Our updated profile as on 22 July 2016

VARADA EFFORT

How did it get started?

In September 2010, four Buddhists met in Dharamsala, India, during the teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and were distressed by the plights of the various Tibetan Children’s Villages (TCV). They decided to form a group and render help to the needy in their own way.

Why is it called Varada Effort?

“Varada” is a hand mudra that one sees in the statues and images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This gesture of having the right hand down with palm facing out means wish fulfilling/granting. This depicts the group’s aim in whatever they are trying to do.

When did the “effort” start to take place?

After a couple of meetings, the first project took flight in October 2010.

What have we done so far?

(1)Project Shawls for TCV Suja (Oct-Dec 2010)

Within 2 months approximately S$9,025/- was raised. With the money, the following were purchased and delivered to TCV Suja branch between December 2010 and January 2011. This includes:-

1,000pcs of Tibetan shawls for the students who were left behind during the winter break

181 Tibetan books for the junior and senior libraries

29pcs of traditional Tibetan musical instruments

30 English books for the junior library

Stationeries and accessories for the musical instruments

(2)Life Skill Workshop for TCV Upper Dharamsala (Aug 2011)

7 sessions of workshops were given to the 160 graduating students. The team of trainers consisted of 3 professional social workers from Singapore assisted by 6 volunteers. Well-wishers have contributed more than S$879.72 in the printing of postcards, posters, teaching material, files, pens plus transportation to this project. This soft skill teaches the students how to make correct and wise decisions when they are in a crossroad in their lives.

(3)Project Toilet for Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala (Jul 2011- now)   

After visiting the Monastery in 2010 and observing the number of devotees with leg problems and also the aging folks who have injured themselves while crossing the Himalayas, it is easy to feel the pain and effort for them to use the toilets. Therefore we decided to build 4 units of toilets with seats meant for the handicapped and the disadvantaged.

After the online appeal, to date, a total of S$3,886/- has been collected from the donors from Singapore. In August 2012, during the South East Asia teaching, VE had put up a small stall to sell Tote bags, CDs, notebooks designed and produced by VE members, to further raise fund for this project. Another 60 Tote bags were placed in the bookshop for sale during the Korean teaching and were fully snapped up.

Therefore, a total of 66,900rs was raised from the 2 sales and a total of 23,300rs plus US$10, S$210, and M$60 were collected as donations from the general public in India.

All these translated to an amount approximately equal to S$6,576.13 received from the public from both countries to date. Four units of waterless toilets seats were purchased from Canada and hopefully with the busy schedule of the foreman in charge, we will be able to use these new toilets when the devotees return to Namgyal Monastery in the near future.

(4)VARADA EFFORT TCV STUDENTS’ POCKET MONEY FUND (Dec 2011- ongoing)

August 2011, while attending Geshe Dorji Damdul’s teaching at the Deer Park Institute, we had some casual conversation about TCV and their students.

The next thing happened: - Money started to come in and at the end of the week; 26,800rs was donated by Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong students who were there for the teaching.

The purpose:-There are some students from various TCVs who have nowhere to go during the long winter holidays due to the fact that they have no family, nor relative to take them in, or, they are orphans. Though activities were arranged for them to visit places in India to help them get a feel of life outside TCV, they have no money to spend while on these sightseeing trips.

Therefore, the group decided that we will provide the children with some pocket money. That year, the money collected has gone into sponsoring 78 children in 2 winter programmes:-     

(a) 15 students from TCV Gopalpur took part in Asian Youth Festival to be held from January 21-27 in Kolkata. This is a bi-annual affair and will have cultural exchange of songs and dances from India and Asian countries.

(b) 63 students from all branches of TCV in Himachal Pradesh and Bylakuppe went to Gyudmey Monastery in Hunsur, Karnataka to study Tibetan literature, grammar, Buddhist philosophy plus doing a pilgrimage to other Tibetan monasteries around Mysore. Their stay was from 16th January till 25th February.

The final outcome:-27,000rs was transferred to TCV Head Office as the base for the Pocket Money Fund. Due to the increase of size of the group that year which was not anticipated, we managed only to subsidize each child with 300rs as pocket money. The balance was kept in an account in TCV HQ where we will do our yearly fund raising to reach the target of providing each child with an amount of 500rs as pocket money for future Winter Programmes.

In the Winter Programme 2012, together with the balance carried forward from the previous year, a total of 74,304rs was available through donations from well-wishers. This has enabled a total of 143 students to spend their winter holiday outside of TCV with a pocket money of 500rs each.

Out of these 143 students:-

(a) 19 went to Nepal, being taken care of by their alumni,

(b) 13 went to Aurovile to enjoy a sunny beach holiday,

(c) 70 went to Hunsur to study about Buddhism and Tibetan language,

(d) 42 went to Bodhgaya to do a pilgrimage.

For the Winter programme 2013, a total of 100,938rs were added on to our existing balance carried forward from last year. This time we have a total of 203 children ranging from various ages that benefited from this programme. 

Out of this total; 43 teenage students were given a pocket money of 500rs each, went to Gyumed Monastic School in Hunsur to learn Tibetan language, grammar, literature, sutra and tantric Buddhist philosophy and logic etc. for one and a half month. They were selected from TCV in Dharamsala, Suja, Gopalpur and Chaundra. Before they start their classes they had an opportunity to go for pilgrimage tour in the various monasteries in Bylakuppe and Hunsur as well.

For the rest of the 160 students, they are much younger children that came from TCV Upper Dharamsala. They were divided into batches of 50+ to go to Tso Pema in Mandi for 3 days. They mainly do sight seeing, get in touch with the nature and visit the caves where the hermits live up in the mountain and of course not forgetting the holy site where Guru Rinpoche was.  Each of them received a pocket money of 300rs.

In summary a total of 69,500rs was utilized in this year and the balance of 31,438rs to be carried forward to the 2014 winter program.  

In 2014 from the donations we have received and the balance of money left over  from the previous year we managed to provide 40 students who went to Gyumed Monastic School in Hunsur to learn about Buddhism, language and literature etc. each a sum of 500rs as pocket money. 

The pocket money of another 15 students from Lhadak who went to Nepal and another 10-15 students from TCV Chauntra went to Auroville were taken care of by the TCV Alumni Association.

Another group of 50 students from TCV Upper Dharamsala went to Doon Valley for excursions, immersion and pilgrimage as well. Here not only they had each a sum of pocket money of 600rs. Varada Effort also sponsor their food and refreshment for the 8 days trip that cost a total of 64,528rs.  

In 2015, a total amount of 65,000rs were sent to TCV HQ. With this money, 15 teenagers have gone to Auroville to experience the making of handcraft and other art forms as well laying their hands on farming and cooking. Sun sea and sand was enjoyed by all with the immersion of local and foreign community there.

Another 65 has gone to Hunsur as those who have done years before to learn about Buddhism, literature etc. They were all given 500rs each.

For another 60 younger students they were given a local excursion and a pocket money of 100rs each.  The balance amount of 19,000rs will be utilised as picnic fund for those children who stay behind in the campus during summer 2016.

For a more detailed programme of this visit please refer to our other posting.

In summary; from 2011 till 2015 a total of at least 654 students have benefited from our fund for this program and a total of 293,928rs was donated and distributed for this project. 

(5)Helping Tibetans Help Tibetans-Life Skill Training Workshop at Bodhgaya (Dec 2011)

After our August 2011 workshop in TCV Upper Dharamsala, we realized that going to India to hold workshops for the students once a year will not be enough to serve the greater community. Therefore, a group of 6 of us with the 3 social workers in charge of the training programme conducted a 4 day workshop in Bodhgaya the same December. Hopefully with the group of Tibetan trainees they will be able to function better with a better knowledge of their own culture and the habits of their own youth. After the training, VE will continue to support this group in the future in terms of monetary aid and technical know-how. 

(6)Work skill Training for VTC Students (Jan 2013)

Two highly qualified and experienced trainers from Singapore went to Selakui to conduct a four days’ workshop for some chosen students from various departments of VTC. The main aim is to improve their communication skills and also to teach them how to face a job interview when they graduate. Many interactive sessions were conducted and the students were taught personal grooming, body language, work etiquette and how to write a bio-data.

The students’ confidence level was boosted tremendously after the workshop. Many favorable feedbacks were truly encouraging. We hope to follow up with future training and possible drawing up a training program for both the teachers and students soon.    

(7)Cow liberation for the long life of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama and also helping poor families in Sri Lanka (Oct 2012-Jun 2013)

In celebration for HHDL’s birthday in 2013, VE has decided to conduct a cow liberation programme in Sri Lanka as a birthday present for their beloved guru. This programme received a tremendous response once launched since it has a three-fold effect. A total of 292 cows (costing S$102,200) were released from March 2013 to June 2013. More than 1,000 donors from 12 countries took part in this programme.

The cows were purchased from the slaughterhouses in various parts of Sri Lanka. After the blessing by the monks in a simple ceremony there were given to poor villagers (some of them can only afford two meals a day) who have been recommended by the local monks in the area of liberations.

The recipients also have to vow in front of the Buddha and Sangha members that they will undertake the responsibility of taking care of their cows till their natural demise. Under no circumstances they can sell them away nor kill them.

 A total of 7 sites were chosen and more than 1,170 villagers will benefit from the production of milk from the cows and also get the help in farming with the animals. The recipients consisted of not only Buddhist families but also two Christian families as well, as we believe compassion has no bound.

However, the most important thing is; more than 300 lives were saved in the end, as out of the 292 cows, at least 15 of them came with young calves and as far as we can detect another few (around 5 or more) were pregnant when they were sent for killing. So with this project, not only the animals were given a new lease of life, with more babies saved, the poor villagers were given hope and means of improved living conditions in years to come.

(8)Tasting Tibetan Food Helping Tibetan Youth Oct-Nov 2013)

In order to follow up on our help for VTC we have decided to invite the director of VTC over for an observe and learn tour. This is to help him to understand and arrive at a common standard language in our future training in order to continue with our effort to help raise the standard of their students.

We used a unique way for arriving at the funding for his trip by making use of the skill that Mr. Lhakpa Dhondup is good in (cooking) and Singaporeans’ favorite pass time (food). So far, about 50 people have joined the lunches and dinner that we have organized. The locals get to learn about typical Tibetan food like dre si, guthuk, thenthuk, tsampa, butter tea and sha baklep through Mr. Lhakpa’s introduction and they also get a taste of the food as well. They were lively exchanges and also a video of VTC was shown. On top of that the participants also get to taste the kapse, muffins, and cookies that his students have prepared for us.

We have received S$1,710 through donations in cash and S$1,060 through the sale of tickets for the lunches and dinner. After deduction for the cost of food and allowance for his stay plus air ticket, approximately S$1,400/- is leftover which will go to the general improvement of the facility for the students in VTC. The exact items to be purchased and the amount used after we have converted it to Indian Rupees will be announced later once it is finalized.  

How are we progressing so far?

From a group of humble 4, VE grew with the help from volunteers from various fields all over. Since 2010, more than 7,500 aged, poor and students plus more than 300 animals were being helped through these projects.

VE has also organized two tours to Sri Lanka in May and June 2013 for the donors to witness the cow liberations and also doing a mini pilgrimage tour tracing the trail of how Buddhism developed outside of India.

We are grateful to the over 1,500 donors who made all the projects possible. Together, we have made this world a better place for all sentient beings.

We always welcome extra helping hands, donations and suggestions. At the moment, we are looking more for special skilled (i.e. language, IT, engineering and hospitality) personnel that can help the organizations that we are helping.

How can you contact us?

You can write to us and view the details and pictures of our various projects via our blog: http://varadaeffort.blogspot.com