“Reading Angels” Fulfill Rinpoche’s Aims in Nubri

In London, Ontario, Canada, a wonderful group is sponsoring

5 students from SMD to get teacher training to return to their villages and teach.  London donors raised
over $23,000 to create this amazing project.  THANK YOU!

READ MORE AND SEE PHOTOS HERE

Tashi Choden	Pasang Lhamo

Doug Scott, the well-known mountaineer from Scotland met Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche in England a few years ago. They had quite a long conversation about helping people in the Himalayan areas of Nepal. Rinpoche told him about Nubri (Gorkha district) and the background of the people and asked Doug if he could help. Afterwards, Doug helped to establish a school and clinic there.

Unfortunately, the school was not operating smoothly. The school and teachers were available but no one was making proper use of them. Doug also established CANepal in Kathmandu. www.canepal.org.uk Now, another guy is running this organization in Nepal with the help of other employees. They have a meeting once a year for everyone and from that, Doug came to know that the school was not being used as effectively as it should be.

With this in mind, he went to talk with Thrangu Rinpoche and asked for help. Doug raised the question: How about if you send SMD kids there to be teachers? Rinpoche said he would do his best to send his student to help there next year. The discussion ended but the outcome was optimistic. The job was given to two Nubri monks, Lama Tenzin Dorje and Khenpo Choegyal to work out.

At last the pressure came to Shirley Blair's shoulders (the Director of SMD School). She planned to send “Seniors” (students who have passed Grade ten) and she thought it would be far better if these seniors had Teacher Training. We have “Reading Angel” training at SMD (brought to us by specialist teachers from the Inter Community School in Zurich). The training includes psychology, classroom management and early language skills teaching. Shirley asked SMD’s senior Reading Angel Tsering Dekyi (currently on scholarship at ICSZ in Switzerland) to train two SMDers.

Tsering trained both Tashi Chodon and Pasang Lhamo, the kids who were selected by Shirley. These two girls are also from Nubri. They are from very poor families and they have deep respect for Thrangu Rinpoche and the teachings of the Buddha. They showed desire to help the kids of the village in the school.

Tsering gave the Reading Angel Training plus extra teacher training (and materials) for more than one and half months to Tashi Chodon and twenty days for Pasang Lhamo. They started teaching at the school in Lhi village in August and will be there for approximately one year. After one year, they will exchange with other Seniors of SMD School. As one of Thrangu Rinpoche's wishes is for the students to go back to their villages and help there, these two young women are starting the fulfilment of Rinpoche's wishes...preserving the language, culture and Buddhist way of thinking of their own people.

Tashi Choden and Pasang Lhamo are paid by CANepal Organization as teachers in the school, but they are under the Director’s guidance. If something happens they can talk with Shirley for advice. When they finish the year, they need to pass their knowledge, experience and ideas to the next newcomers.

These two SMD seniors from Nubri are succeeding in improving teaching standards in Nubri with the support of Thrangu Rinpoche, the CANepal, SMD administrators, Lama Tenzin Dorje, Khenpo Choegyal, Shirley Blair and all the other Seniors themselves.

By Tsering Dhundup B340a (also from Nubri)

When I proposed this project to Tashi and Pasang, they told me about their own schooling in Nubri, before they came to SMD. They were both able to go to a government school, but the teachers were lowlanders who spoke Nepali. They could not teach the Nubri kids in a language the kids could understand; of course the teachers were disheartened and so were the kids.

Young monks from Hinang who walk an hour down the mountains to get to the school in Lhi

Update About Our Girls Teaching In Lhi Village

At the beginning of August, two SMD students, Tashi Chodon B322 and Pasang Lhamo B309 trekked back to their village in Nubri. They have gone there to teach Nubri kids in their ownlanguage.

I am writing this letter just to let you know that my sisters Tashi Chodon and Pasang Lhamo both are doing well with their work out there at our village. They said thank you so much for your help and kindness towards them. They feel happy and proud of themselves when I told them what you had requested me to tell them. They told me that they are in good health and are doing their best in their teaching.

They are okay with everything but they are having problems with stationery: the children don’t have notebooks, pencils, erasers and sharpeners. And they told me there isn't any furniture in the classrooms and the students needs to sit on the wooden floor which will be very cold during in winter time. They are bit worried about their students during winter time but it’s okay Other than that everything is okay and going on well.

Little Monks From Thrangu Monastery. Hinang, Gorkha District
(Note the armed police, who are in barracks beside the monastery...there's nothing else but wilderness)

Right now, the little monks from our monastery in Hinang are coming to do their studies. They walk down from Hinang and then climb back up at the end of the day. It takes them about two hours every day. Only some of the village (Lhi) kids are coming right now, because it is time for everyone to work in the fields. My sisters they told me every villager is getting busy with their work but everyone is fine and no one is having problems. These are things that they told me to tell you.

Tsering Thinley B292

info@vajravidyacanada.org