News

2015/11/21

TRAS has embarked on an exciting initiative.  The TRAS Scholarship Fund [TSF] is now in its third year of its pilot program.

Our partners overseas had expressed a need to provide post-secondary education, especially for girls in remote isolated villages in the Himalayas.  In response to this request, TRAS initiated a pilot program with our longstanding partner, Rinchen Zangpo Society for Spiti Development which operates Munsel-ling School in the Spiti Valley, India.  Each year two worthy students have been selected to have their university studies supported by TRAS.  Each student receives $1000CN per year for 3 years.

Currently, we have two female students completing their B.A. degree and four students enrolled in a B.Sc. program.  These six girls are bright, determined students from poor rural homes with no hope of continuing their education without TRAS support.  Not only are they role models for other students in their isolated villages but they wish to return as educators themselves to Spiti.

To quote Tashi Angmo, the most recent candidate selected, ”To be a good teacher and serve my younger brothers and sisters of Spiti Valley would be my life’s greatest achievement.”

Due to the success of the pilot project we have invited 2 trusted TRAS partners from other regions of India to submit applications to the TSF.

The Dekyiling Handicraft Centre is a Tibetan community in Dehradun, India, long supported by TRAS through projects and sponsorship.  In response to the TSF opportunity Kesang Wangdu replied, ”I am extremely grateful to TRAS for supporting children for post-secondary education.  Earlier we have had children needing sponsorship but we failed to get new sponsors after class X.  I therefore have no words to thank TRAS for supporting this genuine problem faced by many students after class XII.”

The Voice of Children project, run by two Indian NGOs in Nainital and Almora, will also be selecting two students.  Raghu, the co-ordinator, writes: “Especially for girls it will be great opportunity to become independent because after 12th standard generally their parents do not allow them to continue their studies and they go to their marriage ceremony. Generally their husbands work in very low paid work and poor working conditions in Metro cities of India and after marriage the girls face more challenges in their life. This Fund can change their life.”

A very generous TRAS donor has offered to match Scholarship fund donations up to $10,000.  Therefore, $500 will be doubled to fund a deserving student for one year [$1000] of university education.  Please donate today!!

Give the gift of education to bright girls like Tashi Angmo and help them to lift their communities out of poverty.

Thank you to the UBC economic students for creating a READI Nepal video through the Community Based Experiential Learning Program!

 

Raj, the chairman of READI, has sent a wonderful report. The young man, Mr. Shiva, who went to Kathmandu for training, learnt well (thanks to the helpful manager of the Himalayan Java Coffee shop) how to make a variety of drinks and to bake many delicious breads and treats. He then bought, with their advice, a coffee machine, a bread making machine, glasses, cups and saucers, 3 tables and 12 chairs, a carpet – and set off back to Simikot.

The lovely sign was carved in Kathmandu and represents the old and the new (English words in traditional Tibetan script) and the local culture of yak travel (the yak is trotting along holding a steaming cup of coffee on its back!). A grand opening was held on April 14, with 200 invited guests (government officials, teachers, tour operators) who were asked for their honest opinion.

It was all going so well – then the earthquake struck on April 25 and although it was distant, people were fearful to go inside buildings. So the food and drink went out to the people, with Mr. Shiva supplying coffee and food to office staff.

He is also baking breads for the children’s tiffin (lunch) and they are loving the taste of their local grains used in new ways. He is getting requests for Tibetan momos and other local favourites – so it seems like a success! Time will tell, but we applaud READI for an innovative way to raise funds for the children’s hostel and education.

The TRAS office has moved to 1183 Melville Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6E 2X5.

 

 

 

After searching for over a year, we finally found a suitable location that will reduce rent costs by more than half of what we were paying.  The working space is within the Vantage Point office.  Vantage Point offers leadership training and support for not-for-profit agencies.

While we will miss our friends at MPS, we look forward to making new ones at the Melville location.

All TRAS partners and the children and families whom our projects support are safe, thank goodness, and damage seems to be minimal. At the same time, many are still sleeping outside, and the worries of the impending monsoon rains are only too real.

But just when things seemed to settle down after the April and May earthquakes nearer Kathmandu, we heard on May 23 that a 4.8 tremor hit far away Simikot, the tiny town where READI Nepal looks after 30 children in a rented hostel and is providing them with a good start in life.  They are all safe, but scared stiff, and are currently sleeping outside in two very old tents. Mim Hamal, their director who works in Kathmandu, has been able to help out by finding two good tents and shipping them to Simikot this weekend. They have been planning to fundraise to build a proper hostel for the children – now they want to make sure it will be truly earthquake-proof.

Schools have been closed for a month and many people from Kathmandu have gone home to their villages to assess local damage. So we do not yet know the full picture of how our project partners are faring or what their needs will be in the long term.

TRAS starts a Nepal Rebuilding Fund  One immediate request we have had for help in rebuilding is from the Tibetan Department of Education (DOE) with whom we have supported many projects over the years.  Tibetans in Nepal are in a tenuous situation at the best of times, and now that their villages and buildings have suffered so much, they are desperate for funds for rebuilding.  The DOE looks after 12 schools in Nepal, and 4 of these are damaged, although thankfully the children are safe. They receive no help at all from the Nepalese government or from the large international aid groups, so are turning to their long-time supporters for help. Here, for instance, is a photo of the badly damaged outer support wall at the Atisha Primary School, in Jawalakhel, Kathmandu.  There are 57 pupils there, from pre-primary to Class 5.

We expect READI Nepal will have costs related to last week’s tremor in Simikot, and the building of safe housing for the children. As things get sorted out, we know we will hear of more needs. Let’s start a ‘rebuilding and preparedness fund’ to help our partners cope with the unexpected and difficult problems they are facing in putting their lives back together and preparing for a safer future. Please help them by making a donation to this fund.

Mark your donation ‘Nepal Rebuilding Fund’. Our goal is $10,000 by the end of June. Thank you in advance for your generosity. Late Flash: North Vancouver students who visited Nepal in March/April have already donated $1,500 to this fund!