Dolma Sherpa is a SMD alumna who finished her paramedic training in Kathmandu. After working as a teacher at SMD School for a couple years, she recently had the opportunity to go to Tsum Valley in the Gorkha district to work as a Health Assistant at the Compassion Health Centre. Read more about her impact at the clinic… I had …
SMD Girls on Tibet Soccer Team
SMD students, Lhakpa Bhuti and Tsewang Dolma, are at a football training camp in India right now with the Tibet Women’s Soccer team. In one week they fly to Vancouver to play in the Vancouver International Soccer Festival (VISF). They are super excited, and we have a feeling this trip will blow their minds! The team was supposed to play …
Celebrating 30 Years!
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 …
SMD Building Repair Update
April 25th marked the second anniversary of the M7.8 earthquake in Nepal, during which we lost the use of our main classroom building. So many people helped us and so many continue to help. Bless your hearts! The retrofit started in July 2016 (it took over a year to receive government permission). Our ‘C Block’ building (the main classroom building) …
Introducing Wangchuk Tenzin
Our new Principal at SMD School, Acharya Wangchuk Tenzin, started with us in April 2016, taking over for interim Principal, Lama Nyima Dorje. A former student of SMD, Wangchuk went on to higher Buddhist studies in ‘Shedra’ (monastic university) after he gained some management skills working in different parts of Thrangu Rinpoche’s organization. With his kind heart and his understanding …
School life in Nepal: A Day at SMD
School life in Nepal varies across the country but at SMD School, we follow the Nepali government curriculum complemented by the teachings of the Buddha. A typical day starts early for everyone: our kids wake up at 5 a.m. (6 a.m. in the winter), wash their faces, brush their teeth and dress in play clothes. Breakfast is at 7 a.m., …
From the High Himalayan Villages
Our kids come from some of the most remote and highest Himalayan villages of northern Nepal, from villages that have no electricity, no toilets, no sanitation, no hospitals, no telecommunications and no schools. They come from northern districts with romantic names like Mustang, Dolpo, Humla, Mugu, Manang, Gorkha, and Solu Khumbu. Some of the villages are four to 14 days …