Reports

Help the poor students in Daxing Township to attain an education and to increase enrollment rates in the township. Provide convenient access to funds for parents and students in order to reduce the financial troubles they face in paying for an education.

Shem Women’s Group Donors Funded this project

Tserang Lhamo is from Daxing Township, Songpan County, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. She graduated in 2006 with an Associated degree in English from Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department’s English Training Program.

What? Main goal of the project is to help the poor students in Daxing Township to get further education and increase the literacy rate.

Who? The main beneficiaries of the project: around1, 354 people in Daxing Township, and 260 the poor students.

Photos of the project implementation

These are some of the villagers who are coming to see the performances.

Some of the villagers are contributing some money to the small program, and the program leader Luo Mo Cuo (the girl in the picture) is taking them and saying thanks to them. Also the young man beside the girl, the leader of the program is recording the names and the money they gave.

The program members are dancing and at the same time saying thanks to the donor and the local people who devote money to the program and help more students to get further education.

This is the account, which clearly recorded the villagers’ names, family head name, the students’ names and the amount of the money that they borrowed from the project.

This is the projects manager, Tzerang Lhamo’s father, who is an experienced accountant (about 30years of being accountant); he is helping the program to record the accounts.

These are the borrow letters and contracts that the leader of the program is keeping in order to take the money back the next year.

This is a picture of the most students in Daxing Township, the village leaders and the township leader.

The summary of the project

Project title:School Expenses Loan for Daxing Township Students

Project goals:The overall goal of this project is to help the poor students in Daxing Township for getting further education and increasing the literacy rate. The immediate goal of the project is to provide convenient access to funds for parents and students in order to reduce the financial troubles the face in paying for an education.

Location of project: Daxing Township, Songpan County, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and Sichuan Province, China.

Total beneficiaries: the total number of the people who directly benefited from the project is 260 students and indirectly around1, 354 people benefited from this project.

Implementation organization/individual: Tzerang Lhamo (Melanie), Luomocuo( the leader of The Daxing Students Tuition Aid Program), Oume Cuo( the new leader of The Daxing Students Tuition Aid Program), Gongbo Jie ( who helped and supported the project manager Tzerang Lhamo and The Daxing Students Tuition Aid Program) , and Shem Women’s Group.

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: source, Amount, and date Received

Shem Women’s Group donated 62,500rmb on 2nd February 2007

Details of project activities:

Originally planned project activities:

The first day	Hold a meeting with the members of the program and village leaders again to guarantee that they will keep an eye on the students whether they obey to the role or not) that the students will obey the roles.
The second day	Hold a meeting with all the members of the program to make sure they understand the roles. That they will obey the roles.
The third day	Hold a meeting with all the students and remind the roles and the bargain (that they will have to obey.)
The fourth day	To announce the students that they can borrow money from the program without any interest for one year.
The fifth day	Lend the money and the leader will keep the receipts.

Actually realized in the framework of the project:
1.On 9th February, 2007 held meeting with all the members of the Daxing students’ Tution help program and also discussed the rules of lending money and the students agreed to obey the rules. And we decided that if some do not return the money, all the students would go to the student’s home who has not returned the money and would sell their goats or sheep to return the money. Also told all the students need to return money to the program at the end of each year, in another words each year before the performance each student need to return the money and as soon as the performance is finished, lend the money to all the students without any interests again. This term repeats every year.

2.On 10th, we held the performance as every year we do, and many student and villagers gathered there on that day to enjoy the dance and singing. Before the performances began, the program leader Luo Mo Cuo, Cai Wang Cuo and the project manager Tzerang Lhamo introduced the rules of the project for lending money and announced to all the students and the villagers that next day the students could borrow money from the program for a year without any interest. In the afternoon of 10th, we held a meeting with some members of the project and the village leaders and the township leaders, stressed the rules again. The village leaders and township leaders agreed to help the students and if the students didn’t return the money to the program, the village leaders and the township leaders gave us permission for selling the goats and sheep of that family.

3.On 11th the new leader of the program (Oume Cuo) and the original leader of the program, Luo Mo Cuo and the project manager Tzrang Lhamo began to lend the money.

4.On 12th lent 25,000RMB to 89 students. Among this 5 are college students, 29 are high school and middle school students, and 55 are primary school students.

5.On 13th lent3 4,000RMB to 118 students. Among this 6 are college students, 42 are high school and middle school students, and 70 primary school students.

6.On 14th lent 15,900RMB to 53 students. Among this 2 are college students, 22 are high school and middle school students, and 29 are primary school students.

7.On 27^th Feb got finished lending the money to the students and the program new leader Ou Me Cuo kept the receipts.

The activities are little bit different from the planned one because the students and the village leaders are from different villages, so in a day we discussed with leaders and announced the people that they can borrow money during the performances since the most parents and students would watch the performance. Also the villages do not have telephones and did not able get the message easily. The students need to walk from their home to the township and it took 3days for the students to meet and loan the money. Also when we were lending the money need to write a borrow letter for each student.

Project Finances

Original Budget					Actual Budget
Rece ipt #	Item	Donor Contri bution RMB	Local Contri bution RMB	Total cost RMB	Donor Contri bution RMB	Local Contri bution RMB	Total cost RMB	Diffe rence (Betw een orig inal and actual budge ts) RMB
#1,58, 15 16, 17, 21	Expen ses in prim ary school	15,000	0	15,000	15,000	400	15，400	-400
#20, 19,14, 9,6,2	Expen ses in mid dle school	25,000	0	25,000	25,000	4500	29，500	-4500
#3	Expen ses in high school	12,500	0	12,500	12,500	4500	17，000	-4500
#18, 13, 12, 11, 10,7, 4	Expen ses in colle ge	10,000	0	10,000	10,000	3,000	13，000	-3000
	Family contrib ution	0	8,700	8,700	0	0	0	+870
	The fund in the prog ram	0	6,317	6,317	0	0	0	+6317
	Expen ses for the perform ances	0	0	0	0	2,232	2，232	-2，232
	The mon ey for next year’s prepa ration	0	0	0	0	385	385	-385
	Total	62,500	15,017	77，517	62,500	15,017	77,517

As I mentioned before, in the proposal I did not put any local contribution on the budget since I was not sure about the expenses for the food and presents for the people who’s been supporting us for many years. Every year we give small presents to say thanks and encourage them to support us in the future. After we finished the performance, we calculated the total expenses of this year’s performance and took off the expenses from the local contribution. At that time, I was sure how much money left from the local contribution and divided this to students for the school expenses.

List of recipient list

They are Luo Mu Cai Rang and his son, Yi Xi Jian Cuo. The son is signing on the borrow letter and his father is saying thanks to the donor.

These are some middle school, high school and college students who just borrowed money from the project and showing their happy faces.

She is the new leader of the program, Oume Cuo, she is concentrating on work and planning for the next year’s performances. She also has borrowed money from the project. This is pictured on 14^th Feb 2006.

The person who is taking the money is a college student and his name is Ru Ta Zu, he is borrowing money from the project and says thanks to the donor.

She is a college student, her name is Luo Me Cuo, and she just signed and borrowed the money from the project.

This is a middle school student and her name is Cai Rang Ji. She is singing on the borrow letter and getting money from the project.

This is also a pupil and her name is Ge Deng La Me, she also signed on the borrow letter and got the money from the project. This is pictured on 12^th Feb.

This is also a pupil and her name is Cao Neng Wang Me and she just signed on the borrow letter and got the money from the project.

This is a pupil and his name is Li Ma Zha Xi, who has just signed on the borrow letter and got the money from the program.

These are some primary school students and they also borrowed the money from the project.
The list of beneficiaries

Zhaxilame	Dengzhou lame	Baima qimei	Gerang zhuoma	Gemg rang lame	Jiancuo zhuoma
Dongzhuo lame	Jiancuo zhaxi	Yongzhong zhou	Dala	Danba dajie	Qurang zeren
Dame zhuoma	Gengqiu	Sangjizeren	Kangme cuo	Qiuchilei	Suolang wangme
Nacuo	Duojiezu	Zerumei	Nima	Name zeren	Duojie mei
Jiakazhou	Zheng shaolian	Zewangxue	Zhengshao cheng	Luojia mu	Dacuo zeren
Luojiamu	Xiaoluome zeren	Baima dengzhen	Duojiezu	Yong zhong lame	Lame zhuoma
Gengbo zeren	Kencuo zhuoma	Zerenmu	Linbaojia	Zhuo mazu	Zhaxi dawa
Linme	Gengbo langjia	Kangme zhuoma	Langjia zeren	Luo meicuo	Zeren lame
Dengzhen wangjia	Zewang zhuoma	Yixilame	Jiaka zeren	Suolang zu	Wase xue
Ruzu	Yixijiancuo	Zhaxilame	Suolang tai	Gerang zhuoma	Geng rang renqing
Ruyazhuo	Basangzu	Limazhaxi	Baima kanzhou	Bajinta	Garang zewang
Gedenglame	Luomu jiancuo	Baima quzhuo	Puwa zeren	Suolang zhuoma	Zeren cuo
Luomecuo	Wengshao yong	Gejiu	Qucuo zhuoma	Suolang lame	Duojiexue
Jiatacuo	Gekedeng zhen	Garangcuo	Suojita	Yangjie lame	Zerencuo
Gengqiu qingren	Bozha	Namezeli	Ejiezeren	Gengqiu zhuoma	Kewan gong zhuo
Zengxue	Shangzhuo	Caoneng wangme	Baima zedan	Nima zeren	Koucuo mei
Youzhong zeren	Zhebazu	Langjiujia	Suolang luowu	Rume cuo	Xiama cuo
Basangzu	Zezhoucuo	Sangcuo zeren	Luncuo zeren	Gongqiu jiancuo	Zheng shaol ong

Delays, Difficulties and Lesson learned

Delays
I supposed to implement the project within five days, but I had to delay the time since in Daxing Township there are 5 big villages and separately there are 13 small villages, and they do not have the phones and also when they come to borrow the money they need to walk to township. Some of them are near the township and they can get to the township in half an hour on foot one way, so they need to walk an hour; some of them are far away from the township and then need to walk two and half an hour on foot one way, so they need to walk five hours. Some of them are a bit near the township and they need to walk one hour on foot one way, so they need to walk two hours. So on Feb 27^th, I finished lending the money. In total it took me 18 days to implement the project.

Difficulties
Because I have lack of experiences, I met many difficulties on the lending money. Many students got the same name and the project manager did not write their parents’ name on the borrow letter before, when they were writing the borrow letters. After one day I does not whom she lent the money, she asked her father, who is working in the primary school. After that, her father made an account of the lent money, on the account write the date, the family head name, the student’s name and amount of the money that they borrowed. In this case, it is really clear and very easy.

Lesson learned
When I began to collect local contribution on 2^nd Feb, and at that time I was still on the way to home so nd asked father to collect this, on 8^th Feb I got home and at that time most of the families already gave local contribution, but I had to wait for the couple of families for about a week.. If she had told them before a month of the performances to prepare the local contribution, she could get all of the together. But she just told them on the performances, many of them already spent money to buy things for the New Year, and they have no preparation for the local contribution. So I had to wait for them about a week to collect the local contribution

What I learned from this project is that when we are doing project only good preparation is not enough, we still need to ask experienced people for advice since that is practical and more valuable. So my suggestions for the new and inexperienced project managers are to have a good preparation and ask experienced people for more practical advice.

Interviews (3—5 interviews)

She is a primary school student and her problem is that she has a brother and sister to attend school; her parents do not want her to attend school because of the expenses and ask her to stay at home and herd the sheep and goats. Now she can borrow the money from the project each year without any interest until graduate from college school. She said she is happy now because she also can attend the school like her brother and sister, can read books and enjoy in the school yards instead of herding on the mountain top. She thanks to the donor.

This is a village man, whose name is Luo Mu Jia. His problem is that he has three children (Two girls and one boy) to attend school, has an incapable brother and a very old mother to take care of. From the project he does not need to worry about the children school expenses for his three children at winter time. At summer time he will dig herb roots and caterpillar fungus to payback the borrowed money because he still can borrow the money form the program again without any interests.

This is a villager. Her name is Luo Mei Cuo, she is 36 years old, and her problem is that her husband is always sick, but has to pay for three children school expenses and pay the husband’s medical expenses. Now she can borrow the money from the project without any interests for a year and at summer time she can dig herb roots and caterpillar fungus to make money and save some to payback what she borrowed from the project. Then after the students’ performances during the new year time, she can come and borrow money for her three children again for another year without any interests. She said that she is really happy that she can borrow money from the project without any interests for her three children (three students), and said many thanks to the donor.

This is Kang Me Cuo and her mother Dan Zhen Cuo. Their problem is that she has three children. Her husband and her can not pay the school expenses for three children, so they are deciding to let Kang Me Cuo to herd the sheep and goats and the other two to attend school. Now her daughter can borrow the money from the project each year without any interest until graduation. She said in the parents heart all the children are the same and love them all. She is really happy that all of her three children can attend school and looking for a bright future. Her hope is also that do not let them stay in the valleys like her and face the ground and back to the hot sunshine all the time. Thanks for the donor very much.

Letter of appreciation

Receipts

His name is Duo Jie Zu, he is attending in Daxing Primary School.

His name is Kan Zhou Xue, he is a middle school student in Songpan Tibetan Middle School.

His name is Luorang Linma, he is a high school student in Maer Kang Tibetan high school.

Her name is Gengqiu Zhuoma, she is a college students in Aba agriculture and pasture college.

His name is Zewang Dongzhou, he is a pupil in Daxing Primary School.

Her name is Cairang Ji, she is attending Songpan Tibetan Middle School.

His name is Wangdeng, he is attending ABa agriculture and pasture College.

His name is Yeshi Jiancuo, he is attending Daxing Primary School.

His name is Zezhou Cairang, he is attending Songpan Tibetan Middle school.

His name is Luorang Zhaxi and he is a student in Sichuan College.

Her name is Oume Cuo and she is attending North West institution.

His name is Ruta Zu, and he a student in North West Institution.

Her name is Luomo Cuo, and she is attending Sichuan College.

Her name is Cairang Ji, she is attending Songpan Tibetan Middle School.

Her name is Gedeng Lame, and she is a pupil in Daxing Primaty School.

Her name is Caineng Wangme, and she is pupil in Daxing Primary School.

His name is Lima Zhaxi, and he is a pupil in Daxing Primary School.

Her name is Seji Zhuoma, she is a college student in Sichuan College.

His name is Luojie Zhou, and he is attending Songpan Tiebtan Middle school

Her name is Yixi Zhuoma, and she is attending Songpan Tibetan Midlle School.

Her name is Gesang zhuoma, and she is a pupil in Daxing Primary School.

The Original Proposal

Project Location
The project site is located in Daxing Township, Songpan County, Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Daxing Township is in the South East of Songpan County, 52km away from the county seat . Songpan County Town is 363km from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province.

A Background of Daxing Students’ Tuition Help Program:

In 1995, about 6 students in the township discussed the possibility of organizing a program to help other students of Daxing township. They named their organization the Daxing Students Tuition Aid Program.

The program has two primary purposes. The first and most important is to help students of the township to cover the costs of education. We do this by asking some more well off (relatively) residents to donate money to our group. In return, we organize the students and arrange a celebration day during which the students perform dances, singing and comedy acts for the township residents. This performance is typically help during the winter holiday while the students are not in school. The money that we raise we are then able to lend to the students and their families so that they can pay for school. We lend the money for a year at no interest, and then ask the recipients to return the same amount. This helps these families send their children to school, because they ordinarily would not have a large sum of disposable income to spend on tuition fees. With the loan, however, they can send their child to school and slowly accumulate the principle sum through out the year to pay it back.

Another reason we operate this program is to provide some lively cultural entertainment for the township residents. Their lives are very difficult and they are constantly required to labor in order to make ends meet. Arranging a performance for them provides a well-deserved break and an opportunity to enjoy some cultural entertainment. We invite all viewers to join in the dancing and singing, though most of them are farmers without any idea about how to participate. Most are illiterate and rarely venture outside of the small valley were they grew up. The students, who have practiced and perform well, always impress the shy famers. The students’ confidence encourages village families to send their children to school as well.

Nineteen students in the township first organized this program. Thirteen of them were in middle school, four went to the local teachers training school, and two were in college. At first they had many difficulties starting the program, mostly because they had no money. Their parents were at first skeptical; already they work hard year-round and avoid purchasing any new clothes, vegetables, and meat in order to save money for their children to go to school. Annual school expenses are about 1,200 yuan for middle schoolers, 3,000 rmb for those in the teacher training school, and 5,000rmb for the college students. The students founders finally convinced their parents to support the idea. However, they had little experience to employ in such an endeavor, as most of their free time had been spent helping their families work. For this reason, they had established none of the social connections necessary for getting money or permission for such a program. Nevertheless, they persevered and scraped together enough money for the first performance. This way, they won the confidence of the community and the donations began to trickle in (most donations are the equivalent of 50 cents, or at the most 10 dollars).

Now the program has been running for eleven years, and has a 6,217 rmb available to lend out to needy students. This money is not enough to help all the students who require money to cover their tuition, in particular those who wish to pursue higher education. More and more young people are eager to go to school and stay in school, but the community income has not risen to fit the bill.

Current Rules of the Program

In order for the Aid program to run smoothly, the members have agrred upon a series of rules. Firstly, every student from the township in middle school and college must participate in the annual performance, which occurs usually near the New Year. Only if there are important extenuating circumstances are they released from this duty. The vast majority are eager to participate regardless of the rule, though we make it clear anyway.

Secondly, every student in this program has the responsibility to make the program better. They need to cooperate with each other and follow the instructions of the agreed upon program leader. Every year we choose a new leader from among the members. A female student is the leader for a year and then a male student is the leader for a year.

Thirdly, it is unacceptable for others who are not students to interfere in the administration of the program. When the student members graduate from school, they have to pass their position in the program to another student member. Also, graduated students cannot receive any money from the program, as it is strictly for students. Exceptions are made only if they donate at least 50rmb to the program and offer to guide the younger members with their experience.

Fourthly, when we finish the annual performance and tally the donations, we discuss how much money we should lend to middle school students, teacher-training students, and college students. If possible, we lend some money to every student who volunteered to participate in the program. Each year we can earn about 1,500 RMB from performance activities, but the cost of putting it all together is about 700 RMB. Costs include: buying food and drinks, and buying small gifts such as a soda or juice drink and a kardak (light ceremonial scarf that denotes esteem or respect) for donors to encourage them to continue to give. What we are able to lend to students varies year to year according to the costs and earnings from each performance. The students can borrow money at no interest for one year, at which point they must return it. If they fail to do so, interest begins to accrue at a rate of 5 RMB per 100RMB they borrowed per month. Only students themselves can borrow the money directly, not their relatives. Upon borrowing funds they must write and sign a letter agreeing to pay back the amount before the beginning of the next year’s performance. Since the program began 11 years ago, every student who borrowed money has returned it.

Population

In Daxing Township, there are five big villages which together comprise 204 households. There are 1,354 people in the township, among them are 440 women and 488 men. There are 426 children.

Education

Roughly 75 percent of the adults in Daxing Township are wholly illiterate since they never had a chance to attend school due to the financial burden.

There are 232 primary school students–96 female and 136 male. There are 15 middle school students–3 female and 12 male. There are 7 high school students–4 female and 3 male. Finally, there are 3 college students–each is female. There are about 257students in total in the entire township.

Cash income

In Daxing Township, each household can average earn around 2,750RMB on average per year. They have two ways to earn cash throughout the year.

The first way is to sell livestock (goats or sheep) in the autumn. Half of the households in Daxing Township have no livestock at all. Families that have the highest number of livestock own 20-odd goats or 20-odd sheep, two pigs and two bulls. They only can sell 4 goats or 4 sheep each year. A sheep or a goat can sell for 200 RMB. They do not sell the bulls because they need them to plow the fields and they do not sell the pigs because they fatten them to eat each year .

Accordingly, some households can earn around 800 RMB each year by selling the goats or the sheep, but many households have none to sell at all.

The second way to earn money is to dig caterpillar fungus in the late spring for a month. Caterpillar fungus is an unusual fungus that grows in the mountains and is prized for its medicinal qualities. One small piece, the size of a match perhaps, can fetch about 8 RMB these days. Unfortunately, Daxing people need to go to other places by truck or bus to dig caterpillar fungus since there is none on the mountains near Daxing. Usually they need to pay 300 RMB per person as a levy for searching/ digging on others’ land. Transportation to and from those areas averages about 150 RMB per journey. Each household only can send one person to collect the fungus because the rest are needed to work in the fields. Each person can find 10 pieces of fungus per day on average. Each person can typically earn 1,950 RMB each year from this endeavor.

Each household in Daxing can earn at most, about 2,750 RMB per year. However their annual expenditures exceed this amount. Annual costs typically include buying clothes, shoes, vegetables, rice, medicine, herbicide, fertilizer, paying for electricity, and sending their children to school. Annually, local people spend 240 RMB for electricity, 100 RMB for the health care, 19 RMB for preventative medicine for the livestock, 700 RMB for buying rice, 700 RMB for flour, 200 RMB for vegetables, 50 RMB to buy cheese and butter, and spend about 800 RMB for buy shoes and clothes a year. In a year they totally need to spend 2,809 RMB and it is more than what they actually earn in a year.

Agriculture

Daxing is an agricultural township and residents usually grow barley, wheat and potatoes. Some households have 15 mu (1mu=.00067 square km, or 1/15 th hectare)of fields, and some others have 8 mu of fields. Because of periodic drought and flooding, the farmers cannot harvest enough food for all their family members to eat throughout the year (larger families have ten or more people, smaller families have six people). Therefore, they have to spend money to buy rice, flour and vegetables, as well as butter and cheese. One mu of land can produce about 200 jin (1 jin=1/2 kg) of barley, 250 jin of wheat, or 300 jin of potatoes. The weather is cold throughout most of the year, and the summer is very short. The villages are in amountainous area, which also contributes to the poor farming conditions. The quality of the wheat is not good and is mostly used to as feed for the pigs. The potatoes are very small, local people choose the bigger ones to eat and feed the small ones to the pigs.

Project goals:

The overall goal of this project is to help the poor students in Daxing Township to attain an education and to increase enrollment rates in the township.

The immediate goal of the project is to provide convenient access to funds for parents and students in order to reduce the financial troubles the face in paying for an education.

 

Problems:

• Poor children, especially girls, cannot attend school, because the parents usually send the girls to dig herb roots and caterpillar fungus since they do not drink, smoke, or gamble. The girls save the money they earned and help their parents to send younger brothers or sisters to school.

• Parents typically try their best to send all their children to school, but they cannot afford it. So they usually ask the submissive children to help the family and the submissive children are usually girls. In addition, some children do really well in their studies and pass the entrance examinations for college, but their parents cannot afford for their school expenses.

• Students feel strong pressure to reduce their parents work burden and otherwise contribute to the family. Therefore they save as much money as possible at school, which means they do not purchase adequate or advanced study materials.

• In my hometown most women are illiterate. They are unable to talk about health problems to doctors when they are sick because they can not speak Chinese. They also do not know simple math and have difficulties purchasing items from the market.

Benefits of the Project:

235 people per year will benefit from this project.

• Poor children, especially girls, will have a far better chance to go to school, as they will not need to dig herb roots and caterpillar fungus for their younger brothers or sisters school expenses.

• For parents, the burden of sending children to school will be eased. Parents will be able to send all their children to school, submissive or not, because to the convenient loan program.

• For students, the burden of constantly saving money and cutting corners will be eased. They will not need to worry about their tuition as much, and will be able to afford proper study materials. Reduce students heavy burden and pressure. The students do not need to worry about their tuition and they also can use the new technological study materials to study.

• With the new loans, girls will be able to study and will not remain illiterate for generations and generations. Education is a primary avenue to empowerment and self-determination.

How the project will address gender inequalities:

As mentioned earlier, the girls usually cannot attend school, because the parents usually send the girls to dig herb roots and caterpillar fungus. The girls save the money they earn and help their parents to send younger brothers or sisters to school. The loan program makes it easier for parents to send their girls to school, thereby raising the enrollment rate for girls.

As for the project itself, both girls and boys have equal opportunity to act as leader of the program, as the leadership position switches between a male/female year to year.

Government support:

On May 2th, 2006, Luomocuo, the leader of Daxing Students School Tuition Aid Program, and I met with Tang Xiaodong and He Ping, the leaders of the township, to discuss the project. They gave us permission to go forward with the project and encouraged us to continue this program to help more and more children to get an education.

Steps of the project:

1. Hold meeting with local people and consult them about their needs. (Completed)

2. Talk to Luomocuo, the leader of Daxing Students School Tuition Aid Program and get more information about the program and how it could be expanded . (Completed).

3. Hold a meeting with all the students and villager leaders to discuss how much money we should lend to a poor college student, how much for a poor high school student, how much for a poor middle school student and how much for a poor primary school student. (Completed)

4. Hold a meeting with all the students and village leaders to choose five reliable and honest people, to investigate the program to check whether the students are doing well with the money or not. (Completed)

6. Write the proposal (Completed).

7. Secure donor funding.

8. Receive funds.

9. Hold a meeting with the members of the program and village leaders again to insure proper compliance with the rules of the program.

10. Hold a meeting with all the students who are the members of Daxing Students School Tuition Aid Program again and remind the students of all the rules again.

11. To announce the students that they can borrow money from the program without any interest for one year

12. Start project and lend money to the students.

14. S upervise the process of the project.

15. Interview the students and local people (men, women, and children).

16. Take pictures.

17. Write a final report.

18. Send final report with all pictures and receipts.

Timeframe:

This project will take a total of five days to implement:

The first day	Hold a meeting with the members of the program and village leaders again to insure proper compliance with the rules of the program.
The second day	Hold a meeting with all the members of the program to make a formal agreement about following the rules of the program.
The third day	Hold a meeting with all the students and remind them of the rules and terms of the agreement.
The fourth day	To announce the students that they can borrow money from the program without any interest for one year.
The fifth day	Lend the money and the leader will keep the receipts.

 

Detailed Budget of the Project

Donor contribution :

Item	Price per item RMB	Number of items	Total RMB
Expenses in primary school	100RMB /per person	150	15,000
Expenses in middle school	500RMB/per person	50	25,000
Expenses in high school	500RMB/per person	25	12,500
Expenses in college	1,000RMB/ per person	10	10,000
Total amount requested from Donor			62,500RMB

­ Expenses: in the primary school and middle school students do not need to pay for school tuition, but they need to pay fees for the dormitory, study materials, and food. In high school and college they need to pay for everything: the dormitory, food, study materials and tuition.

 

Local Contribution:

Item	Price per item RMB	Number of items	Total RMB
Family contribution	50RMB/per household	*174	8,700
The fund in the program			6,317
Total Value of local contribution			15,017RMB

*Note: In this Township there are totally 204 households and 30 of them are the poorest according to their annual cash income, which is less than 200RMB per family. They have fewer family members to work in the fields and own no livestock. For this reason only 174 households will pay the local contribution.

Total costs of the project :

Donor contribution	Local contribution	Total Cost in RMB	Total Cost inUS Dollars
62,500 RMB	15,017RMB	77,517RMB	$9,690

 

Sustainability:

The tuition aid program was started in 1995 and it has continued for 11 years. In those years, the program has improved in that the amount of funds available for lending has slowly increased. And also all the students have been obedient regarding the rules of the program and they have consistently returned the money that they borrowed from program. The number of the students who participate to this program is now increasing; in 1995 there were 19 students, now there are 25 students. This project is sustainable, because students have returned the funds as expected for 11 straight years. There is no reason to believe that they will do otherwise in the future, especially considering how much the local people continue to value the program.

If funding is secured, the program members will continue to organize the annual performances and solicit funds from wealthier villagers after the performance days are over.

 

Photos of the program in action:

The three people are leading representatives of the program. One of them is speaking Chinese, one of them is speaking Tibetan and the other one is speaking English (me, far left). The people who are sitting at the desks are the donors, and they are watching the performance. The people on the wall are the villagers who are also watching the performance. This picture was taken in 2003, when the manager was a boy named Sonjijia.

These are people are villagers coming to see the performances. The children standing both sides are the students who are welcoming the villagers. This is a picture from 2001.

These people in this picture are the founders of Daxing School Tuition Aid Program. This is a picture from 1995.

In this picture, the female members of the program are giving a performance for the donors. This is a picture from 2002.

In this picture the young villagers are giving a performance to the donors. This was taken in 2004.

In this picture these people are donating money to the program. This was taken in 2006.

In this picture these people are also donating money to the program, also in 2006.