A welfare program aimed at training the locals around Mount
Qomolangma how to transform their lives and environment has proved
a remarkable success.
From the simple measure of adding salt to staple food to tree
planting; from eco-tourism to immunization, the health and wealth
of a great number of Tibetans
has been greatly improved.
Take Zhoinqung, a Tibetan woman, as an example. She has taught her
fellow countrymen how to combat the previously habitual problem of
dehydration: add salt to their staple food of Zanba, or roasted
qingke flour. Qingke is a highland barley native to Tibet.
This simple method has helped the farmers and herdsmen living in
Zhazong Township of Tingri County, in Southwest China's Tibet
Autonomous Region, to prevent and treat this common affliction.
Zhoinqung is one of several hundred people helping to improve the
living conditions of Tibetans through a welfare program.
The program is aimed at improving medical services and sanitation
in the four counties of Tingri, Nyalam, Gyirong and Dinggye in the
Mount Qomolangma Nature Reserve, where more than 86,000 farmers and
herdsmen live.
Jointly sponsored by the local government and Future Generation, a
US foundation, it was launched in 1994.
According to an agreement, the Mount Qomolangma Nature Reserve
Administration is responsible for carrying out set programs and
establishing the service system, and the foundation provides funds
and expert consultations.
After receiving training, people like Zhoinqung are not only
responsible for helping locals improve their awareness of
environmental protection, but teaching them knowledge and skills,
which may lead to a more prosperous life.
Most of the venues for training are in the Mount Qomolangma Nature
Reserve itself. Courses are designed to accord with local
conditions and address the concerns of local people.
Currently, the courses cover subjects including public health,
environment protection, skills for making money, eco-friendly
tourism and housing improvement.
Many trained people like Zhoinqung are to be found in grasslands,
farmland and on the roads to tourist attractions, where they
provide various services to visitors from across the world.
Their work also involves teaching locals how to best protect their
environment.
The Garma valley in Tingri County is one of the seven major
protected areas inside the Mount Qomolangma Nature Reserve.
Unaware of the need to protect their environment, in the past
locals have cut down the natural forests.
The training program also sent arboriculturists to Qudang Township
in Tingri County to show locals how to plant poplar, willow, apple,
Chinese prickly ash and other trees.
A
nursery has also been built, providing more than 30,000 saplings
for a local agricultural development zone and for local people to
buy. And many former lumbermen have turned to growing trees.
Zhoinqung helps villagers plant trees in their front and back
gardens, sometimes even growing poplar trees, putting an end to the
old saying "poplar trees do not grow in Tibet."
Yan Yinliang, an official with the Mount Qomolangma Nature Reserve
Administration, said the program had to date trained more than 580
people.
A
total of 223, including Zhoinqung, have been named 'Pandeba,' which
means rural welfare worker in Tibetan.
These people shoulder the responsibility of more than 90 per cent
of the work relating to grassroots medical and health care services
in rural areas.
Their efforts have not been in vain and they have had a marked
affect on the lives of those they serve, in particular health
improvements, by promoting immunization of children, education on
environmental protection and family planning.
(Xinhua News
Agency October 9, 2002)