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Once the work team had settled in，

we started visiting the villagers in their homes to get the lay of the land.

There are four unincorporated villages in Yerpa： Gogo and Yulo are downstream on the east bank of Nujiang River； Sengo， the one in the middle， is the seat of the village committee， and Dangran Village， a hour’s walk from Sengo （upstream and to the west） is the smallest and most remote. According to old statistics， there was a population of 489 in the 78 households in Yerpa Village. That made it a relatively big administrative village. It is also typical of the eastern river valley region of Tibet， with features such as deep valleys， steep mountains， a widely dispersed population over a wide area， the shortage of arable land， a dry climate and lack of transport facilities.

Currently a road runs past the village but there is still no electricity， telecommunications， schools， medical services… or safe drinking water. In the past people had to use a cable slide to cross the Nujiang River and then walk another 10 kilometers to get to Junyong Village in Dombang Township of Dzogong County. In order to continue on to the county seat of Dzogong there was another steep mountain to climb. On looking up from Yerpa Village， the highway was like a thread hanging from the clouds. The villagers used to climb Khekela on the other side of Nujiang River to reach Temtok Town of Dzogong County. Our legs almost gave way just from looking at that narrow trail. But the villagers had to rely on it to go to the nearest town for selling produce and shopping. Sometimes they would return on the same day.

Our visit started from the village of Dangran. Since it was farthest from where we were， we decided to tackle the hard stuff fi rst. Dangran Village had sent several horses and mules to us so we could use them to carry our gifts， plus a bottle of cooking oil bought in the county seat， for each family. On the gravel road that doubled as a water channel， the horses were fi ne but the mules liked to head for the thorn bushes by the roadside. The two girls in our team， who were novice horse riders， almost fell off screaming and shouting. There were some homes along the way. Their terraced fi elds stretched all the way to Dangran Village. We were in such a mess when we arrived that we had to take a moment to catch our breath. The village Party Secretary Chojor Jinpa led us into the homes. Here was our routine： Chojor Jinpa opened the gate of villagers’ houses to the courtyard （there was a little gadget with which you could unhinge the gate and enter， and then the gate would lock itself after you so the animals could not go in or out， quite a clever invention！）. The Secretary would shout， “Hello， anybody in？” and someone would come out to greet us， with “Thank you for coming all the way here！”， to which we would answer“Don’t mention it” in unison. Once inside the house we had to go upstairs via a wooden ladder， which was straight and narrow. Thanks to all this we have become semi-decent acrobats， out of sheer necessity. Seated on the new rugs reserved for guests， we were about to be served butter tea. However， we all took out our own mugs and asked for just plain hot water because we all knew butter tea was a rare luxury here and we did not have the heart to take it. Gradually they got used to this and knew that “the work team would not have butter tea”. The Secretary usually gave an introduction on what the work team was doing there， emphasizing that we would stay there for three years. Those in the team who were fl uent in Tibetan would talk briefl y on policy and gave background information about our mission. Then we produced pens and paper and started asking questions on topics like their family members， their land， domestic animals， trees and crops， and whether they went out of town to work， and so on. Once that was done， we would all say our goodbyes politely. The host said “Take cares！”， and we replied “Have a nice day！”We spent seven full days in the four villages， accompanied by the offi cials of the individual villages. When it was over， the village chiefs told us that we were the fi rst work team to manage to visit every single home here. This gave us a sense of accomplishment.

The four villages of Yerpa are all located in this valley of Gogo Lumpa. Together they form an inverted “Y”shape： Gogo and Yulo are downstream by the river， Sengo sits in the middle， and Dangran is upstream and high on the mountains. Our new survey showed that there are 518 people in 80 households now. Most of the middle-aged and elderly people are illiterate and only speak Tibetan. No one has had short-term jobs out of town （let-alone stable employment）. 60 school-age children in the village attend primary school； either in Lingka Township， Baxoi County， or Dombang Township in Dzogong County on the opposite side of the river. There is only one college student in the village. There was once a primary school in the village but it had ceased operation due to a lack of teaching staff. The classroom was now in ruins. The villagers depend on homegrown walnuts， apples and peppers for cash. Due to diffi culties in transport they do not make much money. Nevertheless， we did not hear any grumbles or complaints from the villagers. Was it because they were shut off from the outside world？ Not really. Many of them have televisions at home on which they can see the changes in the outside world. This was refl ected in the fact that the villagers could understand most of our team members， who spoke with a Lhasa accent， but their local dialect would often confuse us， including the two members on the team who were supposed to be the Tibetan language experts， and we had to make ourselves understood with hand gestures more than once.

While deeply touched by the villagers’ kindness， we felt a heavy burden of responsibility. We had not been this motivated for years.