Project Manager: Basamdorlma (Laverne)
The immediate goal of this project is to build a running water system for 75 households in upper Mengzong village in Jiegu Township.The overarching aim of this project is to improve the lives of the villagers in Mengzong village.
The Asia Foundation and The Jesuitenmission funded this project
Basamdorlma is from Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. She is currently working towards an associated degree in English at the Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program.
What: build a running water system for 64 households in an impoverished Tibetan village.
Who: 40 households in Upper Mengzong Village and 24 households in Xihang Village, Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
Photos of Project implementation
Photo of the mountain slope where the ditch was dug.
The villagers are digging the ditch.
Villagers are tapping water to the reservoir from a spring located nearby.
Water inspection boxes.
Running water is tapped into Yongga’s yard.
Summary of the project
Project goals: The overarching aim of this project is to improve the lives of the villagers in Mengzong village. The immediate goal of this project is to build a running water system for 64 households in upper Mengzong Village in Jiegu Township.
Location of the project: Mangzi (called Mengzong in Chinese) Village is located in the northern part of Jiegu Township, Yushu County, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which is about 896 km from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai province. The name, Mengzong Village, specifically refers to one of the two small villages that together make up a larger village. In common speech, we usually call the upper part of the village upper Mengzong and the lower part lower Mengzong. This project aims to provide water for the upper Mengzong village.
Total beneficiaries: This project directly benefits 64 households with 520 people in upper Mengzong village.
Implementation organization/individual:Basam Drolma(project manager), Mr Jiangyong and Mr Xiga (villager leaders), Suonam bacuo, Zhaxicaireng, Zhouzhang (members of upper Mengzong village’s project committee) and Shem Women’s Group.
Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date received
The Asia Foundation and the Jesuitenmission funded this project with a total amount of 118, 600 RMB. To ensure the on going success of the project implementation, the grant was split into two installments, the first installment covers 60%(71,160 RMB) of the total grant and was given to project manager at the starting date of the project on May 29th, 2008, and the second installment was given to the project manager when 50% of the project was completed successfully. As the project reached its half way point, Shem gave 40% of the total grant, which is 47,740 RMB, to Basam Dorlma on August 6th, 2008.
Delays, difficulties, and lesson learned
Delay of the activities
The project could not be started soon after the funds were received due to the reasons below:
The stream which we had originally planned to carry the water had dried up, and we had to search for another source to water into the village. The main reasons for delay are related to the difficulties of finding and securing access to an alternative water source.
The village leaders were disappointed and told me that they had no ideas except for changing the project into another project or give up the project as the last resort. My family members were also disappointed and suggested that I give up the project as they saw I was very sad, depressed and exhausted. However, my younger brother, Shem members, and my great mentors suggested that I look for another potential water source to complete the project rather than giving up.
After two more days of searching and discussing with my younger brother, we found another source where we could tap water into the village, but it is very far from the village. The Animal Husbandry Bureau (农牧局) had implemented a water project using this water source for a nomadic community nearby Mengzong Village. The only way to tap water into Mengzong village was to negotiate with this nomadic community so that both villages could use the same water source. My brother and I went to ask the leader of the nomadic village and reported the situation. However, they told us that we needed to go and ask the Animal Husbandry Bureau, so we spent an afternoon waiting for the leader at the Animal Husbandry Bureau. When I finally met them they even didn’t listen to me well and they were not very willing to listen to my words either. The next day, I went to my village leader’s home and asked him to go with me and he agreed. That day I met the Animal Husbandry Bureau leader with the village leader accompanying me, but he told us to ask the nomadic village leader as they have legal ownership of the water source.
We tried to contact all those possible people to negotiate with the nomadic village leader, fortunately one of our village leaders told us that he received permission from the most powerful leader of the nomadic community, (not the one I have spoken to). Therefore, there was no need for us to delay the project.
We negotiated with the nomadic village leader and decided to tap water from their pre-existing pipe to the Animal Husbandry Bureau reservoir. This place is 2.8 km from Menzong village.
However, this posed another problem for us: one water pipe could not provide enough water for two villages, especially during the winter time. The water design experts suggested that we build two additional water reservoirs to solve this problem. According to the original budget, building two water reservoirs was not feasible. Villagers were also unable to cover these costs. Instead of building two water reservoirs we tapped water from two nearby springs.
In addition to the delays associated with securing an additional water source, another delay was caused by the fact that it was caterpillar fungus season and many able laborers were out of the village. When the project manager received funds all young villagers were away collecting caterpillar fungus and only older villagers were left at the village. The manager had a meeting with those remaining villagers explaining the details. Those remaining villagers were unable to dig the ditches, so we had to wait for those young villagers return to the village to dig the ditches. They arrived at the village on June 15th and began digging the ditches and completing the necessary project work.
Difficulties encountered when implementing the project
I needed the Menzong village leaders support to negotiate with the other village about using the same water source. However I had difficulties receiving timely support from the village leaders. They were always very passive and demanding and I had to constantly pressure them up to help me.
The village leaders asked me to hire an excavator to dig the ditch, because digging in the rocks would be difficult for the villagers. Renting an excavator to dig the whole ditch would have taken a huge portion of the first installment of the funds. The second installment would definitely not have been enough to complete the other tasks. After discussion with the project committee and some outside experts, we agreed to hire an excavator for the most rocky part of the ditch (about 1500 m) and hire the villagers to dig the rest of the ditch (1300 m).
I work far away from the project site. It takes eight days round trip to travel from my work to the project site. I also had to take around twenty days off to get the project started. My salary was deducted because of being off from work for too many days.
As this is my first time to implement a construction project, I lacked relevant knowledge and management skills, which caused lots of difficulties and challenges. I did not know that I should take photos of materials while I was purchasing them, loading them in to the truck, and after the materials were delivered to Yushu. My brother and Mengzong villagers went to take the materials, and they had no camera. They also had no idea they were supposed to take photos, so I did not get any good photos of the materials.
Also, the villagers were not very cooperative at the beginning of the project, but later as most of the younger villagers returned back to village the situation got better. They went to ask the village leaders to help with the situation and dug the ditch even during the night.
Lessons learned
From implementing this project, I have learned that having experience implementing relevant projects is very important. Relevant experience can determine the success of subsequent projects. When you actually implement the project, your original plans should be more flexible when there are new events or unexpected changes.
If you cannot manage well when there are too many new events or changes, you should get suggestions or help from others with more experience. Additionally, I have felt that the local people, particularly the old people do not have high expectations for women; they thought that I was not able to implement the project. However, if you keep on going, there are always different ways to solve problems, and nothing is impossible to deal with.
Changes and Variations from Original Project (Beneficiaries, Budget, Activities, Time frame)
The first change was that according to my original proposal only 40 families of the village would benefit from the running water, but during the implementation of the project, we found that 24 families located in Xihang Village, near upper Menzong village, did not have water. They hadn’t had water for more than twenty years; they begged us to tap water for them too. We agreed to carry water for them as well because all the villagers agreed on the plan and promised to collect money if the grant was not enough. So, the project provided water to 64 families rather than 40 families.
Also, there was some variation in the price of materials; the price of most materials had increased. We checked three factories and saw how to make pipes. We figured out which quality is good and which is not good and chose the best quality pipes in the factory. Another change is that we had to purchase some additional pipes and connectors for those 24 families.
The project steps
1. With participation from villagers, a project committee was formed. This group was composed of five villagers’ -two men, and three women (Jiangyonggelek, Xiga and Zhaxi Tereng, Suonam Bacuo, A nang).
2. Negotiated with another village to get the permission to share the same water source.
3. Discussed with the villagers and water experts to decide how and where to build the water reservoir.
4. Villagers and water expert decided on the needed materials and place to purchase the materials.
5. Contract signed with the water project committee.
6. Villagers started to dig ditch where it could be dug by the hand-tools.
7. Hired an excavator to dig from the rocky mountain slope to the road where there are fewer rocks.
8. Purchased plastic pipes, few pieces of connection, and covers for the water reservoirs from a plastic factory in Xining.
9. Thirteen skilled workers were hired to dig the ground to build water reservoirs with the villagers.
10. More pipes, valves, connectors, and steel bars were purchased from private water construction material shop in Yushu prefecture in July 2008.
11. We purchased cement from Yushu Three Rivers Construction Material Company in July 2008.
12. All purchased materials were transported to Mengzong village on Mr Zhaxicaireng’s (a member of project committee) truck in July 2008. Mr Zhaxicaireng has also devoted a lot toward the success of implementing this project. He contributed his truck to go to purchase and collect materials in Yushu prefecture, and undertook most of the responsibilities of overseeing the hired skilled workers constructing the water reservoir, placing the pipes, and building the water inspection boxes.
13. Pipes were placed in the ditches in July 2008.
14. The excavator was paid in July 2008.
15. Zhaxicaireng collected local contribution in July 2008.
16. Along with the villagers’ participation, a water design expert built the water reservoirs, the inspection boxes, and tapped water from two more springs nearby to the water reservoirs in September 2008.
17. Under the instruction of the water design experts, villagers placed pipes from the main pipe to each household in September 2008.
18. Water was brought to each household on September 10th.
19. Along with all villagers’ participation, the village project committee and the village leaders set up future management plan to sustain the project on September 11th. The villager leaders explained the importance of maintaining and caring for the water system. Two households were chosen to manage the system for two months and this system will rotate in order to involve all 64 households in monitoring the water system.
20. Villagers celebrated the success of water system in the village. Each household hung a Karta (ceremonial silk scarf) dedicating their many thanks to the great help of the donors.
21. Photos were taken and receipts were collected in September 2008.
22. Write final reports with receipts and photos.
Project finances
Notes
Note #1
Originally we planned to buy all these types (60#, 40#, 32#,25#)of PE pipes, but when the water experts were examining the ditch condition, through their careful examination they found it is better to purchase PPR pipe #40 (both PPR and PE are pipes to carry running water: PPR are cut smaller than PE pipes, PPR pipes are usually used for carrying water to and between households; PE pipes are mostly used for carrying water from big channels, like from water ditch to households, it is used as the main pipes in this water project) to carry water to those three subdivisions of the entire village. From this pipe each family can tap water to their home with smaller pipes, within this receipt I also purchased one thermofussion machine(it is called热融机in Chinese, and a machine makes the plastic pipes warm, so it becomes soft. Then we could easily connect two pipes together) that cost 135 RMB. The main reason I purchased PPR pipe was cost effectiveness (one meter 40#PPR is 10 RMB, and PE 40# is 16 RMB for one meter). PPR pipe was cheaper than PE pipe, but has the same quality. Therefore I bought less PE pipes compared to the original budget. However, according to the water experts’ suggestion, we needed to purchase more pipes due to the increased number of households.
Note #2
According to the original budget; I planned to buy materials in Lanzhou (the capital city of Gansu Province). However, through careful investigations and discussions with water designing experts, we found out all these materials are either available in Yushu or in Xining. Eventually I decided to purchase pipes in Xining rather than in Lanzhou, since Xining is much closer to Yushu than Lanzhou, thus the transportation fee is much less. However, besides pipes and few pieces of connection, all other materials were purchased in Yushu, and for that material we did not need to pay for the transportation.
Note #3
From Xining I only purchased these connections, which were not available in Yushu.
Note #4
In order to get the legal permission for the project implementation from the county government, I had to submit three copies of the proposal, to make those copies I spent14 RMB. Second, I paid 75 RMB in banking fees, because my bank account was opened in Yushu, so to transfer the grant from Xining to my account required banking fee of 75 RMB. We do not have this item in the original budget.
Note #5
Since the route where we had dug the ditch was very rocky, it was impossible for people to dig. Under water designer and experienced construction workers suggestions, we hired an excavator to dig the rocky part, which was 1500 m. Its digging fee for one meter is 26 RMB*1,500 m = 39,000 RMB. The other 1300 m of the ditch was dug by Mengzong villagers: one day’s labor fee is 30 RMB and 80 villagers dug for 14 days: 30RMB*14/day * 80/people=33,600 RMB.
Note #6
We hired thirteen skilled workers including three water experts and ten construction workers. Along with 64 villagers, these ten skilled workers completed construction of the water reservoirs and inspection boxes in 10 days. They charged 50 RMB per day, 50 RMB* 10/day*10/people=5,000, and we paid 1,000 to the water experts.
Note #7
As the villagers contributed four trucks of stone and three trucks of sand to build up the water reservoirs and water inspection boxes, we brought less cement than we originally planned because stones are available in the village. In addition, as we brought the
cement from a company that Mr Zhaxicairing know well, we purchased the cement with the lowest price compared to the cement price in all other cement shops in Yushu prefecture.
Note #8
We needed less iron wire than we originally planned because we did not need iron wires to connect PPR pipes, but the price of the iron wire had increased this year compared to last year.
Note #9
The donor contribution was not enough to pay for the total price of the steel bar, so we paid 2,886 RMB from donor contribution and the deficit 3,234 RMB was paid for by local contributions.
Note #10
Due to the increase number of the households; we purchased more pipes and connectors to tap water for these twenty-four families. These materials were purchased from local contributions.
Note #11
The project proposal was submitted when I was in Xining, which was before my graduation. However, this project was funded when I had moved to Chengdu where I work. In order to implement the project successfully I personally went to Yushu to implement it. Travel from Chengdu City to Yushu takes four days for a one-way trip. Consequently the project management fee was much higher than I originally budgeted. However, we had only requested for 200 RMB in the original budget, so the rest 498.6 RMB was paid by the local committee.
Total donor contribution for the project was 118,600 RMB. The first installment (60% of the total contribution) was received on May 29th, 2008, for the amount of 71,160 RMB. The second installment (40% of the total contribution) was received on August 6th.The first installment of the money was mainly used to purchase running water equipment such as pipes and connectors and paid for project management expenses; the second installment of the project was used to buy needed materials to build up water reservoirs and water inspection boxes. The water project was successfully implemented; all villagers in upper Mengzong village are provided with clean drinking water under donor’s great support！
(##)According to the original project proposal, the villagers will dig all the ditches but later because some of part of place is very rocky and the villagers could not dig so we hired a excavator to dig as I have already explained in note 5. In this case the excavator saved a lot of the villagers’ time to dig the ditches at the same time the villagers saved labor equals 72,354 RMB. Therefore it shows that there is still 72,354 RMB left.
Thank you letter
Translation of the thanks letter
Dear Asia Foundation and the Jesuitenmission,
On behalf of all Mengzong villagers and beneficiaries from Xihang Village, I want to say thank you very much for your greatest help! Our village is a farming village located in the rural areas of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture where traffic is closed and income generation is poor. We’ve had no clean drinking water for almost twenty years, and we usually go to beg water from our neighboring villages that are far from our village. As it takes around two hours for fetching two buckets of water, fetching water becomes the most time consuming chore for every household in the village. This also resulted in many of the school aged children being kept at home to help families finish up the house works. We had asked the government to help us for many times over the years, but they are not able to help us. And we had never knew that we would have clean drinking water in our yards, but we are very lucky that we received the Asia Foundation’s and Jesuitenmission’s donation and completed running water project in our village. Water is tapped into 64 households. All of our beneficiaries were very happy to receive this hard-won help! We would never forget your help! Thank you very much for your help!
Jiangyonggelek, Mengzong village leader,
September 13th, 2008.
Interviews
Tse Rdo migrated to upper Menzong village in the year of 1995. He was originally from Nangchen County in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. He had become the poorest family in the community because all of his yaks died in the snow disaster that year. He migrated to Yushu with his two small sons and his wife. They had no way to live except being beggars in this huge town. Afterwards he was invited as a herder of the Mengzong village’s domestic livestock and Mengzong community gave him a piece of land as his salary. Mengzong villagers promised to give him some barley and food every month. So he settled in this village and his life has gotten better from receiving Mengzong village’s help. Tsedo sent both of his sons to attend elementary school two years ago, because the schools don’t charge for tuition. While we were interviewing him about the benefit of the water system, he said” We had no clean running for more than twenty years, this project saved our life, before we had this reliable running water, my wife would need to spend almost two hours to fetch two buckets, and it was difficult for her because she also needed to finish all other house chores at the same time. After we had this water system, my wife only needs to spend few minutes to fetch two buckets of water, and my wife could save much time to take rest. Thank you very much to our donor! I am sure they will have good results in their life”!
Zhaxi Dorlma and her second son are watching at their running water
Zhaxi Dorlma’s husband was killed during a land-conflict fight between two villages. She has three sons. Some gangsters also killed her oldest son two years after her husband’s death. After both her husband and her oldest son died, she got a serious illness in her leg. She could not move well for many years, and her life became exceptionally difficult. She could not plough the fields and plant barley, which was the only source of food for her family when her husband was alive. Some of her relatives adopted her second son and sent him to school. Now he is studying in Xining city; he is one of the few university students in the village. Her youngest son is a monk now, but he does not always go to monastery, because he needs to take care of his mother. When we interviewed Zhaxi Dorlma about the benefits of running water project, she said: “Before the water was tapped to each of the households in upper Mengzong village, children needed to walk for a long distance searching for clean water in the spring which now was dried up. Many families had to keep their children at home rather than sending them to school. I felt really bad every time I saw my son carrying two buckets early in the morning and returning back in the afternoon. He could not always go to study in the monastery. Thanks very much for the donors great help; now my son does not need to spend much time fetching water, and he could go to the monastery to study. Also my leg is getting better and as it only takes a few minutes to fetch water; I can fetch water by myself. My son and I will always pray for the donors”
Nolhao Lhamo is fetching water from the running water piped into their house yard.
Her family belongs to Xihang village that is adjoined to Mengzong village. She is the only child in her family, her parents got divorced when she was five, and she lives with her mother now. She is attending middle school. Her mother is a street cleaner and has very little salary that is scarcely enough to buy life necessities for them. Her mother has to stay on the street for the whole day and leaves work very late at night, so Nolhao Lhamo has to finish up all the house chores when she comes back home from the school. She said, “The most anxious memory every time I return back from school is that I need to go to spend around two hours to fetch water, and I need to stay up very late to finish my home work. Thanks a lot for the donors help, this is the best help we Mengzong villagers would ever receive. I can spend more time on studying and cooking nice dinners for my mother because water is tapped in to our yard now “.
List of receipts
Receipt 1
Receipt 2
Receipt 3
Receipt 4
Receipt 5
Receipt 6
Receipt 7
Receipt 8(iron bar)
Receipt 9
From this receipt the donor only paid 2,886RMB and the local people paid 3,234 RMB.
Receipt 10
The total management expense is 698.6 RMB. I only applied for 200RMB from the donor contribution, and the deficit was paid by the local committee.
Original Proposal
Project Location
Mangzi (called “Mengzong” in Chinese) village is located in the northern part of Jiegu Township, Yushu Prefecture, about 896 kilometers from Xining, the capital city of Qinghai province. The name, “Mengzong village”, specifically refers to one of the two small villages that together make up a larger village, which is also called Mengzong. In common speech, we usually call the upper part of the village “upper Mengzong” and the lower part “lower Mengzong”. This project aims to provide water for the “upper Mengzong” village.
Population
There are approximately 75 households comprised of 500 people in upper Mengzong village. There are 165 women, 161 men, and 174 children.
Education
Thirty percent of the people in upper Mengzong village 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). In upper Mengzong village, there are 16 monks, 6 nuns, 28 primary school students, 17 high school students, 25 middle school students, and 6 university students. The students learn both Tibetan and Chinese in school. The remaining 98 school-aged children, 50 females and 48 males, do not attend school.
Due to the local government policy created two years ago that makes primary education free, there are more primary school-aged children attending school than in the past. However, families still must pay around 200-250 rmb for middle school and 300-400 rmb for high school students. It is difficult for families to send their children to school because they don’t have enough money to pay the tuition, especially when families have to come up with tuition for university students. To send a child to university, a family must borrow money and put down their property deeds as collateral at the bank’s insistence. A family with a university student must usually borrow 4000- 5000 rmb in a year, forcing them to pay the money back by selling crops or land at the end of the year.
Cash Income
Most of the villagers in upper Mengzong village are farmers. They grow barley exclusively because 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 of land, which produces barely enough barley for those families’ survival. Families who own 8-9 mu (1 mu = 0.666 hectares) of land can often sell their excess barley to potentially earn about 900 rmb annually. However, this potential income is vulnerable to changes in the weather, so that often no excess is produced after a hot, dry growing season.
The villagers also earn money by digging caterpillar fungus. They travel to mountainous areas where the fungus grows, and live as nomads from the beginning of May until July. A single caterpillar fungu can sell for around 15-20 rmb, but people have to pay a tax of 400-600 rmb to the local village leader to be allowed to dig in a specific area. A single person from Mengzong village can earn approximately 2,000-2,500 rmb 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 400-500 rmb on clothes. Villagers must also spend money on school tuition.
As there are many nomads moving to the county town, villagers have the chance to sell their land in town to nomads who need a place to build their house. Villagers can receive approximately 1500-2000 rmb for one mu of land. Those farmers who sell their land, typically try to use that income to make some changes to their life 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 to grow barley in sustainable amounts. In addition, many people are illiterate and/or innumerate and almost all lack the skills or background to do good business. For example, when they come to sell caterpillar- fungus, they don’t know where the best place to gain a high price is because they have a very limited understanding of the outside world. Unfortunately, these people will often sell their caterpillar-fungus to the business men in town for a low price about 15-20rmb per caterpillar-fungus, but the business men can sell for around 50rmb to the cities.
Herding
Most of the villagers in upper Mengzong village are farmers, though a few households have sold their land. On average, each household owns one cow, two sheep and two goats. The location of the village at the foot of a mountain makes it possible to herd livestock on the mountain. These animals are only used to produce milk, butter, cheese and yogurt in the summer period. Almost all villagers produce only enough of these products for their own consumption.
Problems
No Water System in the Village in upper Mengzong
Not one of the 75 households in upper Mengzong village owns a water tap in their own family courtyard. Every day the villagers, usually the women, have to hike down to lower Mengzong village, 3 kilometers below with two iron buckets. In lower Mengzong village, the households have water taps in their own yards, or the villagers can easily get water nearby, from neighbors who have their own water source. The residents in upper Mengzong are comparably poor, since many of them have emigrated from other places such as Gaizei prefecture, Changdou city. Their living conditions are lower, and they do not own their own land or houses, instead renting from the native residents. Further, any drilling project and/or pumping system will be more expensive in upper Mengzong compared to lower Mengzong because these villagers live at a higher elevation. The people of upper Mengzong cannot afford this expense. Previously, the upper Mengzong villagers acquired water from a stream located beside the village, about 1 kilometer away. This stream originates from Jiajie nomadic village, running deep in the mountain valley above Mengzong village. Recently, this stream has dwindled, so that when it arrives in the village it is very small. Since livestock and nomadic villagers obtain water upstream of upper Mengzong, the water reaching the village is usually too dirty to be of any use, filled with lots of shrimp and other water insects. The village leader and some other villagers have noted that there is an available spring 3.5 kilometers above the village, showing the possibility for building a water reservoir.
Lack of Reliable Water
Each year, the water company cuts off water two or three times, due to a dwindling availability of water in underground sources and in the Zhaxi River, the main water source for the area. During these times, the villagers must find a well to obtain water. While the few comparably richer households have personal wells in their courtyards, all the villagers cannot get enough water. Generally, the stream mentioned above is totally dry during these periods. The families who own wells live beside the streets and markets, so the villagers have to travel around 5-6 kilometers to fetch water from these sources. As a villager is able to fetch a limited amount of water at one time, many trips must be made.
Dangers of Fetching Water from Wells
Usually, begging water from a family who owns a well is a difficult task. Some wells are very deep and poorly constructed. There have been several incidents of people falling into wells and dying.
Increased Women’s Labor
With the stream dried up during both winter and autumn, most of the time the villagers have to ask for water from the lower village, which is about 5-6 kilometers from the upper village. Almost exclusively, it is the women who must fetch the water. Typically, women collect water twice a day, at sunset and in the morning, in addition to doing all the other household chores. Usually, women in upper Mengzong do not have time to participate in any other activities besides these labors, from which they get little time to rest.
Health Problems
Day in and day out, the women of upper Mengzong village carry heavy yokes weighted on each end with iron buckets for water. Commonly, women of upper Mengzong become noticeably hunched over the years. Many fall ill with diseases, obviously caused by exhaustion to their immune systems. In addition, since fetching water is such a difficult task, most people of upper Mengzong do not often wash their hands or clothes. This supports lots of disease, and stomachaches are exceedingly common in the village.
Few Opportunities for Women
Women’s household chores, especially fetching water, are essential to the basic functioning of life in upper Mengzong village. Therefore, many parents decide they should keep their daughters at home to do this necessary labor, rather than sending them to school. For this reason, village girls have little chance to attend school, receive education or become independent. Without education, the girls in upper Mengzong village don’t have the chance to work for the owners of shops on the streets as they do not understand Chinese. Therefore, girls in upper Mengzong village usually become the unskilled laborers for the tractor drivers who carry sand and stone.
Benefits
Providing a running water system that will set a tap in every household will provide everyone in the village with enough water and solve upper Mengzong’s water-related problems.
1. The villagers will not have to beg for water, instead having easy access to water provided by their personal water tap.
2. With their own water supply, upper Mengzong will no longer be susceptible to losing their water supply when water is turned off by the government. In the current system, several villages must take turns receiving water, and thus have their water supply shut off in certain months.
3. The villagers will no longer have to worry about falling into the wells or being injured by the well derrick.
4. Women in the village will not have to walk long distances with heavy buckets to fetch water, allowing them more time for leisure and participation in other activities. Also, the potential of contracting diseases and becoming hunchbacked will decrease because women will not need to expend such hard physical work on fetching water. Also, with more water available, village hygiene will improve.
5. With a reduced need for water collection, parents are more likely to send their daughters to school. Parents will realize that girls can do things other than housework. Villagers will be able to recognize the importance of getting an education as means of helping one’s own community.
Beneficiaries
This project will directly benefit a total of 75 households and 500 people in upper Mengzong village.
Gender equality
Firstly, this project will have very immediate and direct benefits for women in the village, as the improved water supply will decrease the amount of labor that women need to do. Secondly, an improved water supply will allow women to participate in more activities, such as running small businesses, which will improve the family living condition. Moreover, the rate of female children attending school will increase, as collecting water will not be a big concern that causes parents to force their daughters to stay at home. Also, parents will realize the importance of education as their educated daughters will have improved futures.
Project Goals
The overarching aim of this project is to improve the lives of the villagers in Mengzong village.
The immediate goal of this project is to build a running water system for 75 households in upper Mengzong village in Jiegu Township.
The steps of the project
1. Discuss with villagers the possibility of proposing to donors a running water system for upper Mengzong village. (Done)
2. Talk with the village leader about the specifics of building the reservoir. (Done)
3. Receive official permission to carry out the project from local government. (Done)
4. Receive official permission to carry out the project from our Township leader. Collect information about and for the project. (Done)
5. Talk to the village leader and other project managers and workers who have experience working on this type of project. Talk with them about the necessary materials. (Done)
6. Find out the price of materials in Jiegu Township. (Done)
7. Hold a meeting with the village leaders and choose some households to be responsible for the materials and supervising the condition of the water reservoir and the ditch system. Primarily, the village leader’s family will be responsible for overseeing the project. Two young women from the village will be responsible to watch the water reservoir.(Done)
8. Mr Xiga who has done this kind of project studies the ground to find out the best place where the new water source should be built.(Done)
9. Write project proposal. (Done)
10. Hold a meeting with the villagers to discuss the start date of the project.
11. Meet with the contractors Mr Jiangyong and Mr Xiga to arrange when and how the villagers will prepare the sand and stones, and the ditch where the pipe will go. Purchase plastic pipes from the Lanzhou City Plastic Factory . The other materials like valves, spigots, connectors and bricks were bought from Jiegu factory.
12. Build the water reservoir.
13. Villagers dig the ditch.
14. Water is piped to 75 household’s courtyards.
15. Choose two households to manage the system for a set period of time (the monitoring households will rotate).
16. Interview the villagers and take photos
17. Write final report
18. Send the final report to donors with photos and receipts.
Budget
| Item | Price per item in RMB |
Number of items | Donor contribution in RMB | Local Contribution in RMB | Other resources (Shem Women’s Group) in RMB |
total cost in RMB |
| Cement |
350 |
25tons
|
8,750 |
0 |
0 |
8,750 |
| Plastic Pipe #60 |
13 |
3,000 kg |
39,000 |
0 |
0 |
39,000 |
| Plastic Pipe #40 |
13.5 |
1,500kg |
20,250 |
|
|
20250 |
| Plastic Pipe #32 |
13 |
900kg |
11,700 |
0 |
0 |
11,700 |
| Plastic Pipe #25 |
13 |
1,000kg |
13,000 |
0 |
0 |
13,000 |
| Valves |
50 |
10 sets |
500 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
| Connec tions #63, #40, #32, #25 |
|
|
6,500 |
0 |
0 |
6,500 |
| Iron wire |
3.5 |
200kg |
700 |
0 |
0 |
700 |
| Material transport |
|
|
9,000 |
0 |
0 |
9,000 |
| Iron bar #16, #6.5 |
4000 |
1.5 tons |
6,000 |
0 |
0 |
6,000 |
| Water de sign expert expense |
1500 |
2people
|
3,000 |
0 |
0 |
3,000 |
| Stone and sand |
20 |
80 m3 |
0 |
1,600 |
0 |
1,600 |
| Labour |
20 |
80 people ×70 days |
0 |
112,000 |
0 |
112,000 |
| Tap |
10 |
75sets |
0 |
750 |
0 |
750 |
| Black plastic Pipe |
6 |
500 |
0 |
3,000 |
0 |
3,000 |
| Project manage ment expenses |
|
|
200 |
200 |
0 |
400 |
| Project manage ment payment |
|
0 |
0 |
500 |
500 |
|
| Total | 118,600 |
117,550 |
500 |
236,650 |
Total Donor Contribution Requested: 118,600 rmb (15, 965 US dollars)
Total Project Cost: 236,650rmb (31,856US dollars)
Governmental support
The government tried to implement a running water project for upper Mengzong village five years ago, but they found out the plan was not viable because of the village’s location. This location, which is higher than the surrounding villages, prevented the water from going to upper Mengzong village. Therefore, this government project failed, although it did establish an empty water box. After the project is failed, the villagers requested a pumping system to pump water to the village, but the costs were more expensive than the system for lower Mengzong village. The people living in upper Mengzong village could not afford this expense. Three years later, after villagers consistently asked for a running water system from the village and township leaders, the leaders found that there is an old spring available 3.5 km away from the village. The existence of this spring showed that there was a possibility to carry out a running water project in the village. The government is very willing to support this project because they want and see the need for a running water system for upper Mengzong village.
Sustainability
The village leader will primarily be in charge of supervising the maintenance of the water project and all of the village households will take turns being responsible for upkeep of the drinking water system. All people in the village and the village committee will be responsible to repair any damages that occur to the system over time.
Past experiences
Basam dorlma is from lower Mengzong village and she has managed several projects in Qinghai Province. In 2003, Basam dorlma implemented and monitored (on a volunteer basis) a 4,500 rmb solar cooker project for lower Mengzong village, which was sponsored by the Canada Fund. In 2004, Basam dorlma did a second-hand clothing project for Xihang village in Jiegu Township, distributing clothes to the poorest families in the village. In 2005, Basam dorlma worked for Bridge Fund, teaching English in Kangsar village, Jiuzhi County, Golok Prefecture for six months. In 2007, Basam dorlma implemented and managed a 5,880 rmb solar electricity generating panel project for a nomadic village called Yejinema in Xia Raxi Township. In 2007, she worked as a member of Canada fund 2006-2007 solar cooker projects. These projects involved traveling to Tibetan villages with two other students to perform interviews.
Time frame
1 day: Hold meeting with the project committee and choose the local workers.
10 days: Villagers prepare sand and stones for the water box.
2 days: Purchase cement, taps and iron bars in Jiegu town, Yushu.
7 days: Purchase plastic pipes (from Lanzhou city in Gansu province).
15 days: Villagers dig the ditches to bury the pipe.
15 days: Running water pipeline is buried in the ditches.
10 days: Water is piped to the households’ courtyard.
5 days: Water taps are adjusted.
1 day: Hold meeting with the village committee.
Total Time: 66 days
Map of the project location
