This year the apple and apricot trees bore an abundance of fruit which stayed on the trees to ripen. How much was due to the fact that there were no children about to help themselves we shall never know. The Dragon Garden did not fare so well in other respects. Some watering was done and seeds were collected for next year's planting but because of restrictions due to Covid-19 other aspects of the garden suffered. Jennifer Chandler, volunteer landscape architect from USA, was ready to spend some time at the school in June to follow up on her planting strategy but due to travel restrictions she had to cancel her plans. 

Future plans of creating a circle of poplar trees around the classroom mandala had to be put on hold. Angdus will set out the poplar circle and prepare it for autumn planting when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

On the 21st June The students celebrated the 6th International Yoga Day. This day is celebrated to raise awareness worldwide about the benefits and importance of Yoga in everyday life. The theme for this year is “Yoga for Health –Yoga at Home”. So, by keeping this theme in mind the students of DPKS practiced at home. The students do regular Yoga, as they know the benefits of Yoga, so now it has become a part of their daily lives. “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self and to the self”.

STAY FIT and STAY HEALTHY!!

Message from Mingur Angmo, acting principal, to the students

"As we break for a long winter holiday, we want to express our gratitude to each one of you for your kind and warm support. Our school is off for a winter break which will start from 13th December, 2020. The motive of this year winter break is to spend a quality time with your family and to get away from mobile phones, by keeping all in our mind we tried to assign such homework which doesn’t need any help of mobile phones. So it’s our humble request to each student to kindly stay away from mobile phones at least during this winter break. Wishing you all a Happy Winter Holiday. May you all have a good time with your families."

The first alumni meet of Druk Padma Karpo School was held in October 2020. Owing to the pandemic restrictions only 70-80 students were able to attend. It was short programme which included the sharing of experiences by our ex-students, felicitation to all new committee members and a talk by His Eminence Thuksey Rinpoche. The event finished with a very welcome high-tea during which heartfelt thanks were extended to His Eminence and the core team for making the event possible.

Sean's story - the school's design team leader at Arup

 

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Some clearing of the mud from the newly laid paving took place while construction continued along the pedestrian axis.

At last the main thoroughfare was finished and visitors were able to enjoy a more comfortable path to walk on.

When the paths along the main pedestrian axis were finished work moved to the classroom area, where slate was used to pave the main routes taken by teachers and students. 

Before Konrad left Ladakh he and Tsetan went for a walk around the school to see how many different species of drought tolerant plants they could find. Konrad said “I think we were successful to locate at least five different ones. Some of the plants from the list grow at high altitude or close to water bodies. Our focus was on plants growing on rocks or in the sand that have colour and ornamental value. What we need to do now is to identify them." One you see on a picture below is: Ephedra intermedia. 

"We found good source of yellow clump forming plants on a hill outside the school. It’s possible for the plant to be Artemisia santolinifolia."

A disaster day... Sunshine all day with mudslide at night.

Arrived on site to find all our lovely work covered in mud. 

Mud reached the main entrance to the school but didn’t overflow into the orchard apart from the paths. The only affected building was a toilet next to Singeyla House where mud and water entered waste chambers below the latrines. 

Konrad’s main task while at the school is the paving of some of the main thoroughfares. He spent the first few days familiarising himself with the site and finalising plans.

Angdus and Konrad went to Tanglangla pass area to look for slate suitable for the paving task. Tanglangla pass is located approximately 125km from Shey. They had to drive through extremely difficult terrain but located three suitable sources of slate. The next three days were spent collecting slate, loading it into trucks and taking it back to Shey. Suitable slate had to be selected from scattered material on the slope. Some of the slate pieces weigh between 80 to 100kg and need to be lifted by 6 to 8 men. 

Konrad wrote “Despite extremely hard work our team was in good spirits at the end of the first slate trip. I took part in slate collection as well. I must admit that Ladhaki and Nepali people are much more resistant to hard work at high altitude than we are. I had to take several ‘breathing breaks’ to cope with altitude. I have a lot of respect for what they did.”

 Back at the school work started on paving the main thoroughfare between the students’ hostels.

The upper terrace is almost completed leaving symmetrical beds on either side. One of the main tasks next year will be filling the spine planters with more plants like willows, grasses and flowers native to the region.