Can you believe it? SMD is turning 30 this year! Thrangu Rinpoche founded our school in 1987, and it is thanks to you, the friends and supporters around the world, that we are well and thriving.
We had a couple rough years since the M7.8 earthquake on April 25, 2015, followed by over one hundred aftershocks and the fuel crisis. Kids had to eat outside and attend class in makeshift classrooms for two years. However, we’re in good spirits and thrilled that we’re finally getting the use of our classroom building back, which was heavily damaged. See photos and read more about the building repair….
In addition to our 30th Anniversary, we’re also celebrating the beginning of another school year (in Nepal it is May to April). We took in 42 new students, and among them is little five-year old Karma Tsering Lama from Lhi Village in Nubri, Gorkha district. His parents are subsistence farmers, growing potatoes and maize, and raising yaks. Their home was destroyed during the April 2015 earthquake. They are living under tarps, still waiting in the hopes of help from the government.
Similarly, eight-year-old Choden Sherpa and her family are still staying in temporary shelter after losing everything in the earthquake. They are from Narayanthan, Sindhupalchock. Sadly, the earthquake also claimed Choden’s grandmother. The early monsoon brings more sorrow in the form of landslides and floods.
So, as you can see, 30 years since our school’s founding, the need to support the Himalayan mountain kids is still as great as ever.
We’d like to invite you to celebrate our 30th Anniversary by taking action: please make a donation, sponsor a student or contribute to our building fund (we’re saving for a new, larger and safer school outside of the pollution and chaos of central Kathmandu).
Lastly, please sign up for our email news (scroll to bottom/footer and click on “Sign up for eNews”) so that you may receive quarterly updates from our blog.
Tashi delek, bless your hearts, and thank you!