The German Embassy in Beijing contributed 20,000 RMB and the local contribution was 2,500 RMB. These funds were used to purchase 25 solar electricity generating panels for 25 impoverished Tibetan households directly benefiting 209 Tibetans. Before the project, villagers walked 20 km roundtrip to collect forest wood to burn as lighting. They also had to buy diesel and candles for lighting and used butter to burn. With solar panels, they no longer do this. They now sell the butter they burnt before, or eat it. One collecting trip took a day and the wood collected lasted about one week. Solar panels have removed the time spent on collection and people have more time to do fieldwork and do paid labor (road repair, construction site work). Women and girls worried about completing their housework before dark. Now they can work at night to separate milk, sew, and cook. Before the project, it was difficult for students in the local village school to do homework at night but now they can spend more time studying and thus learn more. [Kham: Sgongshog Tibetan Village > Zhongchenrong Township > Bathang County > Ganzi Prefecture > Sichuan Province > PR China]