Monday 27th, we visit the Tashi Waldorf School. Located in the outskirts of Kathmandu, it is a safe haven where Meyrav Mor, Heather MacLaren and her partner have been carrying out a tremendous work in order to secure the emotional and cultural well-being of Tibetan children in exile. The children are thriving and we’re humbled by the colossal enterprise that these people are making possible based entirely on donations and sponsorship.
Meyrav is an attractive olive skinned woman who speaks about her project with Mediterranean passion,
She says: ‘ Predictably, when who we are and what we believe in is at risk of extinction, the natural impulse is to resist and rebel. Add widespread poverty to the scenario and the potential for disaster becomes imminent’.
She has had daily contact with the Tibetans residing in Kathmandu since 1996 as well as with members of the Department of Education of the Government of Tibet in Exile.
And she adds ‘ The goal of a culturally sensitive curriculum for Tibetan children in exile is to imbue each child with a deep appreciation of his unique cultural heritage while engendering in him the flexibility and resourcefulness to meet the challenges of global modernisation without loss of cultural identity or personal dignity’.
We hand over the watercolour paint, the books and other goodies your money made possible to buy for them and I wish I had bought more, much more.
We are lucky enough to see the rehearsal of the end of term school play
Play is practice for life.
we peep inside colourful empty classrooms
then it is lunch time
after which Almudena is invited to join in the nap time
I learn that the children are from underprivileged families and they do not have to pay for either school or food (backed up by vitamin supply). I have no words to describe how impressed and humbled I am by the task these people are carrying out.
I cite from Meyrav’s book ‘Preserving the Past, Reserving the Future’:
‘Unfortunately, the difficulties facing the new Tibetan generations do not fade as the attention once given to them by the media-driven interest. Displaced children grow up with little knowledge of their homeland. The demand to assimilate in new surroundings while also engaging in the globalized world places Tibetan children in a brutal middle ground that devastates their self-esteem, their ability to learn and their potential for a prosperous future. My hope is that this work can join the work of others in building a world in which we can accept our differences while reaching out to our common humanity.’
We leave the school monitored by the smile of the Dalai Lama from a photo on the wall.
If you want to know more about this project, visit the following website:
mailing address : G.P.O. Box 8975, EPC No 4218 Kathmandu
telephone : + 977 I 4437428
email: tashiwaldorf@wlink.com.np