Buffalo Brings New Life to Project Families in Yunnan
Bordering with Myanmar, Lancang County is located in the Southwest of Yunnan Province. It comprises 20 townships, 157 villages with a population of 470,000, of whom 310,000 are poor, accounting for 66% of the total population. Lancang County is thus a state designated poor county. Donggang Village is a remote small village in Lancang County and is located in the centre of the Golden Triangle, only an hour drive from the Myanmese border. As drugs are easily available in the area, most people in Donggang Village get addicted to drugs, and eventually their families also suffer. Families have lost labor force and other problems such as HIV/AIDS have started to threaten the village. Adults, teenagers, even children and babies are affected by AIDS. Therefore, there is an urgent need to educate the rural farmers about the problem of HIV/AIDS and related preventive measures.
In 2007, Heifer started a project in Donggang Village. Villagers there never had thought that there would be anyone coming to help them as the village had been abandoned for a long time. Nobody was willing to come.
Zhao Apu is an ordinary woman in Donggang Village. Before joining the Heifer project, her husband was in prison for taking drugs. She had to take care two young sons at home and the family relied on limited agricultural products for a living. She was very happy to have received a water buffalo from Heifer. She took care of it and used it for ploughing. With the training provided by Heifer, project families learned practical skills on animal management and knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention. They then realized that drugs could ruin their life and they decided to quit. Together, they planted a tree at the entrance of the village to show their determination to stay away from drugs.
Less than three years later, Zhao Apu's gift water buffalo had given birth to two calves. The three buffaloes are now worth RMB10,000 and are the most important assets in Zhao Apu's family.
This year, Zhao Apu has kept her promised of "passing on the gift" and passed on a water buffalo to another needy family. She said, "Three years ago, Heifer provided me with an opportunity to become self-reliant. Now, I am passing the gift animal to another family so that they can also have hope for a better life, just like what I have now!"
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