185 Solar Cookers for 185 Tibetan Households in Sasuma and Dunpeng Villages

Final Report

Tibetan Village Solar Cooker Project

to

The Shambala Connection

from

Caihua Dorji S^qarif'j^j (Luke)
Monday, August 27, 2007

Summary

What?

Tibetan Village Solar Cooker Project

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Where?

Sasuma w*i| and Dunpeng ^v^ Villages

Xunxian ^v^| Township, Hualong ^w<^| County
Haidong sia&^j Region, Qinghai sjaf-ffan Province

Who?

185 Tibetan Households
747 Impoverished Tibetan Villagers

Value?

Donor Contribution^ 16,474 RMB
Local Contribution^ 9,435 RMB

25,909 RMB Total (34.68 RMB per beneficiary)

Dear The Shambala Connection,

I am very pleased to report to you that the solar cooker project that your organization supported has
been successfully completed. Local villagers are now using the solar cookers to boil water, cook potatoes,
boil noodles, fry dishes, and bake bread.

Village families enthusiastically contributed 5 1 RMB each toward the cost of each solar cooker, which
cost 140 rmb each. In total, 185 solar cookers were bought and 747 people in 185 households are benefiting.
Your contribution to these two villages is very significant, positive assistance to the villagers. The solar
cooker project reduced women and girls' labor; they no longer need to stay in smoky kitchens as long as
before, and also they spend less time gathering fuel. All the villagers who received a solar cooker with your
assistance are pleased; especially women and girls, because collecting fuel is culturally defined as their duty.
Men and boys rarely collect fuel but they do use solar cookers.

On behalf of all the Tibetan villagers who benefited from your solar cooker project, I extend
sincere appreciation.

Sincerely,

Caihua Dorji (Luke)

Background

Sasuma and Dunpeng Tibetan Villages are situated west of Hualong County Town, Haidong Region,
Qinghai Province, China. It is 90 km from the village to Hualong County Town and 110 km to Xining

City, the provincial capital.

Sasuma Village has 427 people (100 households). Dunpeng Village has 320 people (85 household).
Villagers live in adobe- wood rooms constructed around open courtyards and are farmers. The main crop
is wheat that people use for self-consumption (bread, noodles). Other crops include barley, beans,
potatoes and rapeseed. In addition to farming, each household has a few livestock. Disposable cash
income (after tax payments and yearly necessary purchases) per person is approximately 550 RMB per
year. Ninety-five percent of villagers are either very poorly educated or illiterate.

Project Benefits

• Reduced the amount of work women and girls need to do because they now need much less fuel than
before.

• The villagers will buy much less coal and the money saved can be used for other family expenses, such
as the cost of medicine and sending children to school.

• Less organic material - dung and wood - will be collected from the surrounding area, which is a
significant environmental benefit.

• Straw burned as fuel in the past can now be fed to livestock.

• Girls and women will spend less time in smoky kitchens, which will benefit their health.

Photographs

Mrs. Caima's *'5]| (b. 1931) new solar cooker boiled a kettle of water in 23 minutes in July 2007. She lives
with her son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. They are farmers and live in Sasuma Village.
Collecting fuel, fetching water, and cooking are mainly done by Mrs. Caima's daughter-in-law. Mrs. Caima
said, "Before the solar cooker project, my daughter-in-law walked 5-6 kilometers to the mountain to collect
yak, mule and donkey dung, and 4 kilometers to go near the forest to cut branches secretly. A dung
collecting trip took almost took a half day, and collecting branches took 3 hours. She goes to collect dung
every day in winter, and goes to collect branches once every four or five days. Cutting branches from the
forest is not allowed, but she goes secretly very late in the afternoon to avoid the forest guard. My family
cannot afford coal and this puts much pressure on my daughter-in-law. Now we have a very useful solar
cooker. It can cook dishes, potatoes, meat, bread and boil water. Her burden is reduced a lot. Now she only
goes to collect braches every ten days in summer, and she also will go to collect dung once every three or
four days in winter. We are very happy to get the solar cooker. "

Mrs. Yangguji's ^^n'^M (b. 1936) new solar cooker boiled a kettle of water in 19 minutes in July 2007.
She lives with her son, daughter, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. They are farmers and live in
Sasuma Village. The collecting fuel is mainly Mrs. Yangguji's daughter-in-law and daughter's duty. Mrs.
Yangguji said, "Before the solar cooker project, collecting fuel was very difficult. My daughter-in-law and
daughter walked 5-6 kilometers to the place where we herd to collect yak, mule, and donkey dung. They did
this every day in winter. Some of the dung was saved for summer. A trip took 5 hours. In summer they went
to the forest to cut branches secretly once every five days. A trip took 3 and a half hours. We mostly burn
straw to cook food in the summer, which can also be fed to the animals. Now we have a solar cooker, and it
can cook mostly anything— meat, dishes, potatoes, and bread and it can boil water. My two daughters' labor
is also reduced very much. They now go to cut the braches in the forest once every 8 or 9 days, and they will
go collect dung once every two days in winter. Most of the straw can be fed to the animals. We are very
happy to get the solar cooker. Thank you. "

Mrs. Cairang's *'^| (b.1935) new solar boiled a kettle of water in 20 minutes in July 2007. She lives with
her daughter and two grandchildren. They are farmers in Sasuma Village. Mrs. Cairang said, "Fuel
collecting and cooking are my daughter's burden. She is also the only one who can do hard labor in my
family. Before the solar cooker project, my daughter walked 5-6 kilometers to the mountains to collect
animal dung. One trip took 6 hours and she had to do this every day in winter. In summer, she had to go 4
kilometer to cut branches from the forest secretly. One trip took four hours, and she did this once every four
days. My family really couldn't afford coal. Now we have a solar cooker. It is very useful and can cook most
anything. My daughter only goes to collect branches once every 8 days and dung once every three days. The
amount of time that she stays in the smoky kitchen is also reduced. She doesn't need to stay in the smoky
kitchen on sunny days in the summer. We are very happy to get the solar cooker. "

Mrs. Wuchangji's ^a'g^'S^j (b. 1944) new solar cooker boiled a kettle of water in 17 minutes in July 2007.
She lives with her three sons, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. Mrs. Wuchangji said, "Before the
solar cooker project, my daughter-in-law walked 3-4 kilometers to the mountains to collect yak, cow, mule
and donkey dung, wood and roots. A trip took around four hours. She did this twice a day in winter. In
summer, she sometimes went about 3 kilometers to cut branches from our own trees. Also we sometimes
take dung from the animal enclosure to cook food. This dung could be used to fertilize the fields. Now we
have a very useful solar cooker that can cook mostly anything. It has greatly reduced my daughter-in-law's
burden. Now she collects dung and roots once every two days. We also can stop taking dung from the
enclosure and use it for fertilizer. This means we can save money from buying chemical fertilizer, and I
believe that the crop yields will increase. We are very happy to get the solar cooker. "

Mrs. Dazhencuo's E'aj^S'oJgj (b. 1947) new solar cooker boiled a kettle of water in 18 minutes in July 2007.
She lives with her two sons, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. They are farmers from Dunpeng
Village. Mrs. Dazhencuo said, "Collecting fuel and cooking in the smoky kitchen are very difficult. My
daughter-in-law is the only one who is responsible for this. Before the solar cooker project, my
daughter-in-law had to walk 3-4 kilometers to the mountains to collect dung and wood. It was very time
consuming. It took her about 5 hours per trip and she had to do this one or two times every day in winter.
She had to collect as much as possible and then save some for summer. In summer, she sometimes cut
branches from our family's trees. We mostly burned straw in summer, which we could have fed to the
animals. Now we have the solar cooker and it has reduced my daughter-in-law's burden and given her more
time. Now she collects dung only once every two or three days. Also we can feed the straw that we burnt
before to the animals. We are very happy to get the solar cooker. Thank you very much. "

•10«

Mrs. Zhouguji ^^Fl'^'^j (b. 1939) is very happy with her new solar cooker, which boiled a kettle of water
in 17 minutes in July 2007. She lives with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild. They are farmers from
Dunpeng Village. Mrs. Zhouguji said, "Collecting fuel and cooking food are my daughter-in-law's duty.
Before the project, she collected dung and wood 4 kilometers away in the mountains. It is very hard work
and it took her about three and a half hours per trip. She collected fuel every day in winter. She sometimes
cut branches from our own trees in the summer, but mostly burned straw to cook food. Now we have the
solar cooker so we can cook dishes, noodles, meat, potatoes, and bread and boil water with it. Now, my
daughter-in-law collects wood only once every three days. She is also very happy that the time she needs to
spend in the smoky kitchen is reduced. Her health should improve. We also feed the straw to the animals.
We are very happy to get the solar cooker. Thank you very much. "

•11*

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