A friend from the Qinghai organization Friendship Charity Association has sent me a proposal to bring solar electricty to 400 people in Qinghai.

PROJECT PURPOSE/GOAL
This Solar electricity generating panel project would provide a reliable source of electricity for Tsanak Tibetan villagers and solve problems as follows:

• Local villagers, especially the local women and girls, have to complete loads of daily chores, such as collecting fuel from the grasslands, which is five to six kilometers away from the village. This fuel is used as the source of light at night as well as for cooking. Also, they take trips to the local town 11 km away to buy oil and lamps for their night lighting. It is traditionally women’s responsibility to collect fuel and buy lamps to light their tents. Consequently, a large proportion of their energy and time were occupied by these tasks.
• For years, the villagers have lived in their smoky houses and tents. As a result, their health deteriorates with eye problems and respiratory problems. In addition, cleaning smoke stained walls is also a headache for the household
• The local students have difficulty in doing their homework at night. During the day, the students need to help their parents with chores, often leaving little time for studying. Consequently, local children tend to perform poorly at school.
• The villagers take large sacks to collect fuel. Dragging these sacks for five or six kilometers damages the grassland.
• It is very difficult to travel to obtain fuel during snowy winters and rainy summers.
• Villagers lack electricity and therefore cannot benefit from access to information channels like radio.

COMMUNITY BACKGROUND
There are approximately 1,746 people (378 households) with 32,400 heads of livestock live on 109,369 mu of grassland in Tsanak Tibetan Village. The households are situated separately on the grassland. It is about a half kilometer from one home to another. The villagers buy flour in the local town and make their living from livestock. The main livestock are sheep, goats, yaks, donkeys, and horses. They earn income mainly by selling sheep, horses and goat wool, and collecting caterpillar fungus. Approximately each person can save 600 RMB per year. After buying flour for the family and clothing, many villagers cannot afford other necessities and many go into
debt.

Villagers’ daily work includes collecting fuel from the grassland and herding the livestock. Villagers are currently illuminating their tents and houses by burning fuel in adobe stoves and with lamps. With the seasonal snow and rain, herding livestock and collecting fuel becomes difficult. The majority of school-aged children in Tsanak Tibetan Village are not going to school because they must contribute a lot of labor for the household. Presently, ninety-eight percent of the villagers are either very poorly educated or illiterate.

The solar electricity generating panel project would alleviate the above problems;especially the literacy rate will increase.

Budget 32,000RMB

While I will always disclaim every proposal with DO YOUR OWN DUE DILIGENCE, as you can see from their website, this group has executed some great projects and has some of the best reports around.

If you are interested in receiving the full proposal (17 pages with pictures of the program, full benefit analysis of the program, and survey of the area), please send me an email with your name and organization.  I will then be happy to forward to you, and make the appropriate introductions.