…to showtime.  The kids are cranking out sets and props for the upcoming play.  Here we have a hungry whale, created by Konchok Norbu, Dorjee Wangchu, and Kangyur Sangpo. Awesome!

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And now, here are some of the children’s comments:

“I was so happy to visit the monastery of Sergelling Gonpa. There were so many little (children) monks. They gave us apples.” –Dorjee Chozom (class 6)
“I was so happy to visit the birth-place of the 6th Dalai Lama and to see at the temple a special room where all the 14th Dalai Lama’s portraits hang.” –Tsandang Lhamu (class 7)
“I had so much fun to travel on the school truck.” –Sangey Drolma (class 7)

“I felt so happy to see the 3 monasteries in Tawang, with all the statues of the deities and the beautiful paintings. I later want to be able to paint like that.” –Rinchen Lhamo (class 7)
“I was so impressed by the big golden Buddha at the Gaden Namgyal Lhatse (1660-61)” –Tashi Drolma (class 6)
“I felt a deep emotion when I saw all the wonderful Buddha’s in the monastery.” –Kalsang Yudron (class 7)

“I was so happy to see my little brother, Pema Dorjee, at the big monastery. He is a monk there. Before we left, he gave me sweets and drinks to share.” –Leki Norbu (class 6)
“I was so happy to play handball at the Urgilling monastery, after the delicious meal we had there.” –Sangey Tsering (class 7)
“I loved so much the old monastery and the good lunch!” –Rinchen Tsering (class 7)

“I was very  happy to travel on our school truck. Suzanne told me later, that she saw me smiling even on  the way back home, when it was quite cold and the  moon was shining on us!” –Rinchen Drolma (class 6)
“I was so hungry when we arrived in Tawang and I said “Mummy, Mummy I am so hungry! And than, at the monastery, the cousin of Lama Lobsang, a monk,  gave us wonderful red apples to eat. I was so happy.” –Tsering Lhadron (class 3)
“I was very happy to dress my new clothes and to see the big golden Buddha.” –Tenzin Drolma B (class 3)

“I was so impressed to see so many children monks at the monastery. They where may be only 5, 6, 7 years old? And than I was so happy to drink from the fountain at the  6th Dalai Lama birth house. This water, they say, is purifying.” –Pema Drolma (class 7)
“I was so curious when I heard I could see all the 14th Dalai Lama’s portraits painted in a very special room at the monastery Urgelling Gompa.” –Dorjee Chozom (class 6)
“I am so happy I saw so many Lamas. And at one monastery the monks gave us apples to eat and tea to drink. Baby Tenzin Phuntsok was so happy and laughed, when we ate the sweets that Ama-La Sonam and Teke bought us from a shop at the monastery.” –Tashi Yanzom A (class 6)

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I’m sending “thoughts” from the children, from our wonderful picnic trip to Tawang on the 10th. It was a big success, and so special for the children to see the monastery for the first time!

But first, I want to tell everybody about the incredible preparation that took place before the trip started: at 3am all  the teachers and kitchen staff  woke up to prepare the picnic….no simple sandwiches like we do in the western world, but  real cooking like for a royal meal!! A Maharajah could not eat better…incredible!!! Of course, 10 hours later we all enjoyed the excellent food.  I didn’t know about it until I saw all the pots and pans and plates coming out of the car. Wooooow!!

During lunch it also started to rain, but we had a good dry place to sit and enjoy that super tasting and good meal. It was at the birth place of the 6th Dalai Lama! The trees there were planted by him when he was a child around 1683. Majestic trees, I must say! Everybody felt that this was a very special  place to do a picnic, so I understood  why the meal had to also be so special. Thanks to all the Jhamtse staff for their hard work!

We left Jhamtse in the morning at 8am, and all the kids dressed their new clothes. They looked so smart and happy and just ready to jump on an old school truck….what a picture! Everybody was very excited, and I was wondering how the kids would be able to stand on the truck for almost 2 hours, being sharked and squeezed? There was fog over their heads in the early morning, and moonlight in the evening. But what I saw all day long were only happy and smiling faces….this is Jhamtse Gatsal!!! I am so thankful for this wonderful teaching about happiness!

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Our four amalas are excited to have 25 new blankets for the children.  They are made of Polartec, contributed by Aaron and Louise Feuerstein. The Polartec blankets will be much easier to wash and dry than other blankets at Jhamtse Gatsal.  The fabric is so warm and beautiful that the amalas have decided to decorate and strengthen the blankets by edging them with blanket stitching in contrasting yarn.

Mr. Feuerstein is the former owner of Malden Mills, the manufacturer of Polartec.  His blankets will remind the children that doing the right thing leads to a life with no regrets.  Malden Mills burned to the ground in a tragic fire in 1995.  Mr. Feurstein cared so much about his employees in Lawrence, Massachusetts that instead of moving the mill to a southern state or to another country, where labor would have been less expensive, he rebuilt the mill in Lawrence.  Not only that, he kept on paying the employees while the mill was being re-built, when there was no work for them to do.  Some time later, he went bankrupt, in part because of his compassion for his employees.  If you ask him if he has any regrets, he will tell you that he has none at all.  ”It was the right thing to do.”

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We are busy, busy, in preparation for our show “Pinocchio”. The children are working very hard to transform the prayer hall into a theater!!!! Last year we did “Cinderella” and “Ugly duckling.” It was  fantastic! The kids remember all the songs from last year very well. I am so impressed! Now they are learning new songs for our new show. It’s “Pinocchio” and  I adapted my French version of the play  into a Monpa – or better yet, a Jhamtse Gatsal – story. In our play, the puppet maker is not “Geppetto,” but an Ama-la!!! The kids agree with me that for Jhamtse, it’s better like that, and I am  happy to honor our wonderful and multi-talented  Ama-las (house-mothers). We also have a special song: “Listen to your Ama-la.” It’s the song that the children will sing as a leitmotif in the show (like a story-teller).

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Today our campus manager,Ngawang, used the solar cooker made by class 7 to cook rice.  He used a black skillet with a glass lid, which he painted black.  The rice was put in the skillet with water at 9:00.  By the time it got cloudy, at about 4:00, the rice was thoroughly cooked.  Now to try making dal.

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A few more pictures of our temporary wooden ‘cathedrals.’ Enjoy!

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On a Sunday I was observing from my room window some kids transporting or moving wood pieces….I went up to see what’s going on and I discovered that Lobsang, the teachers, and the kids from class 6 and 7 were transporting from one place in Jhamtse to another…big and long pieces of heavy wood…why?  I asked and Lobsang told me, it’s because soon a carpenter will come to do some work at Jhamtse and they need dry wood to work on. So the super and clever Jhamtse staff made big pyramids with the wood to dry them in the sun……it looked so beautiful and architectural, like old cathedrals in pictures. What an incredible Sunday…I was so impressed how hard everybody was working…on a Sunday! Not me of course …I am little too old …., but I made many pictures and even a video.

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Suzanne Bader sends us this picture of some of the children enjoying the warm weather, and studying outside with their new umbrellas, and says: “How is the weather [there]?  We know that some turbulence is coming???? Hope not!!!  I am here for 3 months and so happy to be back after a year [away]. Next time I will send you some more new pictures (if the computer is not too slow like today..).!”

All these colorful umbrellas were provided with contributions from Soma and Vijal, some friends of Suzanne’s in Mumbai.  Thanks Soma and Vijal!  Enjoy your non-turbulent, sunshiny weather, Gatsal kids!

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At last the sun is shining at Jhamtse Gatsal. The children are studying in the sunshine. They have discovered that their new umbrellas, provided by volunteer Suzanne Bader, from Switzerland, are helpful in sunshine as well as rain. Exams start tomorrow.

The road is being repaired. The Tata Sumo can now make it to the nearest town, Tawang, normally about 2-3 hours away, to buy food. We were down to little more than rice, flour for chappatis, and lentils for dal, plus the vegetables grown on campus.

Two carpenters have just arrived, who will be here for about two months. They will build much needed shelves for classrooms, library and office, desks and benches for more children, and shelving for staff and visitor accommodations. All construction is done on-site, using hand tools. Casement windows and 5-panel doors are made by hand. There is one skilled carpenter in the entire region, and he is usually booked a year out. We are lucky to get him. Eventually, we hope that one or more of the children will become carpenters. They will be able to make a very good living!

I really like the new hot water system for the recently completed toilet and bath house. It’s a stone and mud oven enclosing a copper tank. Three sticks of (expensive!) wood provide enough hot water in 20 minutes to shower 30 children. A useful trade in this area will be to build such water heaters for local villages, and doing basic plumbing to get the hot water to where it’s needed, and coming out of a faucet. Any village that has such a water heater can easily have boiled water for drinking, providing a tremendous improvement in public health in this area where so many people die of water-borne diseases.

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About Our Community
Jhamtse Gatsal, Tibetan for “Garden of Love and Compassion”, is a children’s community located in the Indian foothills of the Himalayas. Opened in 2006, it is currently school and home for 75 children from disadvantaged family situations in the nearby villages. Read More...



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