and bulls. Usually each family owns 1-2 domestic animals. Rich families own over 50 animals which can earn 1000 rmb per year from selling butter, cheese, and meat. Poor families don’t earn any income from this resource.

Weather
The weather is warm in all seasons, though rain is common in spring and summer. Rain is ideal for crops and forest mushrooms, but does significant harm to the mountain’s barren land, where people logged most of the trees. Frequent flood rushes are a great danger for the villagers.

Project goals and benefits

The immediate goal of this project is to hire 50 villagers in the form of a 17-day employment contract to collect the garbage throughout Kawagebo sacred pilgrimage route, giving financial assistance to the villagers, and more importantly protecting the environment of the sacred mountain. 100 locally-made bamboo baskets will be left on the trees along the sacred route. In the situation that the baskets are filled quickly, the project manager will search for more funding for the next year to cleaning the baskets. Additionally, the villagers will bring all kinds of saplings back to the home village, and grow them on the barren mountainsides, where the pine trees were logged down for building houses, making home furniture, and so on. As for the long-term goal of this project, the project manager will supervise the environmental situation of the sacred route.

Problems

The environment of Kawagebo pilgrimage route has been seriously polluted since 2003.  The route needs a stable method for removing trash.

Kawagebo is one of the most sacred snow mountains in all of China, and many people, including the local villagers, are pleased to see an increase in people worshiping its greatness. However, the situation regarding the environment is nevertheless neglected, and according to some villagers who recently went on pilgrimage there, plastic rubbish is thrown everywhere. Firstly, people who travel long distances from Sichuan, Qinghai and Tibet are so far the major population using the pilgrimage route. Since 2003, there has been a relatively small population of tourists, including foreign and Chinese, who have become interested in taking the route as an adventure tour. The normal season that one would choose to go on this pilgrimage is from April to December; it is closed for the winter because of heavy snow. This is just a phenomenon that shows more and more people are coming for the pilgrimage.

The local villagers are in need of financial assistance

90% of the villagers who are targeted as beneficiaries for this project have difficulty earning enough money, especially the households who have to support children’s education. The mushroom (matsutake) industry used to be a major income 5 years ago, but due to the environmental degradation and prices decreasing, it is no longer profitable.

The collection of firewood is denuding the forest

In the mountain villages of Yunlin Township, the collection of wood, the primary fuel source, is denuding forests and eroding soil at alarming rates. At the current rate of consumption, researchers of The Nature Conservancy Fund have predicted that the forest cover of oak, pine, fir and spruce will be gone in 40 to 50 years. One month before every New Year Celebration (a very important festival) people collect fuel for the coming year. At least two members from each family (usually the parents) will go up to the mountains surrounding the village. For more than seven days they stay in the dense forests and cut as much wood as they can.  In 2008, the project manager designed and was given funding for 34 solar water heating devices for 34 households in Chalitong Village, reducing the amount of fuel from firewood consumed. Since then, the project manager worked with Shem group and got funding for two other solar usage devices projects for another two villages in 2009. Logging decreased dramatically, but the barren mountain was never protected, which causes serious soil erosion during rainy seasons, especially in 2010. 

Both rubbish on the pilgrimage route and fuel collecting causes a major threat to the mountain’s biodiversity and the living condition of the local villagers.

As more and more people start to move into the originally pristine and quiet land of Shambala (meaning completely isolated from the outside world), we can imagine how the wild living animals react to this phenomenon. Personally, I believe they would start moving away from their original habitat causing damage to the ecosystem.

As for the other side of this problem, logging has greatly affected the mountain biodiversities and the people themselves. Each household in Yunlin Township collects and burns almost 11 cords of fuel wood per year – just one cord would fill a large pickup truck bed. Collecting wood is a major threat to biodiversity; when the forests disappear, so do plants and animals that live in and nearby. The weather is warm and rainy all year around, especially during summer. Whenever the rain comes, it runs down from the barren land where the trees have been cut down. Then the water rushes down into the middle of the villages, eroding all the earth with it and making deeper channels. The damage has intensified recently, and the holes are getting larger and deeper. Thus, some villagers have been forced to move from their houses and relocate far from the damage. This is because every time the flood comes their houses shake and nearly collapse due to the rushing floods. As of last year, one family’s house was terribly damaged by the flood, as well as their farmland, and other family properties were damaged to certain levels.

Women lack spare time for attending social community work

Females throughout the Yunlin Area carry out all housework, including tasks like cooking, feeding the animals, sewing and washing. Only some women share extra outside chores equally with their husbands, like cutting trees on the mountains. As a result, the majority of the women have no opportunity to participate in community activities as the men do They do not have the same power in their family as men do and do not make the financial decisions. From this project, I would equally choose the same number of men and women to collect rubbish and hope it can bring women more power in their families.

Access to the outside world is restricted

Every year during the rainy season, the road leading to the county is covered by mud which comes from the floods. As a result, transportation becomes totally unavailable. In this situation, the villagers can’t reach the county town even in urgent times, such as the start of school or sudden accidents or sickness.

Benefits of project
From this project, I hope that we could make the sacred route more clean and remind all pilgrims that keeping the environment balanced is very important for the goodness of Kawagebo. There is an old saying I always hear from elders, “the spiritual being may move to other places if people polluted his home.” Everyone from the local region calls Mt. Kawagebo “Grandfather Kawagebo” for its long history and its high level of respect and honor. This project actually will benefit the local villagers in several ways. Firstly, protect the environment of the sacred route. Secondly, the villagers can earn some money for the continuity of their children’s education and family needs. Lastly, we will be saving and planting trees on the mountains which are becoming barren and causing more disasters to the villages in the valley. Especially in 2011, many places in China, including one neighboring place to Yunling, were completely damaged by landslides. Other places in China were so severely damaged by flood and landslides because of heavy rain, many lives were lost.       

Gender Equality
There has been a clear division of gender in people’s mind since I was a little girl. Families celebrate sons’ birth but not daughters’.  Being the second daughter in my family, I know this is true. However, many people (both males and females) have highly valued and been impressed by my success with many development projects (this is my fourth one).

Traditionally, people have stereotypes of believing girls are less useful than boys; as in the case of education, more boys are sent to school. Girls are seen as better at doing housework and helping their parents when they are busy. I’m currently the second college girl in my village, and the second woman who ever attended college. There are some male college students who have already graduated. The majority of the girls become victims of arranged marriages and burdens come in their youth, such as early pregnancies.

Being a girl who graduated from college and accomplished some development work successfully, I hope my deeds can give them a little courage to give more support to girls, especially whom are already in school.

Project Plan

1) Called village leader, Arong Tersang, and shared my project ideas. The village head is so glad and supportive. He hopes that this can be done soon to protect environment. (done)

2) Write project proposal. (done)

3) Together with the village leader, I came up with a name list, including the poorest families and the families with children in school. The total number is 50, approximately half male and half female. (done)

4) Once the funding is secured, choose some project committees whom will be supporting the village leader and helping with the supervision of other’s work. 2 women and 2 men will be chosen, as I won’t be able to take 12 days out of my job to supervise throughout the entire project.

7) After 12 days, when the villagers return home, I will go back to the village in order to take some pictures, finish the contract, and interview the beneficiaries.

10) Write final report.

11) Send final report with all pictures and receipts.

Time frame
This project will take a total of 17 days to finish: Once the funding is secured, the villagers will be called to start the journey to the sacred route immediately, and after their return, they will be asked to plant the trees that they collected on their way home.

Detailed Budget

1) Saplings: Saplings are young trees that the villagers will look for in the dense forest, for the purpose to carry back home and plant them on their home mountains.

2) Second labor is when the villagers return from the pilgrimage, with the saplings collected. For a period of 5 days, the saplings will be re-planted on their home mountains, where trees have been logged. The second labor is after the pilgrimage, when each person from one family will go join the sapling re-planting task.

Sustainability
This project will restore the environment of the sacred route, making it a clean and environmentally-friendly trail for all the pilgrims that wish to be blessed by the sacred mountain. Apart from this fact, 100 locally-made bamboo baskets will be attached to the trees along the sacred route as containers for the rubbish, and signs like “I am the rubbish keeper” will be attached to the baskets. The villagers will also bring young saplings from the virgin forest along the sacred route back to village, and re-plant them on the home mountain with the same altitude, in order to refurbish the mountain soil which has been seriously denuded due to logging activities in the last decades. In terms of making this project sustainable, 30% of the labor fee will be saved until three months after the completion of the project. This will give enough time to ensure the quality of the saplings.

Reference information
Since July 2007, Gelsang Lhamo has successfully implemented two small-scale development projects mainly to protect the damaged mountain forests, as well to improve the rural Tibetan villagers’ life in Yunlin areas. The total beneficiaries are more than 700 people. Among them, 510 residents have received solar cookers to cook, which has reduced their burning of forest wood. Another 210 people have received solar water heaters to achieve the same aim, i.e., to protect the mountains’ rich diversity of plants and animals in Yunlin areas and, in the long term, to make people’s life better. My previous projects were funded by the following foundation and charity groups:

Shambala Connection, The Australian Embassy, Dining for Women (U.S.).

Governmental support
On September 15^th, 2010, I got a phone call from Arong Tserang, Chalitong Village leader, representing the government and all the villagers. The village leader asked me to submit a proposal to the donors for an environmental protection fund for the sacred Kawagebo Snow Mountain.  He also wanted to bring the villagers a way of generating in come and to start saving the eroded soil on the mountains, which will soon become a severe problem.

Maps

Sacred Mountain Kawagebo

The Kawagebo Pilgrimage Route Mapping

This project is to provide 21 computers and a projector for Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School. In order to rebuild the school’s infrastructure which was damaged in the earthquake while at the same time motivating students’ study interests, increase their knowledge and better prepare the students for higher learning and job opportunities.

Norlha funded this project

Wendy Drolma is from Geygu Town, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, PRC. She graduated with an M.A. in Environmental Studies from Philippines. Currently, she is teaching in Qumalai Number One Primary School.

Contact Information    

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Address: Qinghai, Xining, Xining Shi You Zheng Ju, Xin Ning Lu You Ju;

                20-5 Xin Xiang, 810008, P.R.C

Telephone: 0971-6302115 (Shem Women’s Group’s Office) 

E-mail: info@shemgroup.org

Project location
This project is located in Geygu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. It is about 800 km from the capital city of Qinghai Province. Geygu Town is the county town of Yushu County. Geygu is also the economic and political center of Yushu Prefecture. Geygu Town was struck by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on April 14^th 2010. This devastating earthquake turned all of Yushu to a land of ruins over a night. The precise project location is Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School, and it is one of the hardest hit areas.

Population
Geygu Town is mainly an agricultural area with over 23,000 people, including Tibetan, Han, Sala and Hui ethnicities. The majority of the total population is Tibetan.
The population of the project beneficiary school is 3,063, which includes 2,793 students and 270 teachers– 1,715 females and 1,348 males.

Education
Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School is an integration of three schools, specifically, Yushu Prefecture Teacher’s Normal School, Yushu Prefecture Health School and Yushu Prefecture Television and Broadcasting School. It is the highest learning institution in Yushu Prefecture. The students in Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School are from six counties under Yushu Prefecture Administration. Precisely, the six counties are Yushu County, Chengduo County, Nangqian County, Zaduo County, Qumalai County, Zhiduo County. Students’ education level ranges from high school to associates degree (Dazhuan level).

Students from six counties enroll in Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School after they have finished national nine-year compulsory education. The school has multiple subjects depending on students learning level. Basic subjects, such as Chinese, Tibetan, and English, are mainly for high school students. Dazhuan Students may take courses such as Tibetan Medicine, Folklore and Thangka Painting.

Cash Income 

The students who have enrolled in Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School are mostly from poor families with low cash income. After nine years of compulsory education, rich families send their children to Xining, the capital city of Qinghai Province, or other cities. However, if poor families cannot afford the high tuition in the cities, and they wish to further educate their children, they send their children to Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School.

The source of income for these families varies, since Yushu prefecture ranges from lower altitude, where cultivation of barley is adaptable, to higher altitude, where only alpine grass is available for herding. According to an enrollment record, 70% of the students are from nomadic areas and 25% are from semi-agricultural areas, while another 5% are from towns and townships.

Caterpillar fungus is a major source of income for both nomadic and semi-agricultural families in Yushu. During the short growing season of one month, each family can generate over 5,000-10,000rmb on average, which is mostly spent on general medical treatments and the students’ tuition fees.

In semi-agricultural areas, barley is also another source of income. Due to the recent “abandon cultivation, return forest” policy, the farmland has been reduced. In addition, after the earthquake, bunches of greenhouses were established on the farmland; in return, the families were paid 2,000RMB/mu (1 mu=0.0666 hectares). Currently, only small pieces of farmland (ranging from 2 mu to 4 mu per person) are left for the farmers to grow barley. However, due to harsh temperatures and the vulnerable environment in Yushu, farmland is cultivated only once every two years. For some families, the generated barley is only enough for them to sustain their food requirement and seed storage for next year’s cultivation. Families with more people can generate only a small amount of extra money from crops– on average, over 300rmb to 500rmb per year, which they use for daily subsistence expenses.

In nomadic areas, butter, cheese, and cashmere are also an alternative source of income. Through these substances, each family can earn about 1,000rmb-1,500rmb per year. Due to Buddhism’s influence, not many families sell yak meat to earn money. The yaks are sold only in emergency cases, such as if someone gets sick, or a family is in great debt and in urgent need of paying back. The money earned is used for their daily necessities, such as clothes, candles, and salt.

Although caterpillar fungus is a great source of income, it is not enough. According to class head teachers, most of the students cannot pay their tuition on time. Lots of parents come to school to beg the teachers to exempt them from tuition. Some of the families are in huge debt. Therefore, saving money in these families is not even imaginable.  

Agriculture
Among the six counties in Yushu Prefecture, only three eastern counties are semi-agricultural areas. Yushu has high altitude and low temperatures, and the harsh environment is only suitable for the growth of barley. Vegetables are difficult to grow in this environment and are only raised in greenhouses by skilled Han people. Thus, tsampa, which is made out of barley, is their main food. As mentioned previously, the farmland is cultivated for one year and then it is left to recover for another year, causing the barley output to be quite small. According to the Yushu government statistic record, one mu of agricultural land only can produce 200–300 kilograms of crops.

Herding
The three western counties, Zhiduo County, Qumalai County and Zaduo County, are nomadic areas. The land is only acceptable for pastoralism. However, because of the recent rapid grassland degradation, the grassland condition is getting worse and worse. This resulted in a decrease of land carrying capacity, thus the number of livestock was reduced both by the environment’s condition and the government’s policy which is that families can only keep 20 yaks per person. The ecological migration project was also applied in large scale to all three counties to help restore the grasslands’ condition. Through herding they could earn about 1,000-1,500RMB per year

In these nomadic areas, weather (especially blizzards) is one of their top risks for losing of the livestock. The livestock can also be attacked by wolves and bears. During an average blizzard a family can lose eight out of ten livestock.

Project Goals
The immediate goal of this project is to provide 21 computers and a projector for Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School. The overarching goal of this project is to rebuild the school’s infrastructure which was damaged in the earthquake  while at the same time motivating students’ study interests, increase their knowledge and better prepare the students for higher learning and job opportunities.

Problems
1. Students have no computer education.
The students have no access to computers. Most of the students have never even touched a computer before entering Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School. Due to the impoverished living conditions, these students cannot afford to purchase a computer on their own. Their only access to computer is through internet bars, where computers are only used for movies and video games. When the students graduate from Yushu Technology and Profession School, they either pursue further study in other places or start working. In both conditions, they are marginalized since they are illiterate in computer. Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School, as the highest learning institution in Yushu, has been very helpful to provide the poor students with opportunities for further education. These poor students are already marginalized by their living conditions, and now they are marginalized by their school conditions. Moreover, in modern society, computer illiteracy perpetuates this marginalization.

2. Students’ interest in learning is decreasing
The earthquake damaged everything in the school, including the library, thus, students’ only source of learning is school teaching materials, which makes learning feel insipid. In addition, since high-tech teaching equipment is not available in the school, the common teaching method is lecturing. Continuous lecturing has decreased students’ interests in learning. Students are not motivated to learn and participate in classes.

3. Students’ information access is limited                        
Since the students are from six counties in Yushu Prefecture, most of the students stay at the school. The school’s condition after the earthquake is quite miserable. Students’ access to outside information is limited. There is no TV or computers accessible to the students.

4. School life is insipid.
According to the students, before the earthquake, every year the school celebrated National Youth Day. The school also held sports competitions and writing competitions. During the weekends the students could watch TV. However, after the earthquake, there are not any celebrations or competitions at the school, not even in the town. The school’s TVs are broken. The students’ school life is quite predictable and insipid. Outside the schoolyard is the ruins of the earthquake, which has not yet been reconstructed. Noises from different machines and dust fill the air. With this environment, the students could merely put their mind on study and can’t focus on study.  

5. Teachers’ workload is heavy
Right now, the teachers who are still working at the school have to prepare all the teaching materials and exercises by writing by hand. During classes, teachers have to copy the exercises on the blackboard and ask the students to copy them in their notebooks, which is  tiresome work and very time consuming. Another difficulty is preparing mid-term exams and final exams. Teachers have to hand-write the exams. During the exam, teachers have to go from one class to another, reading the exam sheet, since some of the writing is not very neat and clear. After the exam, teachers have to record the scores of every student by hand and rank them.

Benefits
If the school has computers and a projector, all the problems stated above will be solved:

1) Students will become literate in computers. Taking a computer class will better prepare the students for future work and further study. They will not be marginalized in new schools, since they will be as qualified as other students. In addition, when they look for jobs, they will have opportunities equal to other students who graduated from other cities.

2) Students will be motivated to learn. The access to computers will provide the students with multiple sources of learning materials. Students could easily find study material through the internet and the school will provide internet access. In addition, the teachers could use the projector in classes and prepare Powerpoint teaching materials. These changes in teaching strategy will motivate students’ enthusiasm in learning. Classes with more pictures and other visual aids will increase students’ interest in learning.  

3) Students will have better access to outside information. The students can easily keep up to date with information from all over the world through the internet. This will also help them in taking exams and widen their knowledge; specifically, it will help them to pass government politics exams that are necessary for pursuing a job or to pass the university entrance examination.

4) The school life will be more memorable and interesting with new teaching strategies and movies. Although celebration of different festivals in Yushu is quite impossible for the next two years, the students could watch TV on weekends using the projector. Using computers and the internet will also make their school life more interesting.

5) Teachers’ workload will be decreased if they receive computers. Teachers could prepare the teaching materials using computers. The exercises could be prepared using computers and distributed to the students. The teachers could prepare exams on the computers, which will be much easier and less time consuming. During the exam, teachers won’t need to read the exam sheet since it is neatly typed. After the exam, the grades could be recorded and ranked using Excel, which will reduce the workload for the teachers and save a lot of time.  

Beneficiaries
This computer project will benefit 3,063 people in total. It will directly benefit 775 students who are still continuing their study in Gyegu Town and approximately 50 teachers working with them in Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School. Upon their return, this project will benefit 2,018 students and 220 teachers who were transferred to other areas for two years during Yushu’s reconstruction. In addition, every newly enrolled student will also benefit from this project. After the earthquake, most of the students were transferred to other places, but their are still some teachers and students working on site.

Gender equality
This project will be implemented and managed by Wende Drolma, a female teacher at Qumalai Number One Primary School. This project will equally provide opportunities for both boys and girls. A young woman implementing the whole project is a great example for both female and male students to rethink what they can do to help each other. Female students in particular will be set free from the cultural frame that women are only suitable for family chores. The female students will see me (Wende Drolma) as a role model, which will encourage them to be more confident in what they can achieve.

Governmental Approval
According to the teachers, the local government and the education bureau of Yushu Prefecture has always been very supportive to the school. However, the devastating earthquake has turned the whole Geygu Town and nearby villages to shambles overnight. Everything in the town was badly damaged, including all seven schools in the town. Thus the government is more focused on reconstruction of the new town in general, such as reconstruction of the museum, center square and parks. Moreover, the fund allocated to the Education Bureau was very limited and spread out over all the schools in the damaged areas. Therefore, it is quite difficult for the schools to get funds from the local government to purchase computers and a projector. Improvement of education is crucial at Yushu Profession and Technology School, being the highest learning institution in the area.  Computer literacy is very important to the students and the future of the school.  Thus, if we can secure the funding for this project, the government will support it wholeheartedly. I, the project manager, have talked to the school president, Mr Je Gele, and vice president, Mr Chengqi, on December 12^th 2010; they gave me permission to do this project.

The Steps of Project

1. Discuss the problems of the school with the teachers, and decide what can be done to alleviate these problems. (Done)

2. Talk with students about their essential needs. (Done)

3. Visit the school to collect information about and for the project. (Done)

4. Discuss the sustainability of the project with the teachers and school leaders. (Done)

5. Ask the school leader to get official permission to carry out the project. (Done)

6. Take pictures of the school conditions. (Done)

7. Figure out the price of materials in Xining. (Done)

8. Write project proposal. (Done)

9. Receive funding.

13. Purchase computers and the projector from Xining and transport them to the school.

12. Hold a meeting with the school teachers to emphasize the importance of being responsible with the new materials.

14. Organize the computer room and take pictures.

15. Interview the teachers and students to assess the success of the project.

16. Send final report to donor.

Time frame
After the approval of the project, it will take 8 days to complete.
1 day: Have a meeting with the head of school and teachers to get approval for the project and choose one more person to travel with the project manager to purchase the materials.                                                                                               
                                                            1 day: Travel to Xining. 

2 days: Purchase the materials in Xining in Shengli Lu Electronics market and sign the contract.

3 days: Transport the materials from Xining to Yushu.

1 day: Install computers.

1 day: Interview the teachers and students at the school and take pictures.

In total, the project will take 8 days to complete, though there might be potential weather delays or other unforeseen delays.

Detailed Budget

*Project management expenses: Money spent on tickets for going to the school to collect information needed, phone calls to the school to collect additional information, and computer transportation fees upon arrival in the town. I have to transport the computers by post (The transportation fee is mailing fee to transport the computers from Xining to Yushu; it is too expensive to hire a vehicle from Xining to Yushu to transport the computers), and they will only deliver them to the local post office so I must hire a vehicle to transport them to school.

Sustainability
This project will be very sustainable. Firstly, the company guarantees up to three years of computer quality. And according to the users of the same brand computer, they can last for at least ten years. Secondly, Wu Yao Ni Ma (teacher) will be mainly responsible for taking care of the computers, in case there are damages to the computers. Other teachers will also help take care of the computers, since the computers are helpful to all the teachers. Thirdly, this computer project will benefit every single student in Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School, both current students and future students. Thus, both the students and teachers will be very eager to take good care of the computers. Fourth, the school has four teachers who will be on duty every night during school. On vacations, there is a security person who takes care of the school property. Thus, the computers will be secure. The school is being reconstructed now, and they have included a computer room for future use.

Additional Information
The project manager Wende Drolma is from Geygu Town, Yushu County, Yushu Prefecture. She personally experienced the devastating earthquake on April 14^th, 2010. She has successfully managed and completed two solar panel projects funded by the Canada Fund and the Australian Embassy. She also has completed a potable water project with the support of the Canada Fund. In addition, she completed several second-hand clothes project in Yushu County and Qumalai County.  

About the project location

Geygu Town after the earthquake

Yushu Prefecture Profession and Technology School

Students having class in a tent

                                      Students listening to the radio hear outside news

Students’ property dug out from the ruins of a dormitory.

Map of the project location

This project is to buy 56 solar cookers for Dor Ra Village in order to
decrease women’s burden as well as families’ burden, and improve villagers’ (especially women’s) health condition by using solar cookers instead of wood, yak dung and coal.

Shem’s Private Donor Ms.Jane Robinett funded this project

Jiakmotsering is from Gnyan Tog Village, Rebgong County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Currently she is studying for a BA degree at Qinghai Normal University.

Contact Information
Contact person: Jiakhmotsering
Address: Qinghai, Xining, Xining Shi You Zheng Ju, Xin Ning Lu You Ju, 20-5 Xin Xiang, 810008, P.R.C 
Telephone: 0971-6302115

Project Location
This project is located in Dor Ra Village, the west part of Guide County. Dor Ra Village is about 62 kilometers from Guide County which is located in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Guide is about 180 km away from Xining City, the capital city of Qinghai Province.

Population
There are 97 households and approximately 418 people in Dor Ra Village，171 men, 154 women, and 93 children.  

Education
There are five university students (3 boys and 2 girls),15 high school students (8 boys and 7 girls), 14 middle school students (8 boys and 6 girls) and 35 primary school students (20 boys and 15 girls) in Dor Ra Village. On average, one child from each family is receiving education. Approximately, only 20% of the village people are literate including monks and traditional religion learners.

Cash income
In Dor Ra Village most of the villagers plant fields and herd livestock. This is the main source of their income. Every year, from April to July, some of the young people in the village go to the city to do construction work. Families use the money to pay for their children’s school tuition. A student in university usually costs 6000rmb per year. The students from middle school and high school usually need 800rmb for yearly school tuition. The middle school students don’t need to pay school fees due to the nine-year education policy, but since they need to go to the county town to attend middle school, they need money to cover transportation and academic necessities. For high school, they need to pay the school fee and for food. Most of the families also need to build houses for their children; for example, they need to build houses for their sons and brides when they get married, so the families usually borrows money from the bank or from other families. Local people spend about 1,500rmb on food and clothes each year. Each month they need to pay about 35rmb for electricity and 120rmb for other essentials (such as petrol for motorcycles or trucks).  On average, each family can earn 2,300rmb in per year. They need to spend 2,150rmb on food, electricity and other essentials. An average family only has 150rmb left over each year. In order to pay the school tuition, they loan money from their relatives and banks.

Agriculture
In Dor Ra Village all the villagers are farmers. They grow barley, wheat and potatoes on their own land. Because of the high altitude, the fields can not be irrigated, so they have to depend on rainfall. The families do not have excess production to sell to others. It is only enough for them to consume. Rich families usually own 4 mu (1 acre = 6.1 mu). Most of the families only own 2 or 3 mu of land. On average, they can get 200kg barley and 200kg wheat from one mu of land.

Herding
Since Dor Ra Village is a farming area, on average each family only owns 2 cows and 7 sheep. The village’s fields are in the mountains. They use the animals to plow the fields in spring and autumn, and also to transport the grains after the harvest.

Problems:
No solar cookers in Dor Ra Village.
Dor Ra Village is far from the county town, and because of their low financial income, it is hard for them to buy modern equipment and tools. So far, the village cannot afford to purchase solar cookers.
 
Lack of daily fuel
Dor Ra Village is located on a barren mountain; there are few plants and trees growing on the mountain. So the villagers don’t have enough wood to use for their daily cooking and heat. The families usually use yak dung and hay to cook and boil water.

But yak dung is limited because there isn’t enough grass for cows due to the shortage of plants and grass on the mountain where the village is located.

Hay is also very limited due to having no irrigation system. They lack water to irrigate the fields, and thus cannot produce very much hay. Any hay they harvest must first be used to feed the cows, so using hay as a fuel is difficult for the villagers.

Some rich families use coal during the very cold weather in winter, but it is expensive and many families cannot afford it.

Collecting fuel requires lots of labor
Usually it takes three to four hours for women to collect fuel. It takes them two hours to collect a basket of fuel. They usually collect it in the morning and again in the afternoon.

When the family uses hay or yak dung to make a fire, it takes a long time to boil water or cook, especially during the harvesting time when all the family members are busy in the fields. Unlike solar cookers, the yak dung does not easily catch fire and makes boiling water very slow. As a result, it consumes a lot of fuel and time. It also takes a lot of  time for women to collect fuel due to their geographic position because they must travel from their home to the mountain which requires a lot of time and energy.

Increased women’s labor
It is usually women and girls who go to collect the fuels from far away mountains. When they get home from collecting fuel, they also need to cook, clean, feed livestock, and do other housework, and sometimes they do not have time to complete their chores.

Health problems
Since families often use yak dung or coals to make fire, the smoke from the stove pollutes the fresh air and affects their heath, causing lung disease or respiratory disease. Furthermore, since women always always carry heavy firewood, and wet yak dung from far away mountains to their home, they might have back pain, and women in the villages are not aware of the importance of getting medical care.  They do not do so unless they are very sick.

Project goals
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 56 solar cookers for Dor Ra Village.

The overarching goal of this project is to decrease women’s burden as well as families’ burden, and improve villagers’ (especially women’s) health condition by using solar cookers instead of wood, yak dung and coal.

Beneficiaries
This project will directly benefit 97 households with 418 people total.

Benefits
If this project is approved, Dor Ra villagers will directly receive 56 solar cookers which largely reduces their financial burden.

 If this project is funded, the Dor Ra people do not need to worry about the shortage of their daily fuel, and they don’t have to spend much money on buying coal. It will reduce the output of carbon dioxide and help the environment to be more clean and healthy.

1. If this project is implemented, it can decrease women’s burden such as they don’t need to go to further mountain to collect fuel, they can extra time to do other things.
2. If this project happens, it will largely reduce the risk of people getting diseases and polluting the environment. It will improve villagers’ health condition.   

Gender equality
Firstly, the project will benefit both men and women in the village.  They can use solar cookers to cook and boil water. Especially women can benefit from this project because they have so many difficulties related to fuel collecting. Secondly, the project manager is a woman who will have designed, implemented, and managed the entire project. Because of this, she can enrich her knowledge of computer skills, build communication skills with different people like local leaders, as well as build her self-confidence. At the same time, the project manager as a woman she sends an important message to the other people that women can also accomplish great things like doing projects in order to help more people.

Sustainability
This project will be sustainable. Firstly, if the solar cookers are transported to the village, there will be three people in charge of solar cookers and they will manage the villagers. The villagers know their difficulties without a solar cooker, so they will treasure and take care of it as their family property. Also, the factory guaranteed the solar cookers’ quality for at least ten years. If the solar cookers are damaged on the way to the village, the driver will be held responsible. If it has problem after a short period of time, the company will responsible for it, and the company will guarantee its quality for at least for one year.

Government approval
In July 2010, I, the project manager, Jiakmotsering, discussed this project with the village leader Dorji and other villagers. They gave me full permission to go on with this project and encouraged me to do my best because it can help many households in the village.

Project activities
1. Have a meeting with the family leaders (men and women) to collect information about their urgent needs and biggest problems.(Completed)

2. Choose three people to take responsibility for any kind of work related to the project– the village leader Dorji,nother man named Chume, and a village woman named Lhatso.(Completed)

3. Find the solar cooker company and choose a good quality solar cooker.  Check the prices. (Completed)

4. Collect information about the village . (Completed)

5. Get government’s permission. (Completed)

6. Hold a meeting with the village leaders and discuss each person’s specific responsibility.

7. Write the proposal.

8. Receive funds.

9. Purchase the solar cookers from Gansu Solar Cooker Factory and arrange the transportation.

10. Distribute the solar cookers to the village.

11. Hold a meeting with villagers to see the progress of the project.

12. Take photographs and interview the recipients.

13. Send final report to the donor with pictures and receipts.    

Timeframe
This project will take around two weeks to complete after it receives funding.

1 day: Inform the village that the project is funded.

4 days: Purchase the solar cookers from Gansu Solar Cooker Factory.

2 days: Transport the solar cookers to the village.

1 day: Hold a meeting with the village leader and villagers, discuss rules for protecting the solar cookers from damage and teach how to use them.

3 days: Distribute the solar cookers to every household.

2 days: Take photos and interview the villagers.

Detailed Budget 

Funds need for this project is 12,000rmb 

Past Experience
In 2004 I, Jiakmotsering, did two secondhand clothes project in Rebgong County. In 2008, I did another secondhand clothes project for Quma Village，Rebgong County，Qinghai Province. In 2008, I did a book project for Dorning Village, Rebgong County, Qinghai Province.

Map of the project location

This project is to host a four-day health training in Stag rig village and invite two neighboring villages women’s leaders to educate village women about common health problems, the importance of caring about women’s health problems and also the methods to prevent gynecological diseases, in order to prevent diseases and improve the health conditions of local villagers, especially women in Stagrig Village.

Shem’s Private Donor Mr.Hans funded this project

Mkha Skyida Rgyla is from Stagrig Village, Shar Long Township, Guide County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, PR China. She completed an associate’s degree in English at Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program.

Project location:

Stagrig Village is a semi-nomadic village located in Shar Long Township, Guide County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, PR China. Stagrig Village is about 8 kilometers from Shar Long Township, and there are approximately 160 households and 868 people in Stagrig Village: 320 women, 368 men and 180 children. An average the women who are over 40 illiterate in Tag rig village, they couldn’t read and write Chinese even Tibetan. Most of the women who are over 40 to 50 years old only learned the Tibetan alphabet in primary school, and then stopped going to school. The women who are over 25 years accomplished the nine-year compulsory education in local village and Sharlong township middle school.

Stag rig village is located at a high attitude, and there is a lack of rainfall and water. In 1996, there was a big drought causing villagers to have a lack of food and water.  They must also depend on rainfall to water their crops. On average, each household owns 7 mu of land, but they only could water 2mu of their land The water comes from their public dam and when this dam runs dry, they have to depend on rainfall. Therefore, Stag rig’s most filed  called rima, which means the most of Stagri’s fields are in-irrigated  and have to depending on natural rainfall.

30 % of villagers own 20 to 30 sheep and goats in the village, but because of lack of rainfall, there is not enough grass to offer the livestock. Therefore, some families must buy dry grass from other villages.

The village’s cash income is from migrant labor, mainly construction work and digging caterpillar fungus. Young healthy people who are able to work usually go to urban areas and do constructions work for two or three months during the summer. One person can earn up to 30 RMB per day (women can earn 25 RMB and men can earn 30 RMB per day); however, the work is very dangerous, and we have heard of many people injured or killed from construction work. The other way to earn money is to dig caterpillar fungus. The people mostly go to Golok and Yushu Prefecture, which is approximately 200 kilometers from Stagrig Village. On average, one person can earn 3,000 RMB from digging caterpillar fungus. In 2007, the government established a new policy, which does not allow people to dig caterpillar fungus anymore. The policy is aimed at protecting the environment, and anyone who breaks this rule is strictly punished by the government. Since the new rule was implemented, only a few villagers go there to earn money.

In Stag rig village, most villagers do farming work. On average, each household owns one cow, one pig, and one sheep. These animals are used for milking and meat. Because of the weather, the villagers cannot get enough yield from the crops, and many of the fields are arid farmland, so people do not have extra wheat to sell to others.

Brief Introduction of the Facilitator Doctor Lha Mo in Guide hospital

Doctor Lha Mo is working in the Guide medical hospital. She graduated from Qinghai Medical University, and has 20 years experience in the medical field. She mainly is working on gynecology and is well respected in Guide county..

Why women and do women lack knowledge about health care?

The first problem is that most families do not have a radio; therefore, they can’t hear any news from Tibetan health programs on the radio.

The second problem is most women are illiterate in Stag rig village, so they can’t read and write Tibetan. Therefore, they can’t become informed about health issues by reading.

The third problem is a lack of health class in schools, especially middle school.

Why we need this training (problems)

General understanding: Health issues are not taught in most of the universities and colleges in Qinghai Province, China, except in the medical colleges. As a result, most people lack knowledge about the health problems. Nowadays the health problems like gynecological diseases are sensitive topics in Tibetan areas, and even in China. Most women who get gynecological diseases are very shy about it and don’t feel like they can talk to other people about it, including their husband and families. Women who get the gynecological diseases are silently suffering, and no one can understand their difficult situation.

Problems identified by doctors and manager:

First, healthcare is important for everybody since health issues affect all people. Some people cannot treat their illness because of poverty. According to doctor Suonancuo’s investigation, most patients who have health problems are from rural areas. Many rural people who have health problems ignore their illness until it gets worse, or even until death.

According to my investigation, women who are from Stag rig village have increasing gynecological diseases, even school-aged girls. Many women and girls are unaware of the importance of personal hygiene and ignore their health issues. The main problem is there is a lack of knowledge about health care in this village. We believe this training to teach women the importance of health care  and prevention of gynecological diseases is crucial to the livelihood of people in Stag rig village.

Personal Experiences:

1. When I was a college student at Qinghai Normal University, I met a woman from a neighboring village. She was a nomad and her all life spent on the herding livestock till she dies. When I met her, she was only 24 years old. Her mother borrowed some money from my grandma in order to check her daughter’s illness at the local county hospital. Her mother said that her daughter had heavy leucorrhea for five years and now it was getting worse day by day. She was also bleeding everyday and people can’t stay with her to work, because it is a bad smell. Her daughter didn’t tell her mother when she get the heavy discharge leucorrhea for five years, so she grew thin and weak and had no energy to work anymore. One year later, that she was dead because she delayed treating her illness for too long. She only lived to be 25 years old.

2. During summer holiday with my mother in Xining city, one of my cousins came to my home and asked for my help. She said that she continually had menstrual bleeding for two years and it still hadn’t stopped. The next day we went to Qinghai Province Hospital to see a doctor; the doctor scolded us for delaying getting checked for so long, but fortunately the problem could be treated. The doctor said it was pelvic inflammatory disease.

3. In 2009, I helped a nomadic women translate work at Qinghai Province Hospital. When the doctor checked her vagina, she felt very shy in front of the doctor and wouldn’t take off her trousers. So I encouraged her, and she finally agreed with me.  Afterwards, the doctor told me that she didn’t clean her vagina, so it caused by organ affection.

Solution
We will provide a suitable room for village women to discuss health issues and share each other’s knowledge about health openly. We will also invite Doctor Lhamo from Guide Medical Hospital to give training on health issues for village women and teach the importance of caring for health problems. In addition, we will let all the participants pass what they have learned from the doctor or from other participants to their daughters and other women who are not able to attend the training. Also, we will invite two women’s leaders from a neighboring village so as to spread health education to their village. Thus, many people will receive the benefits of this training and improve their knowledge of health problems.

Project Goals
The overarching goal of the project is to provide health education in order to prevent diseases and improve the health conditions of local villagers, especially women.
The immediate goal of the project is to host a four-day health training in Stag rig village and invite two neighboring villages women’s leaders to educate village women about common health problems, the importance of caring about women’s health problems and also the methods to prevent gynecological diseases.

Beneficiaries
Around 320 Stag rig village women, as well as two women’s leaders from another village, will directly benefit from the health training and these women will be asked to pass on what they have learned to other women they know, allowing many women to benefit indirectly through the 322 participants.

Government approval
On March 22th, 2010, I went to the township government office with a local village women’s officer, and by talking to the township leader Klu Abuma Tshe Ringa, I have realized that the government has also provided health trainings before. During women’s day (March 8^th), they provided health activities in the village, but it was not very effective because the time was limited.  They could only offer a half-day to go and check women’s health problems, and only a few women were effected by their work. The township leader agreed with the need for health education and said the government could provide the necessary support, like providing a meeting hall for the training, and also make announcements about the training time. I am very happy that they can provide such support because with the government’s support and the village women’s help, this training will be more cooperative.

Gender equality
The project will be managed by a young Tibetan woman who graduated from Qinghai Medical University and two local village women’s officers. This health training will be offered to women and students, so it will benefit about 322 women directly and other women will also benefit indirectly. Local women and two neighboring village women’s officers will participate in the training and can share their new knowledge with other people. Also I, the project manager, as a young Tibetan woman, will manage the project and serve as a role model for women in the village. I hope through this training to change village women’s attitudes toward sending their daughters to school and will encourage the village women to talk about their health problems with their family. I will let them know that gynecological diseases do not need to be a sensitive topic, and hope to change their minds about these issues.

Goals of the training
1. Educate women about common women’s health problems like tuberculosis, respiratory infections, constipation, and vaginal infections.
2. Show people the importance of caring about and for women’s health problems.
3. Educate women on the methods for preventing gynecological disease.

4. Educate women about prenatal and postnatal care.

The steps of project

1. Meet the village women’s officers and discuss women’s health problems.

2. Learn about common women’s health problems by talking to Dr. Suonantso at the Kojima training in 2009. (Completed)

3. Discuss some experiences with Pda Ma Skyida who graduated from Qinghai Medical University.

3. Discuss the project with the village leader and other small group leaders. Decide where to hold the training and who will be the participants. (Completed)
4. Interviews with village women about the health problems they have. (Completed)
5. Contact one of the women doctors who work for women’s health. (Completed)
6. Contact Doctor Rina Chena Tsho, who will give training to the village.

7. Find the price of materials for the training (Completed)

8. Write project proposal. (Completed)
9. Receive funding.
10. Meet with the women’s leader to discuss the start date of the project.
11. Prepare announcement of the health training.
12. Purchase the materials for the training in Guide County.
13. Hold the training.
14. Take pictures and interview the village women about the impact of the project.
15. Send final report to donor.

Detailed Budget

Donation requested from the donor in Chinese Yuan: 13240rmb.

Photos of the project

Village women discussing health problems.

A women from Stag rig village talking about her experiences.

The project manager takes notes about the health problems among the village women.

The project manager and local village women discussing health problems.

The project manager interviews a woman from Stag rig village.

The project manager interview a woman from Stag rig village.

The project manager interviews a woman from Stag rig village.

The project manager interviews a woman from Stag rig village.

Stag rig village women’s leader and manager. The manager gets full support from the local village women’s leader.

Map of the project location