Spiritual Guidance
The Ven. Lama Rigzin (Chairman) leads the students and staff each morning to practice their chanting, explain the basics of Buddhism, and so create spiritual awareness amongst the children.

Staff
It is with great regret we announce the passing of Spalchen Wangyal, a school bus driver, who drowned in the Indus River on 14th June 2008. His sincere contribution to the school will always be remembered by children and staff alike. Mr. Dawa Dechen from Shey was appointed as the new bus driver with effect from 1st July 2008 - he has 8 years of driving experience and previously drove the school tipper truck.

Mr. Tundup Chosphel from Tarchit (Changthang) was appointed as the new School Watchman with effect from 1st July 2008. He is a retired army man and was chosen from 20 close contenders.

Art Activity
Annie Smith, a volunteer from UK, organised an outdoor art activity for the Junior classes on 11th July 2008. Annie explained that they had to use their imagination and creativity in drawing something on the school campus. The children loved doing the task very much.

Music
Nicola Perandin (Resident Engineer from Arup Associates) taught English-language songs to the children. The students learned two songs in one day and they want to sing them on the School Annual Day. They enjoyed singing with Nicola very much.

We have a new volunteer at the school, Tania Garbe. Tania is helping to set up a heritage programme at the Shey campus and sent us this piece to introduce herself.

“My name is Tania Garbe and I began volunteering at Druk White Lotus School at the beginning of June. I have a bachelor’s degree in architecture from University of California, Berkeley, and I’m currently working on getting my Master’s at University of Texas at Austin, USA.

I’ve been helping to set up a Heritage Program, which aims to preserve Ladakhi culture and its rich cultural traditions within the school, while using them as an educational tool for students and visitors.

The program is two-fold. The first part is to create a modest Heritage Centre composed of three small rooms around the central courtyard. The first room will house displays on Drukpa history and lineage as well as the school’s cultural and architectural ties to Alchi and Hemis monasteries. The second room will be dedicated to the architecture of the Druk Padma Karpo School, specifically as an educational device to explain the environmental components and unique design features that have won the school several international awards. It will also explain the spiritual significance of the master plan, including documentation of the original sketches made by His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa. The third room will be dedicated to the educational ethos of the school and will house a rotating display of student work.

In addition, we have plans to move an old traditional Ladakhi home to the site, repair it, and then use it to display a collection of artefacts such as traditional costumes, tools, etc, as well as documentation and recordings of traditional stories, songs and dances. The hope is that this Cultural Archive will serve as an educational tool for our students and also as a resource for other schools locally and internationally.

The second part of the Heritage Program is to set up a guided tour for the increasing number of visitors that come to Naropa Palace and the school. The walk will inform visitors about the Drukpa Lineage and history, the efforts of the school, take visitors through the heritage rooms and Naropa Palace, and then offer them tea and a chance to help the school through donations or sponsorships if they wish.

As for my personal experience here, the fact that I am still here, and will be for several weeks after I originally intended on leaving, speaks for the tremendous kindness of everyone here at the school and the incredible beauty of Leh valley. If I wasn’t due back at university in August, it would be hard to make me leave”.

Tania Garbe

Angdus has built the whole school, assisted by his trusty caretaker Lobsang, and many skilled masons, carpenters and labourers. Angdus is from the local village of Shey, and is married with two daughters.

Pictured below are Angdus with Rachel Glynn (Drukpa Trust Secretary from the UK), and Angdus with his second daughter, Tseskit.

Several articles have been written about the design of the planned Pema Karpo Library at the very cenre of the campus. You might like to read these at Inhabitat and BD Online and Arup.

Slideshow

Volunteers Rigzin Namgyal from Ladakh, Kristin Brudevold from the US and Martha Egger from Austria took class M6 to Khespang for a 5-day Environmental Education & Leadership Camp in August 2008. The children learned many things about freedom, interdependence and teamwork, and also about themselves.

You can read Kristin’s account.

Slideshow

Mr Deep Kumar took up the post of Head Master in August 2008. Deep is a Kashmiri Pandit from Jammu. He is 42 years old and holds Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education degrees, as well as a postgraduate diploma in computer science. His wife and two daughters will be joining him in Shey after the winter break. Deep intends to place a strong emphasis on academic performance at the school, in line with parents’ wishes.

Slideshow

Karma Dhargyal is in charge of the Nursery & Infant section at Druk Padma Karpo School. He is the first staff member to come to UK for training and will be gaining professional experience in several schools and colleges over a three week period. Asked about his impresssions after the first few days, Karma said:

“It was really a very special feeling for me as soon as I was greeted and picked up at Heathrow Airport. The feeling was amazing and I was totally startled for having reached London for the very first time in my life. Anyway, it was all wonderful.

The people seem very much involved and busy, fixed-up in their own schedules. Oh! The double-decker bus, the tube and train rides were very enjoyable and I felt myself placed in a totally different world with a whole lot of nice experiences. In a nut-shell, my first few impressions were very good and overwhelming. Looking forward to experience much much more sweet experiences.”

Slideshow

Highlights from the past school year.

Slideshow

The mains electricity supply continues to be sporadic and unreliable and so the school has had to rely on a diesel generator to meet essential needs. The situation was transformed in October 2008 when SunTechnics Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd installed and commissioned an advanced solar energy system. The new system complements the existing solar installations that pump groundwater for domestic and irrigation purposes. The Shey campus is now close to energy self-sufficiency. The school will need to install more photovoltaic panels, inverters and batteries year-by-year as the campus continues to expand. The new solar energy system was part financed by carbon-offset investment by Arup Associates.

Slideshow

Listen to an audio interview from Ladakh - with Bodhic teacher Palmo describing her experiences at the school.

Read a transcript of the interview below.