Unwanted guests

On the vegetable front we have suffered at the hands of lizards, mice and caterpillars having had seed and seedlings eaten...but all a learning process. Now that many of Ladakh's trees and flowers are out in bloom I am reminded of how much beauty there is amongst the native species and what a diverse palate is available to the plantsman.

Native species

Fruits of our labour

This week saw the installation of boxes into the latrines in Residence 4, the idea being that they will be filled with the sawdust from the carpentry workshop. I plan to give the children and housemothers a talk on how to use the latrines, putting a scoop of sawdust down the latrine after use, thus the end-product will be of a better quality than the existing product, the reason being, the carbon of the sawdust helps to breakdown the nitrogen-rich faeces in a carbon-nitrogen balance.

Cuttings pit

We have planted the seedlings in the greenhouses and summer growing area, many vegetables and some melons. It was a fantastic effort getting all the planting done, which was satisfying to all.

The soil is fine and over the years it will get better and better. The trenches have been excellent for seedling development and have provided us with our own seedlings. Now all carriers are full and the total for the greenhouse and summer growing area is more than 70.

We have mulched our fruit tree beds which will help to begin to create better soil and retain moisture – increasingly important as now summer is here, I am also reminded of how strong the sun is and how hot it will get over the next few months.

This week has been a good week with continued progression. We finished planting trees in the visitor's centre and have created some small flowerbeds, filling them with flowers beneath. Jigmet of the Visitor Centre has taken full responsibility for irrigating what we have planted this year.

On Monday we went to Taglang-la to collect slate. It was an interesting day and great to see so much beautiful stone all around the mountain. I tried to take two main colours so that a substantial amount was obtained but there is a plethora of available stone up there some in the most beautiful colours.

On Friday a delivery from Jains arrived which is a promising sign, their MD from Srinagar is in Ladakh next week and is scheduling a meeting/visit here. Aside from all the seedlings that we planted inside the green house, we have planted a few more trees inside the visitors centre terrace and made use of the plant stock we have been developing, by planting out two borders inside the Visitor Centre.

This year has seen the South block of Residence 4 constructed, from the foundations being dug through to completion, accommodating 44 students and including a latrine block.

The two-IT suites pictured below have also been completed, and facilities for the School Managing Committee are being built on site too.

In order to landscape the school campus and create gardens, the site needs irrigating. A drip irrigation system is being installed that requires digging trenches throughout the site for the main water pipes. The JCB has been invaluable for this work.

The final components of the 1km long defence wall are finished, this has been a huge undertaking and taken two years to complete. The wall averages 3m high.

The JCB digging foundations at the beginning of the construction season in April.

Students take part in many extra-curricular activities. A few senior students performed in a cultural programme organised by the Ladakh Buddhist Association to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar as seen in the photograph.

The school also took part in the Buddha Jayanti procession organised by Ladakh Buddhist Association and various students participated in the cultural programme.
The students of Class 9 were taken to see a Science Exhibition organised by Bharatiya Vidya Niketan (BVN). There, the students saw different models and exhibits illustrating various scientific concepts and theories.

The House competitions continue every Saturday at school.

The school participated in the Secondary Sports Tournament in May, organised by District Youth Services and Sports. It was held at the Boys’ Higher Secondary School, Leh. Thankfully the conditions were better than during their winter sports events. The following awards were won:

• Girls Football (Winner)
• Girls Handball (Runners Up)
• Boys Relay (Gold)
• Girls Relay (Gold)
• 100m race Girls (Gold)
• 100m race Boys (Gold)
• 400m race Boys (Bronze)

The 2-day annual Kurman Gyalmo Inter-school literary festival was organised by the school in May. This is held every year to encourage budding literary talent among the students of Ladakh. There were different events such as creative writing, drama, dramatic reading, art, and a quiz. The festival was themed “Child Rights”.  Among the participants were 13 schools including Lamdon, Moravian, Kendriya Vidyalaya, and a few government schools. The best school award for the Junior category went to Druk White Lotus School and the senior award was taken by Lamdon School, Leh.

In April the entire school observed Plantation Day. Different areas of the school campus as well as the staff quarters were allocated to different classes for planting. Many trees were planted all over the campus.