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Our new volunteer, Lakshmi, who went to Ladakh to teach IT and English, shares her reflections and experience at the school.
Reflection: Expectations reconciled with reality
My initial expectations of coming here were based on: A PBS special
(narrated by Brad Pitt) focusing on the school’s sustainable
architecture, a small brochure on the school and the school’s website.
As a result, my impressions thus far have changed from what I expected
prior to my arrival of Druk White Lotus School, or Druk Padma Karpo
Institute, as I have come to know it in Ladakh.
The PBS documentary showed absolutely stunning views of lush green
mountains and barren dirt valleys. It also showed a school, at times
devoid of students, and clean simple buildings which looked nearly
brand-new. The mountains of Ladakh are breathtaking, and not just
because the acclimatization process was difficult at first. But the
mountains I now see covered with snow and it is hard to believe they
ever turn green in the summer time. The school I have been seeing
six-days a week for almost the past month is never without at least a
handful of students running about, and though the buildings are indeed
clean, they are also lived in.
The students in the brochure are shown with their uniforms. Light blue
shirt, black trousers, and grey hat, but on the first glance I failed
to notice the winter uniform, complete with a traditional Buddhist
dress which looks like a full-length coat which is worn over numerous
pairs of trousers, shirts and sweaters to keep children warm in with
the winter chill still in the air.
Finally, the existence of a website would imply to some that internet
access is readily available. While the Principal’s office at one point
in time had an (irascible/mercurial) connection that occasionally took
2-3 hours to ‘dial-up,’ the school does not, at the moment have an
internet connection, and the computers (all 14 of them) are shared
among the 400 and some odd students. Though there is internet in Leh,
perhaps what surprised me most is the lack of connection I felt to the
outside world, especially through my personal favorite form of news:
the newspaper. I was so baffled by the fact that the closest
newspaper, The Hindustan Times comes 2-3 days late (if you are lucky),
that I wondered momentarily how people knew to strike, after violence
in Tibet. I had, of course, momentarily forgotten about TV and radio
media, as well as the ever-increasing usage of mobile phones.
Overall, the school and my life here is both none of what I expected
and all of what I had wanted.
Lakshmi Eassey
March 29, 2008