Reports

This project is to buy 955 books that include Tibetan and Chinese books for Zhang Da Primary School.
In order to motivate the children to attend school and to improve the students’ reading skills and basic academic knowledge; to reduce the illiteracy rate in Zhang Da village.

Asia Foundation funded this project

Sonam Droma is from Zhang Da Village, Limu Township，Luhuo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. She was graduated from English training program at Qinghai Normal University’s Nationalities Department English Training Program 2009.

What? To buy 355Tibetan, 600Chinese books for teachers and students in Zhang da School to improve their study level and teaching method as well as expand their knowledge.

Who? Students and teachers in ZhangDa School, Limu Town, Lu huo County, Gai zi  Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China

Photos of project implementation

Books were putted on the book shelves in the school literary

Grade two students were reading the books in the class room

Students were reading the books during the break times ，

Project summary

Project title: Book Project for Zhang Da School

Project goals: The immediate goal of this project is to buy 955 books that include Tibetan and Chinese books for Zhang Da Primary School. The overarching goal of this project is to motivate the children to attend school and to improve the students’ reading skills and basic academic knowledge; to reduce the illiteracy rate in Zhang Da village.

The project location: The project is located in Zhang Da Village and it is in Li Mu Township, Lu Huo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. And the village is about 654 Kilometers away from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan province. Zhang Da village is 291 Kilometers away from Kang Ding town. From Zhang Da village to Lu Huo County town is 15 kilometers. Zhang Da primary school is at Zhang Da village.

Total beneficiaries: This project will directly benefit 63students and 5 teachers in Zhang Da primary school and 533 villagers indirectly in Zhang Da village. In total 601 people will get benefit from the Project.

Implementation organization/individual
Sonam Droma （Nancy）, Mr. Li(the school leader of Zhang Da school)  Ni ma (the village leader of Zhang Da village) and Shem Women’s Group

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received
Shem Women’s Group gave 7,329rmb on 8^th March 2009 to the project manager (Sonam Droma).

The project steps
1) At the beginning of July 2008 the proposal was designed and the related information related of the book project was collected.
2) In August the project proposal was completed.
3) The project was funded by The Asia Foundation.
4) Sonam Droma (the project manager) received 7,329 rmb from Shem Women’s Group on 8^th March 2009.
5)The project manager(Sonam Droma) contacted the book store and Zhang Da primary school leader to discuss the start date of the project.
5) On May 2009, transported the books to Zang Da School.
6) On May 2nd, the book project was completed and the school started to use the books.
7) On June 13^th 2009, the project manager started to work on the final report.

Project Finance

Original Budget					Actual Cost
Rece ipt #	Item	Donor Contri bution in rmb	Local Contri bution in rmb	Total Cost in rmb	Donor Contri bution in rmb	Local Contri bution in rmb	Total Cost in rmb	Difference
#1	Books	7,329	0	7,329	6,652	0	6,652	+677
# 2	Transpor tation fee	310	0	310	530	0	530	-220
#3	Manage ment Expenses	500	0	500	70	0	70	+430
	Desk	0	200	200		200	200	0
	Chair	0	220	220	0	220	220	0
Total		8,139	420	8,559	7,252	420	7,672	**+887

Note: ** the left money has sent back to Shem Women’s Group

Delays, Difficulties, and lessons learned
Delays
After receiving the funds for the project from Shem, I purchased books in Cheng du and, since I couldn’t buy the Tibetan books for primary students so I had waited for around 5 days, then I bought the Chinese books and looking for transportation that transport the books in Luhuo and I couldn’t find there for delayed several days. And then I went to Kangding to buy the rest of Tibetan books but the books store have no enough books so they got to reserved in Qinghai and then delayed about ten days.

Difficulties
During the project implementation, the most serious problem which I encountered was that I could not find transportation to take the books to Zhang Da School, because the books were few and the truck driver asked extreme expensive transportation fee, , and another difficulties are that some the transportation fee that I had spend got no tickets. And I couldn’t get Tibetan children’s books in Cheng Du as well in Kang Ding, then I bought the half of Tibetan books in Kangding, additionally that the school had no camera and I couldn’t take picture and had waited for a long time to get camera.

Lessons learned
During the implementing of the book project, the most important thing I had learned was that I had really to be very responsible and motivate , and patient no matter how people disagree with you shall be very calm and think clearly how you are going to organize your project. And the most important thing is that motivation organization and perseverance are the keys to achieve your goal. And another thing which I learned was that one needs to be ready to convince and negotiate with others. I learnt that when we are implementing a project that any unexpected things can happen and one needs to be ready to solve it and take decisions.

Thank you letter

Translation of Thank you letter

Dear the Asia Foundation,

Thank you very much for your donation for my school, we have received about 955books including Chinese and Tibetan. Your donation broadens both school teachers and students’ knowledge and provided favorable conditions for enhancing the cultural quality. It also provided a favorable environment for book supply in our school and it is like just to provide fire in the snow. Here I represent all the students and teachers to express your endless support and help. The school teachers and students, will work hard, study and never forget your kindness!

                                       Zhang Da primary School
Mr. Li (teacher)
March 20^th 2009

Receipts

Receipts #1

Those two receipts are for books and totally cost 6,652rmb includes Tibetan, and Chinese books.

Receipts #2

These receipts are for transportation fee and totally cost 530 rmb

Receipts#3

These receipts are for hotel fee in Kang ding and it totally cost 70 RMB

Original Proposal
Project location
The project is located in Zhang Da Village in Li Mu Township, Lu Huo County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. The village is about 654 km away from Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. Zhang Da Primary School is in Zhang Da Village.
Population
There are 533 people in Zhang Da Village, comprised of 102 women, 321 men, and 110 children. There are 63students (23 girls and 40 boys) in the Zhang Da Primary School.
Education
In Zhang Da Village there are 14 people working for the government. In Zhang Da Village there are 63 primary students who are attending Zhang Da Primary School. There are also about 15 Students attending Xia La Tuo Primary School, which is located in Xia La Tuo Village and is about 2 kilometers away from Zhang Da Village. There are 11 middle school students; 7 are in Luhuo Middle School in Luhuo County Town, and 4 are in a Tibetan middle school, which is located in Zhu He Township, about 50 kilometers from Zhang Da Village. There are 4 college students in the village and no high school students. Two students were chosen by a program founded by a lama; the two students are learning special skills like Tangka painting, making carpets, and other traditional Tibetan skills. Two are studying in Qinghai Normal University. The rest of the children are not attending school; some are helping their families to do other chores and some have become monks and nuns.
Cash Income
In Zhang Da Village the people have three ways to earn cash income. One way is that the villagers who are aged 17 to 48 go out to do construction works to earn money in summer and spring (April to July). Each person can earn about 25 rmb for per day, but there might be rainy days or some special occasions when they cannot do labor. Approximately each person may earn 2,000 rmb for these three months.Another way that villagers earn income is by digging caterpillar fungus (Caterpillar fungus is a medicinal herb which grows on the grasslands and mountains in May and June). Each caterpillar fungus sells for about 13rmb. In total some people are able to find about 20 fungi a day. Others can only find 1 or 2, and there are occasions when people cannot find a single fungus in one day. It depends on the eye sight of a person and how skilled the person is at looking for fungus. Those who are skillful at finding fungus could earn around 4,000 rmb, while those who are not skilled can only earn 1,000 or 2,000 rmb.The third way to get cash income is that the carpenters in the village go to other villages where they build shrines and furniture to earn money, but there are only five carpenters in the village and each carpenter can earn about 35 rmb for per day. They work both in the summer and winter. If the carpenter spends about 3 months to build a house for a family, they could earn about 3,190 rmb. Some carpenters can earn about 5,000 rmb. Whether a carpenter can earn money dependson how long he could work or how many jobs he could find. On average each household can earn about 5,500 rmb for the whole year. This is not enough for their daily necessities, because the families need to spend about 500 rmb on clothes each year and about 3,000 rmb on food (i.e., butter, rice, and vegetables). Each year, they need to spend about 3,000 rmb on the New Year’s celebration. People might also need to spend 50 rmb on medicine. They usually do not buy medicine unless a person is seriously sick. If a family has a college student then that family has to borrow some money from their relatives and other people for the student’s tuition fee. A college student’s tuition fee and food cost is at least 10,000 rmb for a year.
Agriculture
Zhang Da Village is a farming village and the villagers grow barley, wheat and potatoes. On average each household has about 9 acres of fields and each acre of land can produce about 300 jin (1 jin= 0.5kg) of barley. The products from the fields are only enough barley and wheat for the villagers to survive.
Herding
Since Zhang Da Village is a farming village, villagers do not own much livestock. On average each family owns about 5 sheep, 2 horses, and 3 cows for milk. In the summer, their livestock are sent to the mountains to be herded by the village children and old people. Each family can get about 20-30 jin of butter from their milk cows for a year and people keep the butter for themselves to eat, and they do not have enough butter to sell.Project Goals
The immediate goal of this project is to buy 955 books that include Tibetan and Chinese book for Zhang Da Primary School.
The overarching goal of this project is to motivate the children to attend school and to improve the students’ reading skills and basic academic knowledge; to reduce the illiteracy rate in Zhang Da village and strengthen students’ chances at finding government jobs.Problems
1. Lack of study materials for the students
The school only provides the students with basic books. The students only have one book for each subject. The subjects in the school are: Tibetan, Mathematics and Chinese. The students have no access to any other books. Some times, some students lose their books and the school will not give them an extra book; therefore they need to share the book with other students. Consequently, after school they have nothing to read, their parents are mostly illiterate and cannot help them. The students cannot complete their homework by themselves, so as a result they lose interesting in studying. The school does not have a library, so students have no access to texts beyond their basic textbooks and have little access to information about the outside world

2. Students lack motivation for attending school
Students who do not have access to interesting study materials have little motivation for attending school. Most students at Zhang Da Primary School are around five years old and only have access to basic books, such as alphabet books. There are no picture books, story books or child-friendly books, so students are less excited about learning.

3. Have no access to a variety of teaching materials
Teachers teach students some basic knowledge such as the 30 alphabets in Tibetan. Without teaching materials like books with colorful pictures they cannot explain new concepts to 4 or 5 year old children well. It is difficult for the children to comprehend some thing new. Teachers need materials that can make children understand easily, so that their teaching will be easier. Now teachers found out that about 30% of the students even cannot write their own names in grade one.

4. Few students pass the entrance exam of middle and high school
Without build a good foundation, a house will not stay strong. Likewise, without knowing basic knowledge, it is hard for the students to pass the middle school and high school entrance exam, which is big obstacle to their future that will probably drop them from the school and end their education career. Without pass the exams they will have no more chance to attend school but to earn money by digging caterpillar fungus or herding. Only a few students got into middle and high school from the primary school. Most students can not pass the entrance exam of middle and high school due in part to a lack study materials.

5. Ignorance of Tibetan history
The school does not provide the students with interesting Tibetan books and folk tales which were fit for children to read. Consequently students who were in grade 4 in primary school do not know famous persons in Tibetan history.

Benefits
1.If the book resources are adequate, students have access to better knowledge
If the school’s resources improved, students would have access to other books besides their textbooks. Teachers can use the new books as teaching materials. Interesting, child-friendly books make their teaching more interesting and easier, thus students can learn easily. If they can read books which they are really are interested in then they get meaning from the text. Consequently they will have more motivation to go to school and they won’t be punished by teachers. Their attitude towards studying will change. Students’ knowledge will become broader and they will have the opportunity to learn many things that they cannot learn from their present textbooks. They will gain more knowledge about the outside world, and their motivation and interest in learning will increase. Their future will be more hopeful and their goals will become bigger.

2. Students will be more motivated to attend school
If the school has a library that has lots of interesting stories for the students to read then the students will be willing to go to school. The teachers can bring the new books and readings in the class and thus the students will learn new things. Simultaneously, their reading skills will improve, and their curiosity for knowledge will improve. They will be more motivated to attend school. If the parents found that their children are willing to go school and they are getting good scores on the exams, then they will be more willing to send their children to school.

3. The school will have good teaching materials
It’s easy for teachers to teach students with interesting tales and pictures. They can explain concepts easily and clearly, so the students can understand what the teacher is teaching. Automatically these materials can motivate students to pay attention to the class and participate in class activities. They will learn more in the class.

4. More students will pass the entrance exam of middle and high school
The students’core for middle and high school entrance exam will improve with a better foundation of basic knowledge. Students will have better chances to enter middle school and high school. Simultaneously they will have more chances to study and step toward their dreams of a brilliant future.

5. Understanding Tibetan history
Children can read Tibetan books that are related to Tibetan culture and tradition, like simple folktales. On the other hand, they will not ignore Tibetan culture and tradition which makes them who they are. Also in high school or college they can explore more about Tibetan culture and tradition. Therefore, it will be easoer for the students to learn Tibetan culture and tradition when the students enter high school and college.

Beneficiaries
This project will directly benefit 63 students and 5 teachers in Zhang Da Primary School and 533 villagers in Zhang Da Village will benefit indirectly. In total 601 people will benefit from the Project.

Gender equality
If the project is completed, more and more children will be sent to school and will be motivated to stay in school, especially girls. Before people believed that it is futile to send girls to school and they believed that the girls cannot achieve as boys, but if I successfully complete this project, then this will impact their attitude toward girls.

Government Approval
I contacted the local government leader on 15^th, May, 2008 and he permitted me to do this project and was willing to support the project. He strongly encouraged me to implement this project.

The project steps

1. Contacted the school leader and discussed with teachers the urgent needs. (Done)
2. Get information about what kinds of books students want to read.
3. Contacted the book store and asked for price quotes. (Done)
4. Write proposal. (Done)
5. Secure donor funding.
6. Purchase the books from Xin hua book store in Chengdu City
7. Transport the books to the school.
8. Interview the teachers, students and villagers.
9. Take pictures.
10.Send final report with receipts.

Time Frame
1day: inform the school leader that the project was funded and ask them to prepare the shelves.

2 days: Purchasing the books in in Xin hua book store in Cheng du City 7 days: Transport the books from Xining to Zhangda primary school.

1 day: Hold a meeting in Zhang Da Primary School with teachers and students.

1day: Put all the books in the well prepared library and put them in order

1day: Take pictures of the students and books.

In total it will take 13 days to carry out the project.
Detailed Budget

Item	Price for per item in rmb	Number of item	Donor Contribution in rmb	Local Contribution in rmb	Shem Contribution in rmb	Total cost in rmb
Happycelestial body	8.9	30	267	0	0	267
Three pigs	3	60	180	0	0	180
Small red cat	3	60	180	0	0	180
Golden goose	8	40	320	0	0	320
The emperor -lift	5	30	150	0	0	150
Cinde rella	5	30	150	0	0	150
Wild Goose	4.2	30	126	0	0	126
Frog prince	4.2	30	126	0	0	126
Children’s 100 songs	10	60	600	0	0	600
Mermaid tribes	12	30	360	0	0	360
Moral and life	4.8	30	144		0	144
One thousand and one night	10	60	600	0	0	600
Wise Reading	10	50	500	0	0	500
The Girl who sells matches	4.9	50	245	0	0	245
Vocabulary card	5	50	250	0	0	250
Uncle Dunba	4	63	252	0	0	252
Colorful Snow	5	63	315	0	0	315
The writing of Primary	12	63	756	0	0	756
Writing from Pictures	12	63	756	0	0	756
Damo kaqiam	4	63	252	0	0	252
Desk	20	10	0	200	0	200
Chair	22	10	0	220	0	220
Book Shelves	3	50	0	150	0	150
Management Expenses(1)			500	410	0	910
Transportation fee(2)	310		310	0		310
Management payment			0	0	500	500
Total		1,025	7,339	980	500	8,819

Total donor contribution is 7,339rmb=$1,075

(1)This includes the expenses of bus from Xining City to the school, the hotel reservation in Chengdu City, when the project manager is purchasing the books, and also phone calls to the local government and the school leader.

(2)I will purchase the books in Xin hua book store in Cheng du City. Transport the book from Chengdu City to Kang ding by taxi approximately costs 200rmb and from Kang ding to Luhuo county by the same taxi it will cos100rmb. Then from county town to Zhangda primary school it’s 10 rmb. Transporting the books from Cheng du to Zhang Da Village will cost 310rmb in total.

# 50 to 60 copies of some books are being ordered so that teachers can use class sets of the books. Each student can borrow a copy of the book for the lesson.

Sustainability
All the teachers will be responsible for the books in the school. A female teacher called Mu lo will make rules for the library and keep the library clean. She is going to take the responsibility for arranging the library, and making sure that the books are not damaged or stolen. If any books are lost from the library then the teacher will pay for replacement books.

Map of the project location