News | Druk White Lotus School, Ladakh.

Introducing a new volunteer

We have a new volunteer at the school, Lakshmi will be teaching English and IT. She has agreed to send us updates from Ladakh. She has just left to go to the school and sent us this short piece to introduce herself.

“As I sit and contemplate my upcoming stay and volunteer position at the Druk White Lotus School, I have many doubts, worries and questions. Despite these, I am looking forward to Leh.

My father grew up in Kerala, on the west side of the most southern state of the Indian subcontinent, a coastal sliver of a state that many people have never heard of before. I am half Indian and half American and, since I was born and raised in the U.S., I have been in India for the past 2 months, learning about my heritage and visiting family. I am going to Leh not only because I have heard it is beautiful and because there is a school with a different mission regarding education (than the standard Indian government schools), and they are willing to take on volunteers, but because I would like to learn more about all of India.

The beginning of my stay in Leh will mark the halfway point of my travels from the U.S., and instead of being a tourist, traveler, or some combination thereof, I am looking forward to being in one place for an extended period of time, while also having a purpose. I am looking forward to learning more about Buddhism and meeting children who can speak more languages than I ever dreamed would be possible. I’m also looking forward to connecting on a level that goes beyond linguistic and cultural barriers.

Despite my reservations: Will I be warm enough? Will I be lonely? Will I be able to teach anything of substance? Will they understand me? Will I understand them? Will they like me? In any new place or situation the truth is I don’t really know what to expect, and ultimately, I am going to DWLS not only to teach, but to learn what it means to be Indian, while also being Tibetan, Ladakhi and all the other ethnicities, regions and religions one may identify with. I am going to gain a sense of the many differences between and among Indians, help out as much as possible, and perhaps discover my own Indian-ness.”

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News from New York and France

The Druk Foundation in the USA organised a gala event at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. The evening focussed on the art of the Drukpa lineage and included a conversation between His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa and Jeff Watt, Curator of the Rubin Museum, before an invited audience. This was followed by a screening of a documentary entitled ‘Druk White Lotus School - Ladakh’ produced by New York film company kontentreal and sponsored by Autodesk.

His Holiness with Karena Albers and Tad Fettig (Executive Producers from the film company)

Following a screening of the film, His Holiness took part in a Q&A with Jeff Watt, Rubin Museum Curator, together with Jonathan Rose (chief architect), Tad Fettig (film executive producer) and Philip Cornwell (trustee).

In Europe a few days later, the annual retreat with the Gyalwang Drukpa was underway at Pel Drukpay Tcheutsok, the centre in Plouray, France. As ever, the Drukpa Trust and a dedicated crew of volunteers kept a display open throughout, fundraising for equipment for the Science Laboratoty. Always trying to have fun with the theme, this time donors could buy parts of the human skeleton 1€ buying a tooth and 100€ represented by a skull. By the end of the retreat, over two whole “skeletons” had been bought.

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New School Year

The new school year began on the 1st November 2007 - Druk White Lotus School now has 398 students, of whom 113 are residential students from remote areas of Ladakh. They are cared for by 20 Ladakhi and Tibetan teachers plus 21 support staff. Sarla Chhewang took these photos on her trip to find needy children in remote area of Karnak.

A lot of the remote area children are sponsored by the students of His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa. Here are some of the latest recipients.

Stanzin (top) joined the Nursery, whilst Tsewang joined the Upper Kindergarten.

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