The Places We Go the People We Meet
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| His Eminence Garchen Triptul Rinpoche |
Garchen Rinpoche was born in 1936 and recognized as a tulku by the king of Nangchen at the age of 7. By the age of 22 he had completed 3 year retreat. At this time (1958) Mao's red guard was taking control of Kham. Rinpoche faught for freedom, but was eventually imprisoned for 20 years. In 1979 he was released & traveled to India where he met some American disciples who took him to the States. Over the last 30 years Rinpoche has established numerous Dharma Centers worldwide, keeping primary residence at the Garchen Buddhist Insititute in Arizona. (www.garchen.net)
Out of compassion, Rinpoche travels most of the year, spending no time in his homeland, Tibet. When he returned to Gargon in 1998 he gave funds to 4 trusted students to build 4 schools, today 3 of those schools remain open and need your support.
GARGON has been a historically significant site ever since the 8th century when Yogini Yeshe Tsogyal sat a retreat in a cave above the village. The cave still holds tremendous energy and sits above the newly renovated upper monastery (YarGon) where Gar Mingyur Rinpoche resides with his 70 monks. The lower monastery (MarGon) was originally built in the 12th century and is now predominately a place of practice for lay practitioners (ngakpas), under the guidance of Garchen Rinpoche.
There are about 700 semi-nomadic community members. This is the first generation of youth to attend formal schooling and has been especially difficult for the families of young girls who depend upon their daughters labor in order to survive. Yet Rinpoche has made it clear that going to school will have beneficial effects, so today around 95% of youth attend the village school, about 70% of the graduating class of 2010 continued on to middle school. The others will continue their studies in the monastery as a monk or at home as a nomad. This August 84 children enrolled for the 1-6 education provided by 2 private teachers and 4 government teachers. Thanks to Tara Tsokpa for building the kitchen, school meals are provided to all students, many of whom would otherwise be severely malnourished. Due to the severity of poverty in the region there are high rates of stunting, anemia, maternal and infant mortality. Since the donation of 2 greenhouses by Lori's Natural Foods to Pureland, vegetables are served along with local meat. Properly nourished, the children now test competitively against public school students in all subjects, especially Tibetan.
TAJUK school serves two communities totaling almost 600 people. The Head master Tenpuk has put all of his energy into improving this village. Besides building the school he has managed a well digging project sponsored by the Windhorse project, the building of Toilets and Classrooms from Tibet Aid and a greenhouse from the Pureland Project. This year Tenpuk has enrolled 48 1-6 graders to be educated by 5 private teachers. Fortunately the Yushu earthquake did not kill anyone in Nangchen, yet the tremors have caused significant damage to the school houses, one of which needs to be rebuilt immediately.
GYALSUM is a school for 4 different villages. with a total of approximately700 people, the school has enrolled 99 1-3rd graders. Unfortunately this year the governement took the 4th grade to the Kyichu district center, Waka (approx. 1hr. by motorbike). The government has told us for year that they would like to close the private schools, yet since our students preform well and our teachers are doing a decent job, they have no reason to shut our doors. But slowly the children are being taken and educated in Chinese medium governemnt schools which don't allow the children to access any traditional knowledge. It is imperative that we raise funds for Gyalsum, so that it may stay open. A fence and a toilet are needed immediately. Although Tibet Aid sponsored the building of a teachers dormitory and a teachers lounge just in 2008, as the school grows the need for more classrooms and dormitories becomes necessary.
WAYULSHINGRUNG is a small village of about 200 farmers. One of Garchen Rinpoche's Ngakpas requested Garchen Rinpoche to allow him to build a school in his village, so he could stop teaching in the stable. Rinpoche offered funds and the Wayulshingrung school was the most well built school of the Gar Projects. Unfortunately this August the government decided that the school was not allowed to open. They offered Konchock Samdrup and position at Kyichu, Waka school so our headmaster himself walked all 43children 1 hour across the river to the school and has been residing there while the parents moan about the absence of their children who are as young as 6! The people of Wayul not only beg to have their school reopened, but they also beg that we dig wells for the wellbeing of the community. Currently the women (even when pregnant or elderly) are walking uphill for a mile with 20 gallons of water on their backs.
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| GarGon |
There are about 700 semi-nomadic community members. This is the first generation of youth to attend formal schooling and has been especially difficult for the families of young girls who depend upon their daughters labor in order to survive. Yet Rinpoche has made it clear that going to school will have beneficial effects, so today around 95% of youth attend the village school, about 70% of the graduating class of 2010 continued on to middle school. The others will continue their studies in the monastery as a monk or at home as a nomad. This August 84 children enrolled for the 1-6 education provided by 2 private teachers and 4 government teachers. Thanks to Tara Tsokpa for building the kitchen, school meals are provided to all students, many of whom would otherwise be severely malnourished. Due to the severity of poverty in the region there are high rates of stunting, anemia, maternal and infant mortality. Since the donation of 2 greenhouses by Lori's Natural Foods to Pureland, vegetables are served along with local meat. Properly nourished, the children now test competitively against public school students in all subjects, especially Tibetan.
TAJUK school serves two communities totaling almost 600 people. The Head master Tenpuk has put all of his energy into improving this village. Besides building the school he has managed a well digging project sponsored by the Windhorse project, the building of Toilets and Classrooms from Tibet Aid and a greenhouse from the Pureland Project. This year Tenpuk has enrolled 48 1-6 graders to be educated by 5 private teachers. Fortunately the Yushu earthquake did not kill anyone in Nangchen, yet the tremors have caused significant damage to the school houses, one of which needs to be rebuilt immediately.
GYALSUM is a school for 4 different villages. with a total of approximately700 people, the school has enrolled 99 1-3rd graders. Unfortunately this year the governement took the 4th grade to the Kyichu district center, Waka (approx. 1hr. by motorbike). The government has told us for year that they would like to close the private schools, yet since our students preform well and our teachers are doing a decent job, they have no reason to shut our doors. But slowly the children are being taken and educated in Chinese medium governemnt schools which don't allow the children to access any traditional knowledge. It is imperative that we raise funds for Gyalsum, so that it may stay open. A fence and a toilet are needed immediately. Although Tibet Aid sponsored the building of a teachers dormitory and a teachers lounge just in 2008, as the school grows the need for more classrooms and dormitories becomes necessary.
WAYULSHINGRUNG is a small village of about 200 farmers. One of Garchen Rinpoche's Ngakpas requested Garchen Rinpoche to allow him to build a school in his village, so he could stop teaching in the stable. Rinpoche offered funds and the Wayulshingrung school was the most well built school of the Gar Projects. Unfortunately this August the government decided that the school was not allowed to open. They offered Konchock Samdrup and position at Kyichu, Waka school so our headmaster himself walked all 43children 1 hour across the river to the school and has been residing there while the parents moan about the absence of their children who are as young as 6! The people of Wayul not only beg to have their school reopened, but they also beg that we dig wells for the wellbeing of the community. Currently the women (even when pregnant or elderly) are walking uphill for a mile with 20 gallons of water on their backs.
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