Sponsor's Update from the SOS Tibetan Villages
01/11/2007
Tashi Phuntsok writes from Mussoorie (Uttarakhand): We currently are caring for 1874 children and young people. 88 are new arrivals, either from Tibet or from families in Tibetan Settlements in India. Like all children and young people cared for by SOS Children, they will be looked after and given education until they can stand on their own two feet and are independent. The exam results in the school were excellent, with two classes achieving 98% and 88% pass rate. One of our students won a scholarship to Mussoorie International Girl's School having achieved top marks in the entrance exam. Our children have had tuberculosis screening and dental check ups and have been given the appropriate medicines. Our medical staff have visited the homes and talked to the children and their SOS Mothers about health care and hygiene. We have also been repairing some of the buildings. The older part of the hospital building has been retiled. The terraces of eleven family homes have been reroofed. We have also had windows and doors of the larger homes painted and railings were fixed at most of the homes with high verandahs to prevent accidents. We are currently building five new family homes to replace some of the oldest homes that are very dilapidated and some houses are becoming over-crowded as we take in more children each year.
Tsering Palden writes from Leh-Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir): We are currently looking after over 900 children and are giving education to a further 1500 children in the seven schools in and around Leh-Ladakh. The schools were closed for the winter in December and reopened on March 1st. Some young people continued vocational training on a variety of courses including IT, secretarial skills, bakery, tailoring, carpentry, electrician motor mechanics. This is a good opportunity for young people to become independent members of our community. We have also opened a Tibetan Thangka painting school in Patlikuhl. “Thangka Painting” is the art of painting Tibetan spiritual Gods and Goddesses. The main aim of setting up this school is not only to teach the children but also to keep Tibetan tradition and culture alive. We also have 30 students who are in the handicraft centre learning tailoring and patch work. These young people too will become self-reliant.
Sponsor's update from Himachal Pradesh
Pasang Wangdu writes from Gopalpur (Himachal Pradesh): We are looking after nearly 1500 children and young people. All of them are well and growing healthily in body, mind and spirit. Our school exam results were excellent, with a pass rate of just short of 100%. Most of our students who have left school are now in colleges all over India. Other students are at the SOS Vocational Training Centres studying commerce, or science or arts. We have an “Environment Club” in Gopalpur and they have shouldered the responsibility of maintaining the village garbage disposal system with great zeal. The village environment is spick and span due to their great dedication.
Phuntsok Namgyal writes from Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh): In the first half of 2007 we were able to admit 292 new children into our care. Sixty-five of them had recently escaped from Tibet. We are at present looking after nearly 2,000 children. Two of our former students who now run a restaurant here in Dharamsala have for the last three years invited about sixty of our children (a few at a time) to spend three days of the winter holiday with them. Knowing what it feels like to have no where to go during winter holiday they wanted to give to some of our children the experience of family life. Also in the long winter holiday, our Tibetan friends in Nepal gave six of our children the opportunity to visit Nepal. There was a marked improvement in the performance of our children in the Board Examinations. In one class the pass rate shot up from 60% to more than 90% and in another from 71% to 86%. This is a very positive indication of the importance our children attach to their examination performance and of the personal attention given by our dedicated team of teachers.
Ngodup Wangdu writes from Bir (Himachal Pradesh): We have 850 children and young people in the SOS Children’s Village in 14 family homes and three “mini hostels” for young adults. Like all schools in the region our school was closed for its annual holiday from 15th December 2006 till 28th February 2007. Many of our children are orphans or their families are still in Tibet and so they remained with us. We ran a series of programmes for these children to make their holiday enjoyable and interesting. Activities including music and drama, computer classes and calligraphy as well as extra lessons in English and Tibetan. After the long winter holiday, the new school year was formally opened by Thupten Lungrig, the Minister of Education of the Tibetan Government in Exile. Mr. Lungrig was a teacher in our school until he became member of the Tibetan Government in Exile. Our children are taught three languages - English, Tibetan and Hindi - as well as subjects like science and mathematics. The village is following the Tibetan system of education and so the teaching medium is Tibetan which helps to boost the Tibetan language.
Relevant Countries: India.