Jan / Mar 2021No. 156

31st March 2022

With the guidance of community volunteers, the project personnel have a acceptance check in the village for the breeding project 

Prjoject Progress

Comprehensive Rural Development Project in Xide County

Care Activity 1: Women's Group Caring for poor “Five Guaranteed Households” in Siguojue Village 

In order to guide the members of women’s group in Siguojue Village to care more for the vulnerable people in their communities, and to cultivate their ability of communicating and cooperating in their work, our project team organized the visit with the members of the women's team to care for two elderly people who are already over 80 years old. It is named as Care Activity 1 with the expectation that after this trial activity, the group members would be capable and confident to complete the other caring activities for lonely elderly people in the village. During the activity, seven members of women's team cleaned the room, swept the garbage, washed the dirty clothes and bedding, installed lights and assembled new beds. It made the elderly people being visited moved and excited , thus they repeated their thanks "Kashasha" in Yi during the whole process. At the sharing meeting in the end, members of women’s group who participated in the event expressed their pride in their actions. We hope that with the leading and demonstration of them, the community can form a helpful atmosphere and build a harmonious neighborhood.

Development Project of Livelihood strategies in Siguojue Village 

With more times discussions and in-depth analysis in the early stage of the project, the first batch of 51 breeding projects in Siguojue Village finally started in early February. Breeding species include pigs, cattle, sheep and chickens. In mid-March, the members of the project management team had already put ear tags on the pigs, cattle and sheep that had been purchased. Besides support for breeding, we have also funded two villagers for their pen construction projects, so that they can expand the space for larger scale breeding, so that they can further improve their economic benefits of breeding. For households that are unable to develop themselves or in distress, each family will be helped by three breeding households. There are 17 of those groups in total. Thus, forming of mutual help groups is positive for a helpful and warm atmosphere in the community. Moreover, we have also funded a freezer to a villager who is willing to open a small shop in the village. It is expected that the small business can help him increase him income and also promote innovative ways of livelihoods in the community.

Drinking Water Project in Machang Group 3

In order to solve the problem of drinking water for people and animals that has plagued the villagers for a long time, we funded eight villagers living in Shibubuxi in Machang Viallge Group 3 to carry out a household drinking water project. By the end of March, the project has completed the laying of the central part, and the remaining reservoirs and household pipes are planned to be completed by April at the latest. The completion of this project can not only alleviate the water shortage of the villagers, but also lay the premise and foundation for improving the villagers' sanitary condition and changing their bad sanitary habits because of the clean water source. We hope that through the health training activities carried out in conjunction with this project, in the near future, more villagers' families will become clean and tidy, and the troubles caused by diseases to villagers will be reduced.

Machang Village Group Three Income-generating Project

In March, 2022, relying on the results of aquaculture demonstration projects carried out in Machang village Group 3 and Siguojue Village in the early stage, and on the basis of comprehensive analysis and summary of the development experience of the two villages, the project team started the second batch of livelihood income-generating projects in Machang Group 3 as scheduled. This time, we visited 112 regular households in the village, and we learned about their needs and plans for their livelihood. Among the 112 households, 52 planned to raise pigs, 22 planned to raise cattle, 17 planned to raise sheep and 1 planned to raise horses. In addition, two households are planning to build a pigsty; The remaining 18 households are elderly people aged 70 to 84 who are willing to develop but have no independent development ability. In the next stage, we will follow up the specific operation of each project according to the real needs of the villagers.

Machang Village Group 3 Health Improvement Project

Under the leading role of five demonstration households in the early stage, the villagers of the third group of Machang Village realized the great changes brought to them by the solar water heater project, and another 10 households in this batch signed up to participate in the project. In their own words, the project first solved the problem of their bathing, and second, solved the problem of hot water needed for their daily mixing of feed. The development of the project not only improved their personal and family hygiene environment, but also reduced their workload of feeding livestock and improved their labor efficiency.

Comprehensive Rural Development Project in Hanyuan County

Sympathy Activities in Chinese New Year

In order to express their care for the elderly and needy people in Pianma Village and Ranmo Village, and send their New Year wishes, the project staff, together with the village secretary, visited 8 families in January, and sent New Year's gifts such as warm clothes and warm socks to the elderly. Moreover, we also sent rice and cooking oil to the needy families. The elderly were grateful for our caring and expressed their thankfulness for the project.

Raising rabbits for income-generating projects

In order to make the rabbit raising more professional, we invited experts who investigated whether the breeding pens of the rabbit demonstration households were suitable one by one. According to the size of pens and the needs of demonstration households, the most reasonable cage number, breeding quantity and cost were calculated, so that farmers can know fairly well the cost of rabbit breeding. A total of 6 households chosen for rabbit-raising demonstration participated, and the investment cost was calculated. Finally, technical training on rabbit breeding was conducted for six households, and their questions on rabbit breeding were answered. Through technical training, the demonstration households learned a basic understanding of rabbit habits, cages, feed, disease prevention and treatment, feeding management and sanitary vaccines.
After the training, in order to further determine the channels for purchasing rabbit breeds and learning rabbit breeding techniques in detail, the rabbit breeding demonstration households discussed and determined the five-day out-of-town visit in Hanyuan County, Leshan City and Dayi County. Ten rabbit demonstration households visited two rabbit factories to learn about basic rabbit breeds, feeding methods and cooperation methods. They concentrated on rabbit breeding technical training in Dayi Xuping Rabbit Industry Company to master rabbit breeding technology, feeding and breeding methods. Through the visits they expanded their understanding of rabbit breeding and began to actively look for suitable channels to buy rabbit breeds.

The community welcomes the New Year celebrations

In February, 2022, the women's group in Pianma Village organized the Spring Festival celebration. As the saying goes, snow is a symbol of a good year of full bloom. On the morning of the New Year's Day, the sky began to float with snow, but the cold weather failed to stop the villagers' determination to celebrate the New Year. Early in the morning, a group of villagers gathered at the activity venue to participate in the activity. Women's groups surrounded the activity venue with colorful balloons, pulled up banners and background walls, and the taste of the year came out at once. Then, in the speech of Deputy Leader Wang, the activity officially kicked off. Members of the women's group took turns to perform songs and dances, and other villagers were unwilling to lag behind and then performed solos and sketches. In this happy atmosphere, the villagers played games such as blowing balloons, stepping on balloons, piggy-backing each other, etc. Finally, the women's group distributed the gifts to each audience.
In order to express our caring for the women in the village, let them truly feel the care and warmth, to create respect for women, especially those in difficult families, the "March 8th Women's Day" caring activity was specially launched. On March 7, 2022, the project personnel determined the number of sun hats and bed covers in Piama Village through consultation with the women's group representatives. Through inquiry and price comparison, the supplier of sun hats and bed covers was finally determined and an agreement was signed. The project staff also prepared rainbow cards to send good wishes to the women. On the morning of the 8th, the supplier delivered the goods to the person in charge of the women's group, and she began to distribute sun hats and quilt covers to the members of each group of mutual aid groups, who distributed them to women in the village, especially women in difficult families in different time periods. In the end, a total of 517 women and 47 families in distress in Pianma Village benefited.

The second series of mental health training courses

In order to promote the harmony between husband and wife in families in Pianma village, to learn and master the methods of dealing with conflicts and communication in a relationship, the second training on women's mental health was held on March 15th. This training has popularized the different needs and communication methods between men and women in marriage, made women understand the causes of conflicts, learned the methods of communication between husband and wife and the skills of conflict handling, promoted women's self-growth and self-care awareness and ability, and promoted family harmony. After the training, Teacher Pan also provided one-on-one counseling for women in need.

Women's group and senior team

At present, six groups have been set up in the project, namely, Pianma Village Women's Group, Pianma Village Mutual Aid Group, Ranmo Village Women's Group, Chalin Village Women's Group, Pianma Village Senior Team and Ranmo Village Senior Team, which cover the elderly in the project village. The women's groups also carry the community service function. After the early establishment, at present, five groups have started to operate and carry out their activities in a normal way. From January to March, each group conducted three training sessions, namely, mental health training for Chalin Village women group, physical health training for Chalin Village women and the elderly, and social media training for the elderly team in Pianma Village. Through the activities, we can not only dig deep into the needs of the women and the elderly in the group, but also master the communication methods, emotional handling methods, food hygiene and health problems, and the sharing of health tips among members. Pianma Village Senior Team is a team that focuses on musical instruments and singing in the community. Under the organization of the team leader, it has carried out three internal activities. Members get together to perform their good skills and rehearse instrumental ensembles together. The activities again and again light up the life of the elderly and inspire their passion for life.
Due to the scattered residents in the project village, considering the inconvenience of the elderly's legs and feet and safety reasons, the existing senior team can't cover all of them. Project personnel actively set up senior teams in other areas according to the principle of local conditions.

Finding a social worker

In order to better serve the beneficiary groups such as women, the elderly and families in distress, in the early stage, the project staff preliminarily determined two social worker candidates through interviews. Then the project staff interviewed the two women respectively and learned about their personal understanding and recognition of the project, their willingness to help the vulnerable groups, their interpretation of public welfare services, and their analysis of their own abilities, so as to determine whether the two women are qualified for the post of community social worker in the project. The final social worker candidate will be determined according to the project requirements and comprehensive community feedback.

Baking stove and solar lamp project in Hanyuan county 

On January 1, 2022, 184 baking stoves were distributed in Pianma Village and Ranmo Village. Another 23 solar lamps were distributed in Ranmo Village. After the distribution of baking stoves in Pianma Village and Ranmo Village, we received an application for project requirements in Daying Village, and determined the beneficiary households' standard to be the elderly aged 60 and above and the people in distress through consultation with the village committee (considering that the elderly aged 70 and above account for a small proportion in Daying Village). On the 17th, project personnel and manufacturers successfully transported 61 baking stoves to the village and distributed them to the elderly and families in distress with the assistance of the village committee.
In mid-March, the weather gradually warmed up, and the baking stove and solar lamps had been installed and used for two months. To evaluate the effect of the project, the project personnel comprehensively understand the feedback from the beneficiaries from the aspects of baking stove, solar lamp quality, satisfaction, frequency of use, etc. by telephone questionnaire. Through the questionnaire survey, it is found that there is no problem in the quality of the baking stove and solar lamp, and the participating households are very satisfied with the baking stove and solar lamp, which have good efficiency and provide great convenience for the life of the beneficiary households. The villagers praised the warmth retention, practicality, beauty, safety, firewood saving and environmental protection of the baking stove. This project is one of the most popular projects among villagers, not only for the above reasons, but also for the elderly to keep their home warm through the winter, and also for everyone to pay more attention to and care for the elderly. The frequency of use will be different because the beneficiaries are different in age, lifestyle and their own situation. The analysis found that people with a high frequency of use are: elderly people living alone and sick people. In the next step, the project will further focus on the clients, identify the elderly living alone and families in distress, which are vulnerable groups that need special care, and provide project support. The goal is to maximize the benefits of the baking stove and solar lamp project to the community.

Baking stove and solar lamp project in Xixian county

By March 2022, we had installed 23 baking stoves for villagers in Machang Village Group 3 and Siguojue Village. Now, more and more villagers have a better understanding of the new baking stoves.
At the same time, we also completed the purchase and installation 125 solar lamps for 72 households in Siguojue Village and 10 solar lamps for 10 households in the third group of Machang Village. During the later evaluation of the project, the villagers gave us feedback that the solar lights we funded were very good. “If we didn't take the initiative to turn them off, they would be bright for seven or eight hours at night, and their brightness was very strong”.

Things and people in the village

[Jiali, the "new star" in the village]

Zhang Jiali, who lives in Group 5 of Pianma Village, is a young man who just returned from military service in Qinghai to his hometown. In November 2021, he was hired by a company in Qionglai （Sichuan）with high salary because of his outstanding personal ability. With the promotion and launch of our rabbit breeding project in Pianma Village, Zhang Jiali, who heard the news from his mother, immediately went back to the village to negotiate with his family to join the project, and introduced a long-term plan for rabbit breeding to the project staff in detail, and attached a graphic diary about the ideas, precautions and risk control of the project that he had compiled before. When asked what to do about his job when he came back to raise rabbits, Zhang Jiali firmly said that he could quit his job, since it was his long-standing plan to go back to his hometown to start a business and do something practical for his family and the village. This time, with the help of the support of the project, his dream was strengthened, and he applied the veterinary professional knowledge he had learned in college to the project. Referring to the possible risks in the future, Zhang Jiali said that nothing is smooth sailing. Since the decision has been made, he is ready to take on all kinds of risks. The understanding of his family, his persistence and the support of the project are all strong driving forces to encourage him to return to his hometown to start a business.

About us

DORS has been insisting on the participatory approach throughout all projects since its establishment, focusing on the sustainable development of project villages. DORS works closely with local villagers, and on the basis of full respect, trust, openness and transparency, creates opportunities and atmosphere for target groups to actively participate in the whole process of the project and decide, plan, design, perform and manage the project on their own. DORS projects benefit the whole community as much as possible, especially women, disabled people, families in distress and other groups in the community.
Over the years, DORS has formed a DORS working family with project staff as the core, office staff as the guarantee, and volunteers as the auxiliary. Family members perform their duties and cooperate sincerely, expecting to serve the people more professionally and effectively and contribute their own strength.
In 2022, we will work together to realize our expectations with our common strength.
May the world become more and more beautiful.