The Trans-Himalayan Aid Society’s mission is to support the health and education of children and youth in the Himalayan region of India, Nepal and Tibet. Managing the day to day communication with overseas partners, donors, volunteers and board directors is essential to TRAS carrying out this mission. Equally important is the competent administration of the receipt and disbursement of funds and society reporting requirements.

Qualifications:
• Clear communication skills — verbal and written
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently
• Understanding of accounting basics
• Knowledge of Simply Accounting
• Organizational skills and attention to detail
• Computer skills – Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, g-mail, Internet
• Knowledge of the Himalayan region an asset
• Knowledge of international development an assetPart-time employment:
The Office Manager is required to work 8 hours/day, 2 — 2.5 days/week depending on workload as well as attend monthly evening board meetings, the annual general meeting, and strategy meetings.

Deliverables:
• Ensure timely and efficient responses to all communications
• Process all financial transactions
• Manage the files and records for the organization
• Identify potential risks to the organization

Accountability:
This position will report to the TRAS President and be responsible to the TRAS Board of Directors.

How to Apply:
If interested, please send your resume and letter of interest to cheryl.sullivan@tras.ca by June 30, 2014.

Rinchen Zangpo Newsletter 2013  Thank you to all TRAS donors supporting students at Munsel-Ling School and the Scholarship program in the Spiti Valley.   The Rinchen Zangpo newsletter provides a nice update on the latest news and the Society’s progress.

TRAS sends Losar greetings to all our members.  At this time of year we think of all our Tibetan friends here in Canada, those who have been here awhile and especially this year the newly arrived Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh.  We also think of their compatriots, spread around the world and in their homeland, and wish them well. We received this lovely description of Losar from Karma Tensum, of the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation in Montana, with whom we partner with to support Lama Paljor and his hostel and school for children from the remote villages of Sikkim.

 “The Tibetan word LOSAR literally translates ‘New Year’. So Losar is the Tibetan New Year. Calculated according to the Lunar calendar, it falls on different dates, mostly in February. Losar this year is on March 2, 2014. It will be the first day of the Wood Horse Year 2041 according to the Tibetan calendar!

Many of the festivals in the Tibetan culture centre on the Buddhist religion that is so central to Tibetan lives. Losar is by far the biggest non-religious festival. People celebrate Losar to leave behind the obstacles and negativities of the past year and to embrace the new year with rituals of abundance and auspiciousness.
 
Two days before Losar, there is a ritual to remove the negativities of the past year. In the Tibetan community at Clement Town, N India, where my family lived for many years, the community would flock to the Nyingmapa Monastery. The Rinpoche and monks after accumulating many prayers, do an annual Black Hat Cham or sacred dance that culminates in burning of tormas to symbolize the removal of all negativities.

Losar for Tibetans is a time for happiness with friends and family. (It is for the Tibetans what Thanksgiving is to people here in Canada.)

Family reunions, marriages, school vacations, pilgrimages and business ventures are all planned taking Losar dates into consideration. In India, the majority of Tibetans make a living as roadside hawkers, traveling to far away cities to make a livelihood selling sweaters, warm garments and gift items. Almost all of them will wrap up their business, making sure to get home with adequate time for Losar preparations.

For older Tibetans, Losar will be like a collective birthday celebration. In the past, most Tibetans did not keep track of or celebrate their birthdays. Everyone just added a year to their age at Losar.

Finally, for Tibetans, Losar is also a time for prayers and ceremonies to usher abundance, prosperity and good health in the lives of our loved ones.

For being in the lives of the Tibetan children through TRAS, for all your love and support to the Tibetans, we send those prayers to each one of you.
 
HAPPY LOSAR 2014. MAY THE NEW WOOD HORSE YEAR BRING PEACE AND HAPPINESS IN YOUR LIVES

HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY:  VOICE OF CHILDREN NGOs RELIEF EFFORTS

As mentioned in the September newsletter, here is Raghu Tewari’s  description of the relief efforts carried out with the TRAS funds.

Operation Relief

Aman as an organization humbly appealed to the benefactor organizations volunteers to join the relief operation to reach out to the survived souls, most needy and vulnerable.  We are eternally grateful to everyone who has supported us, especially the TRANS HIMALAYAN AID SOCIETY. Without their support we couldn’t have accomplished our relief operation. With the support of TRAS we have distributed immediate relief material to 163 families and 40 Children. We provided support to reconstruction one disaster affected school.

Friends we are happy to share the report of our “Operation Relief”.

Our Team

We have formed three groups of volunteers one is advance group comprising with the trained mountaineers from Neharu Institute of Mountaineering second is base group comprised with most experienced volunteers such as dedicated scout teachers, social workers with the expertise in packaging and distribution and third is support group comprised with the expertise in dealing with marketing and purchasing.  The advance group was tasked with to reach out to the vulnerable and trapped people in inaccessible areas and make the list of the requirements and need of the hour. Our advanced group reached out to the worst affected areas of Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Pithoragarh district with the first aid kits and efficiently took stock of the situation and informed the base team about the requirement and the base team and support team have done the purchasing and packaging job with perfect synergy without losing any time and set out to reach out to the worst affected areas of the calamity.

Bhaishiyachhana (Almora)

Bhaishiyachana development block of Almora district is one of the worst affected area of the Almora district where the villages namely Budhadhar, khairkhet, Kotgara, Kanchula, Kasan Band, Baburiya nayal,Ramtola and Dyari are at the receiving end. The communities from these villages are mostly marginalized, downtrodden and deprived sections of society. The villagers of the Khairkhet were displaced by the district authority and shifted them in a school. This village is completely ravaged by the landslides triggered by the heavy rain; they have lost their habitats and cultivating land.

On July 17th our relief team reached out to these affected families in their makeshift shelters with the relief package consisted of food, clothes, bedding, utensils, tent material, and other Hygiene and sanitation stuff.

• Food Package consisted of 10kg flour, 8kg rice, 2kg lentil 1 kg, salt, 2kg sugar, 1/2 kg tealeaves, 1kg milk powder, 1kg semolina, 2 liter oil 4 packet biscuits.
• Clothing package consisted of 1 trouser 1 T-shirt, 1 umbrella, and 1 lady sweater.
• Bedding package consisted of 2 blankets, 1 bed sheet, and 1 mat.
• Utensil package consisted of 1 cauldron, 2 plates, 3 glasses, 1 presser cooker, and 1 bucket.
• Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 1 bathing soap, 1 washing cake , 1 cleaning cake, 1 packet matchbox  and 1 packet candles.
• Tent package consisted of 1tarpaulin, and strings.
• We have supported 48 families in Bhaishiyachhana development block.

Dumak  (Chamoli)

Dumak village is situated along with China border in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand State. This village is 14 km far off the road. Flash floods and torrential rain on 16th and 17th June triggered massive landslides which has claimed 3 lives and destroyed their crops in the fields. All the trails and paths and bridges have washed away. The whole village was cut off from rest of the world. The whole village was marooned in the isolation and the community spent their nights in the open air braving the heavy downpour. Our advance team volunteers were the first to reach out to this village on July 25th, the most challenging parts of the worst affected area of the Chamoli district and consoled the traumatized community and assured them for relief. In this village 75 families were affected and we provided relief material and learning material to 40 school going kids from this village who were psychologically traumatized to see the devastation. 18 out of 40 students who have come to Dumk for their education from nearby villages received the food package also. This village has the only high school in that area.  All the volunteers along with the villagers who are young enough to carry the relief material from 14 km at the road head came down to the relief center where our base team and support group were ready with the required complete relief package consisted of food, clothes, bedding, utensils, tent material, and other Hygiene and sanitation.

Family –food pack ( for 75 families)

Food Package consisted of 15kg rice, 2 kg pulses, 1 kg salt, 2kg sugar, 1/2 kg tealeaves, 4 packet biscuits, 1 packet match box

Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 2 bathing soap, 1 kg washing powder

Children food pack (for 18 children who live in the village from surrounding villages)

Food Package consisted of 5 kg wheat flour, 5 kg rice,  2 kg pulses, 1 kg cooking oil,  2kg sugar,

Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 2 bathing soap, 1 kg washing powder

Learning material, biscuits  & Clothing for  40 children.

Elderly, aged and ailing people who were unable to transport on their own, have arranged the mules to transport relief material for them.  We have supported 75 families and 40 children who were affected with the calamity in Dumak.

Restoration of the community school

A model school in Ason Mallakot in Bageshwar district which was established by a national awardee retired teacher with the help of the community dedicated to the neediest, deprived and marginalized sections of society was hit by the calamity and badly damaged. Community started the restoration of the school building with the active help of many friends and requested us for the active help. We have supported the restoration of the school building by contributing sixty bags of the cement.  This contribution was instrumental in restoring the school building.

Sonali and Jaiti (Chamoli)

Sonali and Jaiti village of Karnaprayag development block in Chamoli district of the Uttarakhand have witnessed the fury of nature in the forms of the unprecedented torrential rains, flash floods and cloudburst which triggered heavy landslides and all the agricultural land of these villages swept away and their homesteads and cowsheds destroyed badly. Some families took refuge in the school building and eight families are living in tents. And even some families have left the village to safer places. Around 80 families badly affected by the calamity. We have supported all the affected families. We have supported the neediest 40 families.

Our relief team reached out to the affected families on August 5 with relief package consisted of food, clothes, bedding, utensils, tent material, and hygiene and sanitation package.

Food Package consisted of 10kg flour, 8kg rice, 2kg lentil 1 kg, salt, 2kg sugar, 1/2 kg tealeaves,  2 liter oil 4 packet biscuits.

Hygiene and sanitation package consisted of 1 bathing soap, 1 washing powder.

TRAS is committed to helping Aman with this program in the villages where our Voice of Children projects happen. Will you help too?

 

 

 

 

 

Raj Hamal of READI Nepal is proud to announce that TRAS-supported students at Himali Boarding School in Nepal’s remote Humla District received top final marks on completing the 2012/2013 school year! Student Lok Raj Shahi secured 1^st position in the school, while others placed 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th – amazing achievements, particularly given the social and economic hardships these students face.  We send all the students our heartfelt congratulations, and wish them continued success in the next academic year! Thank you to TRAS donors for helping to make it possible for these children to go to school.