To provide second-hand clothing to impoverished villagers to solve living problems that Gartshe villager face in Rebgong County.

Private donors funded this project

Dpalmo gyal (Alison) is from Horgyal Village, Rebgong County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Currently, she is studying towards a BA degree in English and Tibetan at Qinghai Normal University

What: This project is to provide second-hand clothing to impoverished villagers to solve living problems that Gartshe villager face in Rebgong County.

Brief Description of Implementation
This project was implemented on February 7^th, 2010; it was nearly the time for celebrating Losar. I chose two poorest families in Gartshe village according to their income situation and members of people who can participate in work under their village leader’s help. After the village leader and I distributed the clothes to the two families. The two families were very happy and especially their children were happy to receive those clothes.

Project beneficiaries

Her name is Sgrontso. She is 86 years old now. She had one son but he was died after he got married. After her son’s death, Sgrontso’s daughter-in-low took her two sons and left home. After that no one cares Sgrontso and she became lonely and weaker. Her living condition became worse and she couldn’t work anymore. Since then her life is depending on the little money that villagers contribute. She said she had nothing to give to express her gratified heart but thanks for the people who helped her from bottom of her heart.

His name is Lung rtog. He is eighteen years old. He studies in senior high school. His parents were divorced when he was eight and he lived with his mother’s parents. Lung rtog’s parents do not take care of him because they have other children. Now his grandparents are old and have no abilities to work and send him to school. But Lung rtog’s study is very good so his school fee is given by a sponsor. The sponsor only cares his school fee and his cloth is always not very good.

List of recipients

Thanks letter

Translated thanks letter

Dear donors,

I am a simple student in Gartshe Village. In such a cold winter day, thank you very much that you kindly sent these warm and nice clothes to people who are living in poor conditions such as me and the lonely old woman. For me I never had a chance to wear the modern beautiful clothes, but I never give up with my study. For my grandparents and aunt Sgron tso, they are old and already have no ability to work and earn money. Therefore, I would like to say thank you again and again to the donors and Shem group instead of the other beneficiaries’ for you avoided many difficulties and long distance to send these clothes to us.

February 7^th, 2010

To provide Second-Hand clothing to three poorest families in Lhakang Village in order to improve their living condition.

Private donors funded this project

Klu mo skyid is from Lhakang Village, Bao’an Township, Tongren County (Rebgong County), Huangnan Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. She is studying for her Bachelor’s Degree in Qinghai Normal University.

Project Location: Lhakang Village, Rebgong County, Huangnan Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China

Brief Description of Implementation
The project was implemented on May, 5th, 2008. It was the time that all the young people went out to dig caterpillar fungus. There were just old people in the families. All the students come home, so I took that chance and distributed the clothes to three poor families among Lhakang Villagers. Firstly; I talked to our village leaders about the second hand clothing. And then we chose three poor families according to their economic situation and how many members does each family have. Finally, we took clothes to those families and distributed to them. They were very happy about this project.

Interviews

The second hand clothes arrived in the village and the project manager prepares to distribute to the villagers.

Her name is Jimaogyal, she is thirty years old this year. Her husband was died several years ago. She has two children. Both of them are going to school in Mapa Qunwu primary school. In her family, there is only she works; she does all of housework and farmland work. Whenever she faces any difficulty, she has no one to share with.

Her name is zhaxizhoma, she is a middle school student in Mapa middle school. There are six people in her family. Both her parents are farmers. All of them are depend on the farmland. So it’s quite hard to pay her tuition. She is studying very hard in the school.

List of recipients

Thank You Letter

Translated thanks letter

Dear donors

Your clothes already received in our poor families hands. We will never forget that you send us the clothes from such further place to our poor place. Especially you helped us who had never worn single new clothes for many years. We will say thank you very much for your generosity.

Sincerely yours,

Wandegyal

October 3^rd, 2008

To provide Second-Hand clothing to the poorest families in Qhimha Village in order to improve their living condition.

Private donors funded this project

JiakmoTsering is from Regong County, Rmalho Tibetan autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. She is currently working towards BA degree in English at the Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program.
Project Location
The project took place in Qhimha Village, Rebgong County, HuangNan Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and China. There are 200 kilometers from Xining city to Qhimha village and its 5 kilometers away from Rebgong to Qhimha village.
Brief Description of Implementation
The project was implemented on October 1st of 2008. It was the time of National holiday in China. I took that chance and distributed the clothes to the poorest families among Qhimha Villagers. Firstly; I talked to our village leaders about the second hand clothing project. And then we chose the three poorest families according to their economic situation and how many members each family has. Finally, we took clothes to those families and distributed to them. They were really enthusiastic toward this project, especially their children.
Photos of the beneficiaries

Her name is Renchiltso; she is thirty-eight years old. She has three children. An unfortunate thing happened to her five yeas ago, her husband died because of tuberculoses. Now she is alone to take care of three children. Her family condition is really poor, but she is trying her best to send her children to schools to get education. As she said education is really important for children in the future, she is happy to contribute let her children to go to school. When she received those clothes she is really happy and she thanks the donor. She said this can save a lot of money and also her children can be warm in such cold weather. She was saying that she was not good at talking, but from bottom of her heart to say thanks very much to these kindhearted contributors.

Her name is Lumo Qhidon. She is fifteen years old. Now she is in Tongren middle school in HuangNan Prefecture. Her father was passed away when she was eight years old. In addition, her mother is disabling. During the holiday or weekends, she always helps her mother to do housework. She has never wore new clothes, all her clothes are given by other relatives.

Her name is Tsetarkid. She is thirteen years old. Her mother abandoned her when she was three years old. All the way, her father takes care of her. At the moment she is in Tongren middle school. She likes to study very much, but her father could not cook for himself and do all the housework. So, her fortune is unlikely hold by herself. When she got these clothes, she was very excited to receive such clean clothes.
List of recipients

Dear generous donors,

I am from a village which is located in a valley. Our village is a farming village; because of the bad weather our land couldn’t produce a good harvest. We hardly support our daily life. At such a predicament, you are kindhearted contributors help us and solve our basic problems. This helps us to save our money and improve our living condition. As our poor living condition, we really have difficulties of spending much money to buy clothes. However, this time we received these clothes and we really appreciate this contribution. Thank you very much for your great contribution.

We want to say thank you very much to those donors and we will never forget your help. We wish you everything goes well with them. Once again thank you very much.

                                                                                                From all Qhimha Villagers

                                                                                                  October 1st 2008

To provide Second-Hand clothing to the poorest families in Askyid Village in order to improve their living condition.

Some American students donated these clothing for this project

Drolmatso is Askyid Village, Ruorgai County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, and China. She graduated with associate degree in English and Tibetan from English Training Program, Qinghai Normal University, Currently, she is working as a project associate consultant for VID in Qinghai Province.

What: To provide Second-Hand clothing to the poorest families in Askyid Village in order to improve their living condition.

Project Location
Askyid Village, Ruorgai County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China

Brief Description of Implementation
The project was implemented on February15th of 2008. It was the time that the weather was extremely cold in Asyid Village and also the time for the villagers to celebrate Losar. According to those villagers’ custom, people would wear new clothes for Losar, especially children. Therefore, those poor and big families were in difficulties of buying both clothes and food for all their family members. I took that chance and distributed the clothes to the poorest families among Askyid Villagers Firstly; I talked to our village leaders about the second hand clothing. And then we chose the poorest families according to their economic situation and how many members does each family have. Finally, we took clothes those families and distributed to them. They were really enthusiastic toward this project, especially children.

Photos of the beneficiaries

Her name is Droltso; she is twenty-eight years old. She has five children. An unfortunate thing happened to her last year, her husband died because of thundering. Now she is alone to take care of five children. Her family condition is really poor, but she is trying her best to send her children to schools to get education. As she said knowledge is really important for children in the future, she was happy to contribute herself to them. When she received those clothes she was really happy and felt thank you to those donors. She said this can save a lot of money and also her children can be warm in such cold weather. She was saying that she was not good at talking, but from bottom of her heart she feels thanks very much for these kindhearted contributors.

Her name is Tseji, she is sixty-five years old. Same as all other villagers she is a nomad and her life was accompanied by milking, herding, and doing all other house works. In addition, there was a big tragedy come upon her when all her children were very young, that was her spouse was passed away. She had to take all her responsibilities to raise her children and give them a feeling of existence of a family that other children were having. She said every year when it was New Year her family had to find different ways to borrow money from other people buy the basic needs. She said to buy clothes it really costs a lot of money, and she now got so many grandsons and daughters they often demand clothes for the New Year. However, “we are really lucky this year to receive such warm and good clothes from warm hearted people. So thank you very much!” said she.

List of recipients

Thanks letter

Translated thanks letter

Dear American students,

Thank you very much for your great contribution that we received your clothing on February of 2008.We really felt lucky to receive such great clothes in such cold weather. This helps us to save our money and improve our living condition. As our living condition and we really have difficulties of spending much money to buy clothes. However, this time we received these clothes and we really appreciate this contribution.

We want to say thank you very much to those people and we would remember them. We wish everything goes well with them and I will always chant scriptures for their great Karma. Once again thank you very much.

From all Asyid Villagers

February 25^th 2008

To distribute second hand clothes to the poorest families in Kousa Tang Village in order to improve their families’ living condition.

Some American students donated these clothing for this project

Pagmotso is from Kousa Tang Village, Make Tang Township, Jiantsa County, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and China. She has graduated with an associated degree in English at the Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department English Training Program.

What: To distribute second hand clothes to the poorest families in Kousa Tang Village in order to improve their families’ living condition.

Project Location
Kousa Tang Village, Make Tang Township, Jiantsa County, Huang Nan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province.

Brief Description of Implementation
This project implemented on January 28^th to January 29^th of 2008. I asked the village leader and one of my uncles to choose the poorest families based on their cash income and family members. Because some families have more than four children and both of their parents are farmers. Therefore, buying clothes are difficult for them. So firstly, my uncle and the village leader chose the poorest families and wrote their names down. Secondly, I asked the selected people to come to my family and distributed the half clothes to them with their finger prints and pictures. But half of the clothes, one of my cousin and I carried them on our backs and went to the nearby village to distribute the clothes. Because when I was collecting some information for my running water project last year, I knew that there are two families which were extremely poor, because there was a couple with five daughters and a sick old woman in that family, regarding this unhappy condition, only their one daughter was attending school, others just stayed at home to support their family. And there was also a widow with five children, so the villager leader and I decided to give some clothes to those two poor families’ children, too. But one of unfortunate thing was that when I was taking pictures for those two families, the battery of my camera is finished and I couldn’t go to county town and buy one, because in that time snowed a lot and no cars or motorcycles go to the county town. So I didn’t have chance to take all of pictures for my project. At the end, eighteen people got benefits from this project and the beneficiaries are very glad about this donation.

Photos of Beneficiaries

Sang Jie Cuo is sixteen years old. She is a middle school student and she lives with her brother and sick parents. Five years ago her grandparents forced her parents to live alone without giving anything. For many years this little girl’s family endured a lot of hardship to earn money and start a new family. Thus, when she received this warm vest, she was enthusiastically appreciated and very happy.

Her name is Peng Mao Tai and she is twenty three years old. Because she has some mental problems, her brother didn’t send her to school and her sister- in – law also treat her badly even she works hard to do house work. Similarly village children always call her name with bad words. So she encounters many difficulties in her daily life. There was a big smile on her face when she received those clothes and she asked me to thanks for generous donation, she also hoped that she could receive this kind of donation in the future.

Xia Wu Zha Xi is six years old. When he was two years old, his mother and grand father had a terrible argument, so his parents ran to a nomadic place and didn’t come back for four years. Therefore, he lives with his grandparents and he was very happy when he got the clothes, because he said that he could wear those clothes during the New Year.

Re Xian Zhuo Ma is seventeen years old. She is a senior school student. One year ago, her thirty six years old mother got a stomach cancer and passed away, so she lives with her seventy years old grandmother and father now. She also has one brother who is a middle school student. Her father always goes outside and earns some money by doing construction work. But the money that her father earned was not enough for her grandmother’s medical expenses and her brother and her school tuition. Therefore, her family needs great help and she was very glad that she got this donation this time.

His name is Cairang and he is a student. He has one brother and one sister, three of them are students. His older sister is a senior school student and he and his brother are primary school students. But it is very difficult to pay their school fee, because his mother is a sick woman and his father just left them behind and wandered to lhasa and married another woman, so this boy said to me that he has no new clothes to wear for this new year. But he is very happy when he got the shirt and trousers under this donation.

Re Zeng Cuo is forty four years old. She couldn’t do heavy task as well, because she has backache and her husband also has lung cancer. Her daughter and son are attending school in Jiantsa county town. The only income for her family is that she is weeding on other family’s field and sells the small grains to pay her children’s school payment.

Ga Hang Cuo is seventy years old. She is the most pitiful woman, because her only daughter- in- law passed away last year, so she needs to do everything by herself in her family, such as irrigating, weeding and housework. She has three grandchildren and all of them are attending schools. So her only forty years old son always goes outside and earn some money to pay his two children’s school fee by building houses in nomadic area. For her convenience to do her daily task she didn’t wear Tibetan robe instead she often wears like jacket and trousers. Truly this family has hard situation after her daughter- in- law’s death.

List of recipients

Thank you letter

Translated thanks letter

Dear American students,

Our villagers have got thirty six of secondhand clothes through Shem Women’s Group that you donated. We have successfully distributed the clothes to eighteen people in Kousa Tang Village and we enthusiastically appreciated your donation and help. Spontaneously, villagers also hope that you can still help our village with any kinds of helps in the future.

Finally, we wish all of you will succeed and everything is going well for your future.

Sincerely,

March 26th, 2008

From Kousa Tang Villagers

Tashi Delek!

To provide Second-Hand clothing to Fudi Village in order to improve the their living condition.

Kleisath’s Family and her friends donated these clothing for this project

Samtsogye is from Fudi Village, Labrang Township, Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. PRC. Samtsogye is one of the gender program directors of Shem Women’s Group and Shem website manager.

What? Five big bags of the Second-Hand clothing and 200 more clothing have had distributed to Fudi Village on 1^st, October, 2007

Project location: Impoverished villagers of Fudi Village in Gansu Province.

Brief Description of Implementation:

This project was implemented from October 3rd through October 19^th; 2007.It is to provide the clothes to the poor families in Fudi Village. 46 villagers get benefit from this project. The beneficiaries are including the old people, young people, men and women. These people are from the poor and big families. These families usually cannot buy the warm clothes to all the family members. Especially at the winter, when people herd on the high attitude mountains all of them are trembling from the coldness. I distributed these clothes in two different times: one is in the morning and the other is in the afternoon because at this time all the villagers are very busy with both livestock and harvested barley on the fields. I was not able to take the photos of the afternoon because it was near to dark and people were in a big hurry to prepare dinner. I didn’t have enough time to write the final report right after I distributed the clothes until now. These are really wonderful and warm clothes. All the people are very appreciative.

Photos of Project Implementation:

All the clothes are distributed and the villagers are choosing the suitable ones for themselves or their family members, who are not shown above.

Sang Da chose a pile of clothes for his son and daughter who are herding sheep and yaks on the mountain and choosing clothes for his wife and himself.

People are satisfied by the clothes which they have been chosen.

The father chooses a white sweater for his wife. Other people recommend and help the little girl choose clothes.

Lhamaji is a 14years old girl, who is kept at home to fetch water and collect yak dung for her family, she is packing the stylish jeans. These jeans she only in the TV, but today said that she could wear them!

All the people are uttering THANKS for the Kleisath family and her friends to provide these nice clothes to them while they are choosing the clothes.

Interviews of beneficiaries

Dongzhu is a mother of four children. She has a huge family of ten people. She is the only one in her family to do the hard labor because her husband is sick all the time and her mother is a blind woman who cannot contribute any labor to this family. This woman’s four sons are wandering around and doing nothing, except eating. She is very happy that she got all these clothes for her all family members. Now she doesn’t need to buy the winter warm clothes this winter anymore and she can use this much money to buy other life supplies.

Her name is Suokao and she has started a nuclear family just a couple years ago. She has two sons and these two sons are only seven and eight years old. Her family doesn’t have many livestock and nor large acres of the lands. Both she and her husband are illiterate. However, they are sending their little sons to attend the school. She is thanking Kleisath’s family to provide all these worm and nice clothes. Her husband also thanks the donor and said that this winter will be warm and they don’t need to spend any money for buying clothes for their family because they received an lot of warm clothes.

Her name is Zhong Ge Ji, and she has only one son. She has never got married. She is the poorest family in our village. She is 53years old. She has a little house which was built by the local government last year. Until that time, she has no a stable house. She has no any land to cultivate any plant. Each year, the villagers give some barley and wheat to her and her son to live. She usually goes to 3 kilometers to fetch water for some families and earn a very little money. In the summer, she help the families to weed in the fields, and in the autumn, she helps the villagers to harvesting and people give her some money or food. She is making her living in this way. This time she got a lot of clothing both for her and her son. She is uttering that now her son doesn’t need to be made fun by other students at the school because of no warm clothing. She is thanking the people who provided the clothing to her and her son.

List of recipients:
Finger print of the beneficiaries of Fudi Village

List of names

Thank you letter

Translation of the thank you letter

Dear Kleisath Family and her friends,

Thank you very much for your generous help with those nice and warm clothes. It has made our life more comfortable and you let us have a warm winter this year.

We are the villagers of Fudi Village. We have large family with very limited land and livestock, which cannot support our life properly with very warm clothes, especially in winter we have difficult time to make money outside as being the constructing work. All your donation of the trousers, heavy coat, shoes, etc. made us clean and cozy.

We want to say thank you and wish you all the best luck. We wish your work to move forward smoothly and successfully.

Tashi Deleka

From all the beneficiaries of Fudi Village

Oct.22^nd, 2007.

To provide Second-Hand clothing to Gang village in order to improve the their living condition.

Kleisath’s Family donated clothing for this project

Project Manager
Sonam Doomtso(Vicky) is from Gang village, Duilong county, Lhasa city, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. She is currently working on getting an associated degree in The English Training- Program, Nationality department of Qinghai normal university

What? Second-Hand clothing distribution to Gang village

Who: Impoverished villagers of Gang number1 Village, Gang number 2 Village, Neqong village of Tibet.

Brief Description of Implementation
This project was implemented from August 9th to August 10th, 2007. This project is to give to the clothes to the poor family and poor communities in your local area, so that it can help little on their life conditions and save their money for the clothes. Many of the parents and adult people went out to harvest and only some children and old people in the house. Some of the people went to do the construction work in different areas and they could only come back during very late in the afternoon. That time the children were having holiday, so they are responsible to take care of their family house. The clothes I have received were mostly for the adult, but there were also T-shirt and other smaller clothes for the children, so I gave the smaller clothes to the children and bigger clothes for the adult. There are also some very warm clothes, I did give those clothes to the older people, because I think old people’s body is weaker than the younger and they can getting warmer from these clothes, for this point, I did give the warmer clothes to the older people and the rest of the clothes were given to the adult. In average, each person got three clothes. Because of this, I didn’t get enough pictures of the adult. I went to their house during night when they finish their daily work and asked fingerprint from them. Almost 24 people got benefit direct from the project.

Photos of Project Implementation

Gang number 1 village

Her name is Yangzhuo. She is 35 years old, and has a daughter who is a middle school student. Her family members are farmers and they have only 14 mu (equivalent to 2.33 acres) of land. In some seasons, because the weather, they can only get just enough wheat and barley for their subsistence, so they don’t have anything left to generate an income. They only got few acres of land, so they can’t produce many products from the farm; because of this, the family condition is not very good. Besides, they have to send their daughter to school which makes it even more difficult to the family.

Gang number 2 Village

Her name is Barmalamo and she is14 years old. She has never attended school because her family is too poor. She is not able to read a single letter form the book. Her family sent her away to work at the age of 9. Now she works in a cloth shop, where she can get 200RMB per month. In her family there are six more children, some are already married and some are staying at home. None of the other children have a job, so the family subsistence depends on their small land and her little salary. Her father got a problem in his leg and it is not recommended for him to do any work. Most of her family income comes from her and her mother.

Neqong village

This little girl is Lazhuo and she is 13 years old and her family members are also farmers. She has no mother and she has two older sisters and two younger brothers. Her mother died when she gave birth to the last child, so the father alone takes care of all the children. One of her sisters is married and the others are at home. She has never been to school. Because of her poor condition, she started working when she was 10 and now she works as a nanny, taking care of a child in a rich family. Her father has to take care of all the children and that is a hard task for him. Also, they don’t have a lot of land and it makes their life more difficult.

Interviews of beneficiaries

Gang number1

Meiduolazen is 56 years old. Her husband died when she was 30. After her husband’s death, the entire family had to depend on her alone. She is also responsible for taking care of her father and mother. She has to take care of the small land and her children. She wanted to send her children to school, so tried very hard to earn some money. She had sent her daughter and son to school for 3 years, but after that there was no way for her to find money to support all her children. She felt really bad about it, and she thought that whenever there would be a chance for her to get money she would certainly send her children to school. Now her older daughter got married to a boy whose family is a little rich and they get little help from them each year, but it is for sure not sufficient. Her one true wish is to send her children to school.

Gang number 2 villages

Mimayangzong is 31 years old. She is a farmer and she has 4 children. One is married and the rest are at home. Her family has 15 mu (equivalent to 2.5 acres) for agriculture, which is not really enough for the whole family. Her husband has some problems with his leg and she can only do a little work for the family. This makes the family condition even more difficult. She is sending one of the children to school and they are having difficult time with her tuition.

Garzang is 42 years old. He is a farmer and he has 3 children, one is in Xian University and the others are at home and helping the family. They only got few land, so they can’t cultivate lot of products. Their son has to pay a lot for the school, and that is very difficult for the family.

Zhomaji is a 26 years old woman, and has got two children. After the second child, her husband left her and she doesn’t know where to find him. Her children are still very young and she has to spend most of her time taking care of her children, thus she hasn’t much time to find a job. Sometimes she would leave her children at her parent’s home to go and earn some money, but her parents are very old and they can’t take care of the children. Since she has never been to school it is even harder for her to get a good job.

Neqong village

Tashidawa is 33 years old and has been married for 5 years. He works as a farmer but has not enough land for subsistence. His parents died when he was very young and left him no land. He has no sisters or brothers. Later with villagers help, he got married and had 2 children. He’s never been to school and so hasn’t his wife, so it is very hard for both them to earn money.

Bema is a 40 years old woman and has got 5 children. Her family got only 7 mu (1.16 acres) of land, which is not enough for her whole family. She is sending two of her children to primary school, but she and her husband have difficulties to pay the cost of tuition. One of the children is married and the rest still depend on the little land they have.

List of recipients
Finger print of Gang number one, two and Neqong villag

List of names

Thank you letter

Translation of the thank you letter

Today we (Gang village) received clothes from student Doomtso of Shem group. Those clothes are very helpful for to the poor families in my village, they have really benefited from these clothes and we feel really thanks for doing that. We would never forget your kindness and loving heart. We hope you can also help us in the near future.

2007.8.10

From Gang village

To provide Second-Hand clothing to the poorest families in Waku village in order to improve the their living condition.

Kleisath’s Family donated clothing for this project

Project Manager: HlamoTso (Gina), Waku village, from Wendu Tibetan Township, Xunhua County, Qinghai Province. And she is working an Associate degree in English Training Program, Nationality Department of Qinghai Normal University.

Project Location: Waku Village, Wendu Tibetan Township, Xunhua County, Haidong Region, Qinghai Province, China.

What: To distribute Second-Hand clothing in order to improve the living condition of the poorest families in Waku village.

Brief Description of Implementation:

This project implemented during the May 7th to May 8th 2007. Many of the young people in Waku village go out for work, most people dig caterpillar fungus and few people work for construction works and earn family income. Some families locked their door and went out to work. So the project manager gave some of the clothes to their relatives according their family member, and let the relatives give the clothes to them when they return to home and sign finger prints for them. Also some children are at the school at that time so I didn’t get the all the receipts’ and pictures. For the students, their parents helped them and signed finger prints. Almost nineteen people got benefit direct from the project. The books in the box, in my home area almost no one can read these English books so I put them in Shem Office.

Photos of the beneficiaries:

Her name is Xiaji. She is sixty years old. She is a single as well as a handicapped woman. This is her house and she lives with her only son and her son can’t go far place to earn money. Sometimes she needs to do housework when he went out for some village work. She walks on her knees and do some housework such as clean the furniture and feed pig.

Liguo is fifty-six years old and she couldn’t do any heavy tasks because she got backache. They have three children and all sent to school so her husband can’t go out for work a lot. The couples endure hardships to earn some money for school payments by herding other families’ livestock and also by weeding other families’ fields.

Aomujay is forty-one years old and she needs to do everything in her family. Her husband is sick and can’t do any physical works except herding livestock. Their house is quite small and one corner of the house was collapsed last year. So their family moves to another place, which is very near from the Waku village, and start to build a new house. She has two children, a fifteen years old son and an eighteen years old daughter. Both of her children are attending school, but this year is the difficult year for the family because her family starts to build another house so sometimes she keeps her daughter at home for the whole weeks as her helper. Aomujay really needed the help from her daughter for building another house, but she also really worried about her daughter’s study. Now she is in a difficulty situation.

Tashi is forty-nine years old and is a housemaster in the family. His eighty-seven years old father is sick in the bed. He has two daughters and the younger one attended school, but this year his younger daughter stopped school and both of his daughters go out and dig caterpillar fungus (a medical herb). So the sweater in his hand is for his daughter. He is taking care for his sick father at home by doing housework.

Lhakuo is the woman who holds the child on the left. She is thirty-two years old and she never attends school. She has three daughters. The girl she held is her youngest daughter and named Tserangji. She is four years old, and the little girl in the front is Tserangji’s old sister. Her name is Limao Drolma; she is seven years old and starting school. Lhakuo needs to do almost everything in the family, because she gave birth to three daughters but not a son. So she hasn’t any positions or power in the family. The woman in the middle is Limao. She is a widow and needs to take care of everything in the family. Her two daughters are attending school. Do the housework and care the livestock without any helper is quite difficult for her. Also she sent the two daughters to school. On the left is a nun called Gaysong Tsomo. She is thirty-eight years old and newly became a nun. She got married for three times but all were UN-succeed marriage as she got arthritis. Her only son is also dead sudden and then she became a nun. They all come from different families.

Kaygay Bum is forty years old, and head of the family. He has three children, two daughters and a son. He sent all the children to school and always run out for work to raise family. His wife got immunizations several years ago. After that she is isn’t healthy enough, and very easy to get tired, easy to get cold so she couldn’t do any heavy tasks. He needs to do the most things for the family. He took those clothes for his two daughters, because they are at Township school during May 8th.

Zhuolo a is thirty-seven years old woman and her job is to take care of three children, these two children, also she carries another baby on her back and taking care for her eighty-nine years old sister in-law. There are eleven people in her family and none got any paid jobs, and only one student in her family. Zhuolo is carrying heavy tasks to feed the family, so she is very busy at the most of the time.

This son is taking cared by this woman named ZhaxiDeva. He is one and half years old now. His parents went out to work and earn in come. So his parents ask for this woman to raise him until they come back. They newly married and just start a family so they are in hard situation in this year.

List of recipients:

Thank you Letter

Translated Thanks Letter

Dear Kleisath’s Family

My name is HlamoTso, and my English name is Gina. I am from Wendu Tibetan Township, Xunhua County, Haidong Region and Qinghai Province. I am currently a student and completing an associate degree in English and Tibetan from English Training Program, Qinghai Normal University, China.

I had received two boxes of second-hand clothes through Shem Women’s Group that you sent from your family and I have successfully distributed those clothes to around twenty poor families in Waku village. Comparing with other families in Waku village, the families I chose were in a greater need of help. Giving clothes was one of the most kind way to help their difficult life. So we gratefully say thank you very much to you. The families who got help from your family are very happy. And meaning while, we all wish everything is going well with all of your family members.

Sincerely

From: Waku Village

May 22nd, 2007

Tashi Delek!

Improve the living conditions of school students, increase school enrollments and raise the literacy rate. Also, increase the villagers’ disposable and improve their health.

The Tendel Group funded this project

Tashitso is from Golok autonomous Tibetan prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. She graduated in 2005 with an Associated degree in English from Qinghai Normal University Nationalities Department’s English Training Program.

What? Main goal of the project (68 blankets, 68 bedding sets, 68 bedding sheets, 60 quilts, 60 quilts’ covers, 5 stoves with 20 chimneys, 25 bags of flour，30 bags of candies，10 thermoses and 15 solar cookers for Tibetan students.
Who? Main beneficiaries of the project (the people of Garima village in Jiangri Towmship, Padma County, Golok Prefecture, Qinghai Province).

Photos of project implementation:
A picture of the students’ dormitory before the project.

The students are standing in line to receive candies before they got their supplies.


A picture of the students’ dormitory after the project.


One of the teacher and two men are from Jiangri township help to install the solar cookers.

The students are standing in line to receive their supplies.

Project summary:
The project manager (Tashitso) informed the school about the available project funds from the Tendel Group. Then Tashitso and the schoolteachers discussed how to implement the project successfully. Then Tashito went to pick up the money in Xining where she bought school supplies: 68 blankets, 68 bedding sets (including 68 sheets), 60 quilts (including quilt covers and 5 stoves). Then Tashitso transported the school supplies from Xining City to Padma County where she bought 25 bags of flour, 20chimneys, 20 bags of candies and 10 thermoses. The project manager planed to buy the solar cookers at same time with the school supplies, because of the bad weather the company couldn’t transport them until the weather was getting better (February, 15). After she bought everything then she and the teachers at the school transported the supplies from Padma County to the school. Before the project implementation one of the teachers at the school held a meeting with the students to tell them some rules of the sustainability’s of the project, for example, the beddings should be passed down from one student to another. The project manager and the teachers at the school discussed to give the students some candies before they got the supplies because they (the project manager and the teachers) think it’s very important to make the children to be happy. Then let the students stood in line to receive candies and their supplies. After they got all their supplies they used the new supplies to make their beds are nicer and warmer (see on the above picture).

Project title: School supplies for ‘ Pros Sgang Primary School

Project goals: The aim of this project is to improve the living conditions of school students, increase school enrollments and raise the literacy rate. Also, increase the villagers’ disposable and improve their health.

Location of project: Garima Village, Jiangri Towmship, Padma County, Golok Prefecture, Qingahi Province.

Total beneficiaries: This project has directly benefited 116 people-68 students, 3 lamas, 7 teachers and 38 monks.

Implementation organization/individual: Tashitso (Joy), Garzeng (He is both the teacher and lama at this school) and the other 6 teachers of the school and Shem Women’s Group.

Contact Group: Shem Women’s Group

Funds received: Source, Amount, and Date Received

The Tendel Group gave 44,034rmb 15th of November 2006

Details of project activities

Financial Progress:

# 1

# 2

# 3

# 4

# 5

#6

According the original budget we have to buy 40 solar cookers, but the teachers at the school thought it’s more useable to buy 15 solar cookers and use the left mount of money on both the bookshelves for the new library and robes for the students with getting the Tendel Group’s permission. Then we (the teachers at the school and the project manager) have discussed to divide this money into parts to use; we will add 3,379rmb to make bookshelves for the school library in this summer. And use left 5,000rmb to make robes for the students because these students are from poor families of this area and they currently have no warm clothes to wear in the wintertime.

Delays, Difficulties, and lessons learned

Delays
We could not buy the solar cookers according the original project proposal because of the bad weather and the company couldn’t transport them until the weather was good (February, 15). The project manager (Tashitso) wrote to the donor (Deborah) and told her the situation and then they discussed about how to implement the project.

Difficulties
The cold winter weather and poor road conditions made transportation difficult. It snowed on the day that the school supplies were to be supplied. This meant that a small truck was rented, rather than the larger one that was originally planned for. The road from Padma county town to the school is narrow and steep, and was built by local monks and villagers. Both the students and the teachers swept the snow on the road from their school to the bottom of the mountain before we transported the supplies to the school. Although this process was difficult for everyone involved, the community was kind, respectable and supportive. Supplies were transported without any problems.

Lessons learned
Through this project, I learned the project managers should have enough time to collect information for the projects, such as interviews and take pictures. According to my project in which includes many different parts, I had to delay one of these parts (solar cookers) because of the bad weather and I could not transport the solar cookers until February 15, 2007. Therefore, I could not complete it within one month; also because of poor condition it’s very common for my hometown (Padma County) to stop the electricity regularly in the wintertime. The only one internet bar would not open because of the terrible interruption of the electricity, so I really had a very hard time to complete my project in my hometown and I could not work on it until I went back to my work place in Ganze(Sichuan)

Interviews:

He is one of the students (13 years old) and before the Tendel Group’s donation, they did not have warm beddings, but now every student got warm, new and nice beddings from Tendel Group. He is very happy and he wants to say thank you very much for their endless donations.

Tashitso: Do you know from whom or where did you get these supplies?

Tserang (One of the students): Yes, our foreign donors gave them to us, they also bought books for library and text books for us.

He then showed the project manager (Tashitso) one of the textbooks, which was donated by Deborah Peterson.

He is one of the teachers (35 years old) and before this project many students missed classes from sickness caused by lack of warm beddings, after the project this problem was solved. He says thank you very much for your donations and we never forget your kindness and we will usually pray for you.

Tashitso: What has changed since the project was completed?

Gazeng (One of the teachers): After the students had the new, warm bedding, their overall health improved. In past years when they did not have warm beddings, and as a result many students missed their classes due to sickness brought on by cold weather. The number of students who miss classes has been reduced since the implementation of this project. This project has also inspired many new students to attend the school.

He is also one of the students (17 years old) and he says before this project they had a hard time to drink enough hot water and they also did not have warm classrooms and dormitories, but now all of these problems were solved by Tendel Group. He also says it’s unbelievable to receive such many supplies from Tendel Group and he says he will never forget your kindness and generous donations.

Tashitso: Do you think it’s helpful or useful to have solar cookers?

Dorji: Yes, especially for our school because of low income, we could not afford stoves and fuel before, but since we got Tendel Group’s donations, now we have warm classrooms and dormitories. It’s very useful to have solar cookers because without consuming any fuel we can enjoy hot water for drinking and cleaning.

Letter of appreciation

Dear Tendel Group,

We are delighted to report to you about the successful completion of the school supplies project for ‘Pros Sgang Primary School in Jiangri Township, Padma County, Golok Prefecture, Qinghai Province. With your contribution of 44,034RMB, we bought 68 blankets, 68 bedding (mat), 68 bed sheets, 60 quilts, 60 quilts covers, 5 stoves, 20 chimneys, 25 bags of flour and 15 solar cookers. ‘Pros Sgang Primary School’s condition has improved since we received so many donations from the Tendel Group. Now we have a library and textbooks for the students, warm beddings, flour, stoves for both the dormitories and classrooms, and 15 solar cookers, soon we will get new book shelves and robes for each student. School enrollment levels since 2005-2006 have been increasing very fast because of the improved reputation of ‘Pros Sgang Primary School. Now the school has a high reputation because it now supplies its students with many educational resources and living supplies.

The Lamas and the teachers at the school wanted the project manager (Tashitso) to report to the donors that they valued the library books and they are keeping them in good condition in the temporary library. They say they will surely not disappoint the donors. The new library will be completed in the summer of 2007.

This project has directly benefited 116 people – 68 students, 3 lamas,7 teachers and 38 monks. It has also indirectly benefited many local people by improving the educational standards at the school. The health levels and living conditions of those in the township greatly improved since the solar cookers are installed. We will never forget your kindness and generous donations to help us, and we will always pray for you. We want to say thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts for your supportive donations.

Sincerely,
The people of ‘Pros Sgang Primary School and Jiangri Township

Distribute second Hand clothing to impoverished villagers across the Tibetan Plateau. Improve the quality of life for the poorest of the poor.

Cindy Tan and friends donated the clothing for this project

What? Second-Hand clothing distribution
Who? Impoverished villagers of Xiamei Village, Yehe Vallige, Xunwa village Qinghai Province.

Photos of Project Implementation:

Xiamei Village

Her name is Domaji. She is 65. She has one son and now she lives with her son and daughter-in-law, and their two children. All of them are farmers, and they only have 15 mu of fields. Their income is 1,000RMB per year. If Domaji’s son doesn’t go out to do some small work, they do not have any cash income. They can only grow enough wheat, barley, beats, and potatoes in their fields for their own daily supply. Actually they don’t have any money.

This is their house, all made of clay. (Outside)

(Inside)

Her name is Wa gu. She is 74. She lives with her youngest son; the man on her right is her eldest son. He does not live with her. He lives with his daughter who is standing in the middle. His name is Nanjia. He is 46 years old. He is a farmer. His wife died many years ago. His daughter’s name is Dare Zhoma, She is 12. Their family only has one small field, so Nan jia often goes to the county town to do some small jobs.

The man on the right is La hua. He is 40. He does not have any job, and he rarely comes back home. He is always spending time in the county town. Although his mother has a small amount of land, no one is working it. So their family only live on the money which the government gives them. They are very poor.

Their house gate (outside)

Their house (inside)

Wu gu, her son Nan jia, and Nan jia’s daughter, Dare Zhoma

Yehe Village

The people of Yehe village gather together and hold the clothing they received.

Dorji Dorma is 67 years old. Her husband died after long illness when she was 38. After her husband’s death, her only son and daughter-in-law started to disrespect her. The daughter-in-law didn’t talk to Dorji Dorma and even sometimes scolded her and didn’t give food to her. The villagers discovered this terrible treatment and some elder villagers went to their house and tried to persuade Dorji Dorma’s son and daughter-in-law to respect her and get along well with her. During the discussion, the son and daughter in law did not say anything. The next morning they left and never returned. Dorji Dorma cannot work the land by herself, so during the last 29 years, she hasn’t had enough food to eat, or any warm or nice clothes to wear. Luckily some kind-hearted villagers gave food and clothes to her. When she got her second hand clothes, she said, “I’m very glad to receive these clothes. Now I have clothes to wear until my death, they won’t wear out before then. Thank you very much to the owner of these clothes and to all the people who are involved in doing these kind things for people like me.”

The second boy from the left is Sangchan Norbu; he is nine years old. When he was three months’ old, his father beat his mother violently and kicked them out. He and his mother lived with his mother’s family for one year. After that, his mother married another man and left him behind. He stayed in his aunt’s family. His cousins are rude to him and look down on him, but he has to stay there because he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. He doesn’t get clothes to wear like the other children in that family. Sometimes he doesn’t get food to eat, but he can’t get food from the other families. If they realize that he begged for food from another family, they will definitely beat him. Hence these clothes solved one of his big problems.

Lhamo’s mother died last year when the villagers were digging a ditch, and she was crushed under a big rock. Her father lived with a woman worker in the county town and left his two young daughters behind at home. Lhamo’s elder sister is twelve years old. That twelve year old girl is supporting both her and her sister. They plant wheat with the help of other villagers. However, one of their big problems is clothing, because they can’t earn enough money to buy clothes. Lhamo is delighted to receive these clothes.

Xunwa village
Lhamojia is woman whose husband died when she was thirty-five years old. She has four children: three boys and one girl. One of her sons and her daughter are students in Qinghai Normal University, one son is a waiter at Xunhua hotel, and one son stays with her. Because of the tuition of the two students, her family condition is not very good.

Lhalang Tsairang is a thirty-four year old man whose wife contracted a terrible disease. They need a lot of money to treat his wife’s disease, but he cannot go out to work and earn money, because he needs to take care of his two children and do housework. So he has no money to buy warm clothes, or pay school tuition for his two sons.

Rinchen is a fifty-year-old man with only one son. Unfortunately his only son is handicapped and cannot walk. His wife refuses to go out and work, and refuses to work in their home. Rinchen is the only man who works at home instead of earning money outside. Therefore his family condition is not good

Daiji is thirty years old. She was kicked out of her home because when she was twenty-five years old she was raped by stranger and became pregnant as a result. All of her family members thought that the rape was her mistake. Sha was kicked out of her home and she gave birth to a baby boy by herself. Unfortunately after only one month her son was died. Now she lives alone.

Tsairang is a twelve-year-old boy. When he was ten, his father died from a disease. To try to cure his father, his mother sold all the cows and sheep, but after that his father died and his family was left with nothing. Tsairang has two sisters and one brother. Tsairang is the oldest child and needs to take care of his siblings and help his mother to do housework. Because of his family’s poor conditions, he cannot go to school.

List of recipients:
Xiamei Village

Yehe Village

Xunwa Village