READI Nepal Students Score Top Marks!

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 1st position in the school, while others placed 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th – 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.

Students who achieved top academic marks
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READI home students at Himali Model Boarding School

The Sambhota Schools Publishing Project is now complete!

All 20 books of the classical Tibetan Tokjoe stories have been published, and 1,000 copies of each book have been distributed between 70 Tibetan schools and institutes in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The books are appealing, with charming, colourful illustrations, and teachers are already reporting that they are popular with the children.  The Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society thanks TRAS members for their kind financial assistance for this project, stating that their two goals of encouraging the children to read Tibetan books and to learn the message of developing compassion for others are being met.  The books are also published online, for the Tibetan diaspora, at http://sambhota.org/book_web/1.html

Press Release: Dalai Lama Congratulates TRAS

Dalai Lama congratulates Vancouver’s Trans-Himalayan Aid Society on 50th Anniversary

Little known piece of Vancouver history

October 15, 2012, Vancouver: Vancouver-based charity, the Trans-Himalayan Aid Society (TRAS) is celebrating 50 years—a huge accomplishment for a local charity run by volunteers. TRAS supports health and education projects for children and youth in northern India, Nepal and Tibet. 

In a personal letter of congratulations to TRAS, His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote:  

“I am happy to learn that the Trans-Himalayan Aid Society (TRAS) will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Since the Society was founded in 1962, it has given significant support to Tibetan refugees… I would like to express my appreciation of the good work TRAS has done over the last 50 years with my prayers for their continued success in the future.” 

A relatively unknown part of Vancouver history, TRAS was founded in 1962 by George Woodcock, one of Canada’s most prolific and honoured writers, and his wife, Inge. The Woodcocks, on a trip to India in 1961, met His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After witnessing the plight of Tibetan refugees, and at the request of the Dalai Lama, the Woodcocks returned to Vancouver and founded TRAS. Now, five decades later, and with an expanded mandate to support Indian and Nepali communities in the Himalayas as well, TRAS is still going strong. 

Over the past 50 years TRAS has given millions of dollars to a range of projects in the Himalayas. Using an empowering, grass-roots approach to development, TRAS raises funds for Himalayan partner organizations who implement projects in their own communities. TRAS has no overseas staff and does not send volunteers abroad, preferring to work with local partners in the Himalayas, using local expertise and materials to address some of the social, economic, medical and environmental needs of the region. 

“TRAS is extremely proud to be celebrating 50 years of supporting communities in the Himalayas,” says TRAS President, Jennifer Hales. “TRAS has a rich history and continues to evolve as it responds to the changing needs of the region. Over the years, some of us have had the honour of meeting people who have been positively impacted by TRAS. These successes show what a difference a dedicated group of volunteers can make.”

 

 

 

Sambhota Tibetan Schools Publishing Project, Dharamsala, India

Project #302 – 2020

The publication of Tibetan classical literature in a simplified format and written in the simpler Tibetan script (called umed) will help and encourage Tibetan children to improve their reading skills and learn more about their Buddhist culture. It will have an impact on preserving the Tibetan language and its rich literary heritage, and the books will be available to Tibetan children worldwide.

All Tibetan children in India follow the Indian curriculum and sit the Indian state examinations. The Tibetan schools in India are able to teach in Tibetan up to Grade 5, but after that, the children are taught in English and Hindi.

TRAS-funded books in umed script at the library at the Dekyiling Sambhota School

The Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society was established by the Department of Education of the Central Tibetan Administration of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in India in 1999 to look after a group of Tibetan schools in India and Bhutan. In India, the schools were set up independently from the Indian government school system in order to be able to teach Tibetan children in the Tibetan language throughout their school years, and to teach in depth the history and culture of Tibet. These schools also teach modern subjects, English and Hindi, and the children sit the state examinations. But the independence of these schools gives them the freedom to teach more Tibetan subjects.

Tibetan script comes in two forms, a simple script called umed, which children learn first, and then the more complicated script called uchen. Unfortunately, few children’s books are published in umed.

The Sambhota Schools Society wants to rectify this and publish in umed a series of 20 stories of classical Tibetan literature based on the Tokjyoe Paksam Trishin. These stories have been chosen by a panel of teachers and parents. The simplified umed version will familiarize children with the Tibetan classical literature during their primary school years in order to pave the way for higher learning in Tibetan at the secondary and college levels.

One thousand copies of each story will be printed and distributed to all the Tibetan schools in India, Nepal and Bhutan.  Tibetan children worldwide will be able to access the stories online as a free service.

TRAS-funded books in umed script at the library at the Chauntra Sambhota School

TRAS has agreed to publish as many of the series as possible by matching dollar for dollar on member donations. The printing of 1000 copies of one book in the series costs $730. A bequest to TRAS from a long-time donor has paid for five of the books, a TRAS member has paid for the sixth book in honour of her father and another member has honoured her children by paying for a book. We are grateful for their support.

December 2012: TRAS is happy to announce that the 20 books have now been published and distributed to all the Tibetan schools in India, Nepal and Bhutan.  Teachers and students alike are enjoying them. They will serve a very useful purpose. The Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society is working on creating an online version so that children in the Tibetan diaspora worldwide may also benefit.