The IT room was devastated and all the computers will need to be replaced.
Your help is urgently needed for the clean up and rebuilding work – Please donate whatever you can now (How to Donate)
Even the playground was damaged by the flood
Your help is urgently needed for the clean up and rebuilding work – Please donate whatever you can now (How to Donate)
The Administration courtyard suffered the brunt of the mudslide. As shown in one of the photographs below the mud reached the roof on the wall nearest to the school entrance, entered the Principal’s office, and completely flood it with mud that reached waist high level.
Images of the recent disaster are courtesy of: Anokhee Shah (Arup), Liew Juan Juan, Pankaj Bansal, Regina Ulwer and Will Embliss (KINSHIP).
Your help is urgently needed for the clean up and rebuilding work – Please donate whatever you can now (How to Donate)
For a larger image please click on any of the thumbnail images below.
The excellence of Arup Associates’ design work on Druk White Lotus School was recognised on 4th December 2009 in Hong Kong through the presentation of a ‘Design for Asia Grand Award’. The award was accepted by His Eminence Khamtrul Rinpoche on behalf of the School and by Francesca Galeazzi on behalf of Arup Associates.
His Eminence said:
“It is both awe-inspiring and humbling to be here in Hong Kong tonight to accept so prestigious a design award on behalf of the Druk While Lotus School, and the people of Ladakh. It is really hard to believe that our tiny, remote and isolated Himalayan region has succeeded in winning such international recognition. We have so much to thank for the inspiration and creativity of the multi-national group of designers from Arup Associates, who contributed so much to create Druk White Lotus School. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
People in Ladakh face severe challenges, in particular from the global warming that is melting the Himalayan glaciers at an alarming rate. But we are not alone in being challenged. This warming process is threatening the water supply of millions of people in China, India and other countries in the Himalayan region. Druk White Lotus has been designed and built with sustainability very clearly in our minds, and it aims to nurture young people that are prepared to tackle the significant challenges ahead.
Here in Hong Kong, our Live to Love Charitable Foundation has been created to address some of these key environmental issues. We hope you are able to contribute to, and enhance, our modest efforts by offering your professional skills, by applying your energy and enthusiasm, and by designing smart solutions for the benefit of all beings. We can achieve big things even with small contributions if enough of us work effectively together.”
The Changthang area lies high on the Tibetan plateau. The people tend yaks and goats – the goats that produce the wool that is ‘pashmina’. Life is harsh. It is hard for youngsters to obtain a good education. The nomadic way of life is under threat.
Mme Sarla and Wendy Cornwell visited the area in September and several more Changthang children will be coming to Druk Padma Karpo School in Shey, with the support of international sponsors.
The condition of students’ teeth in Ladakh tends to be poor, due to a combination of diet (too many sweet things) and lack of dental hygiene. We are paying a lot of attention to preventive care in order to protect the students’ permanent teeth. Dentist Michel Guinet and his partner Corinne Barbier from Tahiti visited the school in April (their third visit) to offer fissure sealant treatment to the children. They treated around 140 permanent teeth on this occasion. They were joined this time by Jean-Philippe Bréard, a dentist from Grenoble, France.
Through the generosity of donors in France, Tahiti and UK, we were able to purchase a portable dental unit and related equipment, which they were able to use. You can see from the photos that we are still saving up to buy a dental chair! Michel, Corinne and JP demonstrated that toothbrushing and nose blowing can be fun! In addition, dentists from the dzi Foundation, USA, returned to Leh and kindly treated some of the children who they had checked last year.
Students from Alton College, UK, raised funds for the school and then came to Ladakh in summer 2009 to build an exercise trail and experience a challenging trek in the Markha Valley. The school recently employed a Physical Education teacher.
We are cooperating with the ladies of Gya village to transform their pashmina, sheep and Yak wool into stylish knitted goods that visitors will wish to buy and wear. This ‘win-win’ situation will bring pleasure to the owners, and generate income for the ladies of Gya and for Druk White Lotus School.
We built our first greenhouse in 2009 and students from BaSiC Initiative worked with local staff to prepare the ground, import top-soil and start composting. In 2010, we aim to start growing some of our own food for students and staff.
Ian Hazard is an Architect from Arup Associates who spent six months with us as a volunteer. Why not find out more about volunteer opportunities in Ladakh?.
“Since being a child I’ve loved to draw the world around me and from an early age I dreamt of being an architect. When I finally left university having fulfilled my ambition I realised that the skills I had learned with respect to architecture could be a very powerful tool, not only to share my wonder for the world with others, but also as a means to work very directly with people in a manner that my help them improve the conditions of their surroundings and the quality of their lives.
I joined Arup soon after graduating and found within the company a shared aspiration to shape a better world, not only in the forefront of design in the western developed context, but also in developing countries where our expertise can make a real difference and the Druk White Lotus School in Ladakh is one of several projects I have become involved in that seek to bring all that good design has to offer to people who have nothing to offer in return other than their gratitude.
Each year a member of the design team travels to Ladak to take up the post of resident architect or resident engineer with the purpose of ensuring what is designed and drawn in London gets built in Ladak.
Having been asked to be the resident architect for 2006, I arrived on site and soon realised the most significant hurdle of my job was not one of construction or design but that of working successfully between people of different cultures. Although the differences between places and people are sometimes barely perceptible, the differences in the way that actions and gestures are perceived by people of different cultures is very significant and working in Ladak I found that I needed to be extremely sensitive to the way that people lead their lives and to the things that are important to them in order to work effectively with them and sometimes it would be the most simple of problems that cause me the most headaches to solve; such as making sure the school had water on a day to day basis or that making sure light bulbs worked when they were switched on.
“the heart of the project is … the children and not the buildings.”
But of course at the heart of the project is the school and that being the children and not the buildings. To me it is the children that make the project worthwhile, providing for their education and for their future in life.
With that in mind from day 1 there is the understanding within the design team that this is not a 9 to 5 job. Often, being involved in the project requires working long hours and in unexpected circumstances and for me this is one of the job’s pleasures such as helping organise school activities, taking part in fund-raising events, such as climbing Stok Kangri, a 6,500 metre peak, was one of the most demanding experiences of my life but because of its purpose to raise money for the children, it was one of the most rewarding.
“I have very fond memories of the time I shared with the children and the staff at the school.”
Obviously I have very fond memories of the time I shared with the children and the staff at the school which I am sure I’ll treasure for some time to come. However the moments that moved me the most and that filled me with such hope for the future were often born from something so simple as a wave from one person to another. Although quite often I would have very little in common with some of the people that I had met there is something very beautiful in a gesture so small as a wave. Maybe it’s a recognition that beneath all the differences that culture time and place would put between us we’re all just human and the world’s not such a big place.”