Tag Archives: Tuerdi Family

Increased Income Leads to a Better Life

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Tuerdi with one of his family's cows.

With the funding provided by Heifer, Tuerdi — who with his family has a small farm in Yarkant Village, Xinjiang, China — had bought a cow of a fine breed, and with his painstaking care it had been raised into a rather large animal. However, Tuerdi was in a great anxiety, for the cow had never been in heat during the past several months. With the help from the Heifer project community facilitator, Tuerdi got in contact with the local animal husbandry bureau. After examining the cow, the vet told Tuerdi that the obesity of the cow may have prevented her from being in heat. He advised Tuerdi to transfer the cow to a more spacious and cooler place where the cow would be able to move around for some exercises. Following this advice, the cow was really in heat after a while. Tuerdi was so excited that he could not wait to phone the veterinarian to mate the cow. Now that one month has passed, Tuerdi is waiting for the miracle with high expectations.

The the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Tuerdi and his wife fasted in accordance with the Uighur’s custom. For their children’s health, they bought five kilograms of meat and slaughtered three chickens and three ducks the family had raised. All of these foods were enough for the children. In addition, the four Bada wood trees and an acre of walnuts (of high quality through grafting) began to bear fruits, resulting in a total of 15 kg of Bada wood and 5 kg of walnuts. Although the gains are not very much, Tuerdi is very pleased to see that their work is finally paying off, and he says he will save these fruits for his family instead of selling them.

Tuerdi is also looking for additional ways to increase his income. Soon, his one acre of corn will be harvested. He hopes to use the corn stalks as forage. And he will grasp another chance to realize another plan: the season of cotton harvest season in South Xinjiang is coming soon, and many Shache farmers would earn money through picking cotton in other places. Because there will be no one left at home, they will sell all their sheep. The price will fall and Tuerdi plans to buy the sheep to increase his flock from 10 to 20. After a while, when price of these sheep is better, he will sell them all to earn some money. He believes that through his effort, his life will be much better in the near future.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. You can read previous posts about Tuerdi and his family here.

A Visit to Turpan Brings New Understanding

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Earlier this year, Tuerdi paid a visit to Turpan. It was not his first time to visit this city in China’s Xinjiang region, but this was his first time to visit as the farmer representative of Heifer China’s Shache project.

Tuerdi's notes during his visit in Turpan

Heifer began working in Turpan early in 1989, and many local project farmers walked out of poverty by taking part in Heifer’s programs. Some of them even became animal rearing experts, and some community self-help groups developed into cooperatives. During his four-day visit, Tuerdi made detailed notes about the advanced livestock rearing technology and concepts he saw.

“What I learned here is very valuable to share with other farmers in my village,” Tuerdi says. “I will participate in Heifer projects with more initiatives and at the same time encourage more families to join Heifer.”

Heifer China's country director Chen Taiyong with Tuerdi

Heifer China’s country director, Chen Taiyong, also joined in the visit. When he heard Tuerdi’s son, Hasanjan, won “Three Good Student,” he donated RMB 200 Yuan (about US $32) to Tuerdi for buying books and stationery for Hasanjan.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. You can read previous posts about Tuerdi and his family here.

Spring Brings Surprises in Yarkant Village

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When we visited Tuerdi and his family again, we were in for a surprise. With the coming of the spring cultivation here in Yarkant Village in the Xinjiang region of China, the family is getting busier. Tuerdi needs to get up earlier to take care of the pregnant cattle that were provided by Heifer China and to make the breakfast for his children. Then he will ride his recently-purchased motorcycle to the field for working on his land. He bought the motorcycle two weeks before our visit in order to save his time and energy when making the trip between the fields and his home.

And during our visit, we learned that Hasanjan, the family’s son, now eats more nutritious lunches through a local government program (he used to eat only a pancake as his lunch). Although we don’t know how long the lunch support will last, we are happy to see Hasanjan’s face is getting red and rounder. When we ask about his studies in school, the little boy is quite excited in telling us he could count the numbers from 1 to 10 in Han-Chinese!

As we were leaving, Tuerdi phoned the the next families we would visit to inform them of our arrival and to check on their cattle. Through his enthusiasm for joining all the Heifer program trainings, he has become an expert in cattle rearing, and he serves as an instructor of the subject in his village. Spring is the best season of the year, and we wish Tuerdi and his family will have a busy and prosperous year.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. You can read the first post about Tuerdi and his family here.

A Hard Life in Yarkant Village

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Tuerdi, his wife and their oldest son and daughter



by Heifer China 

Tuerdi is 36 years old, living with his wife, his sister’s son, his three daughters and his aunt who is now 65 years old and cannot walk freely as a result of falling from the tractor twice. As many people as this family has, there are only two who can work. Together with the poor production from the field and animal rearing, this family has led a hard life in Yarkant, Xinjiang, China. This family has nine goats, two local brand cattle and two hens that provide one or two eggs, and often these animals cannot meet the needs from the children, let alone the needs of the entire family. The oldest boy never had milk and his body size is far smaller than other children his age. The oldest girl also has the same problem. 

The boy is now in junior school (first grade ), and he is the top one student in his class. His dream is to become a teacher if he has the chance to enter college. The girl’s performance in school is also quite good, and her dream is to be a doctor. Both of the children have the local pancake — which costs 1 RMB — as their lunch. 

At the beginning of this year, the Heifer Turpan project farmers went to Yarkant to promote Heifer program concepts, and Tuerdi is seeing positive changes after joining the program. The Heifer program provided Tuerdi with one good-quality simmental cross-breeding cow. Tuerdi actively joined in the program and took advantage of the chance to learn from the trainings and meetings. He holds a hope that through the Heifer program, his family could have a more stable income to improve them a higher living standard and better children’s nutrition.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a new series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. Initially, this series will focus on our programs in Asia/South Pacific, where our colleagues have chosen one family in each region in the countries where we work and will bring us quarterly updates. 

The front of Tuerdi’s home in Yarkant village, China
Goats inside an animal pen