The Day we have been waiting for since 2016

After our last trip to Lhadak in May 2016 most of us wanted to return to this wonderful place again. So many fond memories and nice sceneries kept spinning in our mind. So we have decided to visit Lhadak again in Aug 2018, not only to sightsee but also to do something meaningful for the local community there.

This was the request of Geshe Tsewang when he visited Singapore in 2017. He mentioned that there are many health issues with the people there mainly to do with bone aches and pains. The terrain is harsh and a lot of the folks really have to use their physical might all the time, resulting in sprains and chronic misalignment of muscles etc. This is something which the western medicine can hardly do much except to give painkillers. They cannot solve the root of the problem.

So we managed to finally find 3 TCMs who have graciously and generously taken time off and spend money to come on this trip. They also helped raised money to buy about 150kgs of medical supply to be brought over for the medical camp. Lots of logistics were needed as it was our first attempt to organize a medical camp. We also intend to do a first aid camp with the schools there so to impart the correct knowledge to the schools and their staff.

So on 2 Aug we set off on this trip of Compassion and Spiritual Enrichment for 14 days.

All ready to go at Changi Airport

 

After reaching Delhi, we only have little time left to check into the domestic flight and in the early morning Leh here we come!!

The Himalayas mountain range is as beautiful as ever 

 

3 Aug morning and we are all back at our old home in Leh!...Padma Guesthouse, where we had an enjoyable stay before! Their rooftop café facing the snow capped mountain and the chef's fantastic Lhadaki food is something that we will remember always. This is a good place to acclimatize to the high altitude because since we should rest and do nothing for the day so what else will be better than to  feast our eyes and feast our stomach at the same time?

The new wing is yet to be completed so we will still stay in the old wing

The snow has melted in the summer but still the view is so stunning

The garden is full of flowers and organic vegetables, we are in luck!

Time to move on and hopefully the new wing will be ready for us the next time

 

4 Aug Since we did not have a chance to see our guru HHDL when he was in Leh we have decided to see him off early morning when he was going to the airport. So woke up at 6.30am after a long day of flying and adjusting to the high altitude, we went to the road junction where HH's car will pass by and waited for him.

All bright eyes and bushy tails even we were very tired

To see the glimpse of him smiling and waving at us was all worthwhile 

 

After going back to the hotel to take our breakfast we are happy to go again back to a place that has great meaning to us-The Stok Big Buddha!

From far away we can see the gleaming Buddha that appears amongst the mountains

 

Two years ago we saw the finishing of this site and after we left HHDL came to consecrate the Buddha. Many Singaporeans have participated in this project by not only donating money but gold foil, gold paint as well. It was really wonderful to see this in full glory again.

 The plaque to commemorate the auspicious event

                 It was a real honor to be able to fill up this giant lamp again after 2 years

With hands clashed I wish this offering of light will light up the wisdom in all beings so we do not have to suffer anymore

A short explanation by Geshe Tsewang on all the lineage masters painted 

The mandalas on the ceiling

This is so peaceful to look at even from miles away we can see it gleaming under the sun

 

Our journey carried on to Saboo where Norling Guesthouse is. This is the guesthouse run by Ngari Institute and it was our "home" for our last trip and this. The place though familiar, now takes a different look with the greenery of summer. 

Left most is the main gate and the right side are the students' hostel and the library building

The school bus for the children can be seen on the left and the right hand side after Geshe la's office is the road that leads up to the monks' hostel and the new prayer hall.

 

After we have arrived in the afternoon, it was very busy time for all. First to take pout all the medicine that each one of us were assigned to carry in our luggage besides the 3 kind souls who have given up their luggage to put the rest of the medical supply.

It was everyone's duty to carry minimum this much of medicine for us

 

Our 3 TCMs oversees that the beds for treatment are ready for the patients

The medicine is all lined up

Medical wipes, needles, etc... are all ready for use

We even have a dispensary counter with a "Chinese medicine pharmacist"

Everybody is eagle to help to make sure tomorrow things will be running smoothly

 

Then the next job is to help writing out all the donors' names on the 60 dharchors and 28 luntas. Also everyone helped to arrange for the clinic that is supposed to start tomorrow early morning after the raising of the flags. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          

 

 

 

 

The second exciting news for 2018

We started the sponsorship drive of the 1,000 Buddha thangka late last year. For a while, we were wondering when can we and if we can, finally meet the target. 

Soon after the Chinese New Year, with the help of other dharma centres and also help spread the words of mouth through other dharma brothers and sisters, we managed to get all the 1,000+ sponsors in our list! In fact, we overshot (phew!) and it was through Gen Yeshi's research that we realized we should have some 1020+ Buddha images in this wall thangka.

So everyone was happy and everyone did sponsor a Buddha image in the end and no one was rejected! Rejoice in everyone's great merit indeed!

In fact, we were in Lhadakh this August and went for the inspection on the progress of the prayer hall. Everything was getting on fine and the 15 Nepalese thangka artistes will arrive in early January 2019 to begin working on them. The names of the sponsors will be placed under the images in the lower part of the wall.
Just a sneak preview for all of you who were not there. These are some of the photos we have taken.

The Bhutanese artistes working on the statues in the prayer hall  

The left side of the wall will be where the thangka will be painted

       Meticulously painted and crafted. These ceilings will be something to look at!  

 2018 Start of An Exciting Year

January is always the month for the TCV children to go on holiday with their families and relatives. Over the last 7 years we do see batches of students of different age groups being sent to various parts of India, even including Nepal to spend their long winter holiday. Some of them will do community work, some will just simply have fun while some others will do learning in Buddhism etc...So these children do get the experience of staying with some families, which they terribly lack this warm home feeling since the day they fled Tibet and come over to India by themselves. Also they can learn to assimilate with the society where their life in the children village have sheltered them from. But at the same time, we let them have a chance to go out to see the world...at least another city in India...

This was the original purpose of the Pocket Money Fund as suggested by Geshe Dorji Damdul, because many of them have hardly any money of their own. Besides, not only their families in Tibet will have problem in sending money regularly over to them, also some of them are from very poor families. So these few hundred rupees will at least help them to afford some snacks if they are hungry. Or; they may even want to buy some little souvenir of their own, when they travel, like other children would want to.

However, over the last 2-3 years, there are less coming out from Tibet and so the number of students "qualified" for this type of outing is getting less and less. So this winter instead of having children going to some other cities for a period of time, we actually only fund 123 students from Upper TCV to go for a day outing.

Therefore, from the previous balance of Rs 76,600/-, we only spent Rs18, 450/- for the outing, leaving a balance of Rs 58,150/- in the Pocket Money Fund account.   

A Big Project near the end of 2017!!!

Near the end of  November 2017, I was tasked with the job of finding sponsors for the 1,000 Buddha Thangka that will be painted on the wall of Nagri Institute Prayer Hall. I was a little apprehensive of this seemingly incredible task as Geshe Tsewang has specifically stated that he wants the names of 1,000 donors so that more people can share this merit of painting or creating Buddha images and statues.

The prayer hall in construction

I started from my group of friends and supporters and within a week the response was so good that it has surpassed my original targeted 200 marks. So I requested for double number of shares of the image and it was also taken up by the end of December.

In the end, I think Gen Ngawang Ridol was tired of my going back and forth and requesting for more shares, he assigned all the balance amount of the 1,000 shares to my charge! It was quite a "huge" new year gift to me! But I strived on nevertheless and praying for the completion for this task everyday.

 Some samples of the 1,000 Buddha Thangka as done in other monasteries



Time flies! It's been nearly 2 years!!

With 2017 passing by with the wink of an eye I suddenly realized that it has been almost two years since the last blog was posted. Not that Varada Effort has not done a thing but there were too many things that went past and I could hardly breath and now it is already the third quarter of 2018.

To summarise what we have done in 2017, we will list the activities chronologically:- 1). For the TCV winter program in January 2017, we saw a total of 29 children (14 travelling to Auroville and 15 to Nepal) to spend their winter holiday. Each of them were given an amount of  Rs 600 /-  as pocket money. Thus a total amount of Rs17,400 was spent from our fund. Since we had a previous balance of Rs 19,000 plus a top up of Rs 75,000//- from the fund raising in Dharamsala, this leaves a balance of Rs 76,600/- for the following year.

2) For the Vesak 2017, we continue our support for the children in Ngari Institute by raising the prayer flags in Ngari Institute on Vesak Day. We managed to have all 50 Dharchor taken up with another 50 smaller luntas as well. Altogether with the $1,720/- donations from various kind hearted sponsors in Singapore, we managed to raise a total of $6,520/- for the Institute.

We intend to make this an annual event where the money raised, after deducting the cost of the smoke offering puja, offering to the monks and helpers and the cost of the flags, the balance will go to the maintenance of the children in Ngari Institute. The children also will reciprocate by doing protector puja nightly before dinner and dedicate the merits to all the donors.

This is a very meritorious deed for all as the ground where the flags were raised is on top of the hill and the wind is forever blowing very strongly. Therefore the mantras on the flags will travel across the mountains and valleys to pacify all obstacles and also send peace to all beings. May all sentient beings find peace and happiness!

 

Vesak Day smoke offering and raising of Dharchor

3) Our dear nurse in the making, Ms Pema Dolkar, is into the third year of her study now. Our kind hearted sponsors have continued to support her education. With their generosity a total of $1,745 /- was raised in Jul-Aug. This will take care of her school fees, books cost plus dormitory charges, and living expenses as well. Very grateful to the following donors who lend their hands to support a stranger that they do not know and make a difference in her life. Many thanks to:-

Shirley Hoe

Tham Khuan Heng

Yik Choi Peng

Swas Tan Teik Ee & family

Bhagya Jean Lau

Amala Chew Soo Chuah & family

Chiang Meau Chyou

Cheng Meng Heok

Ang Bee Yian

Lee Sze Uarn & family

Raymond Tan Chong Hock & family

Pema in her nursing uniform in front of the hospital she works in

4) During HHDL's teaching in Dharamsala, Spiti Girls' Hostel asked for help since they are short of running fund. They are housing and providing girls from the villages where higher level of education is not available. So not only they house the girls but also teach them skills like computer and crafts besides going to the nearby high schools daily.

Through a group of kind hearted volunteers, they set up a stall during the teaching to sell malas, little trinklets and even cookies for the hostel.

On the other hand, through the mass messaging, we also managed to get the following local donors to donate the following sums to help by giving them a base amount to start with. Many thanks to the following kind hearted sponsors who has come out with the following amount:-

Yik Choi Pneg $100/-

Arnold Loke $100/-

Angeline Chan $50/-

Chua Sock Keng $100/-

The gross intake for the 31/2 days teaching was Rs 106,720/-

Out of the total amount, Spiti Hostel gets 60%, Dalai Lama Trust gets 20%, Tibetan Buddhist Centre gets 10% and Varada Effort gets 10%/.

With another generous donation from Wee Nee Ng of Rs 20,000/- The Spiti Hostel managed to get a total of Rs 64,032/-after deducting the cost of the malas and other goods. As for VE, we are apportioned with an amount of profit of Rs 5,300/- which we will keep for future use.

Varada Effort find new means in raising funds

It is hard to always asking for money from our friends with the limited connection we have, even the circle is increasing slowly day by day. So Varada Effort decided to try selling products from various regions (mainly from the Himalaya region) to not only help us in raising funds but also helping the folks in the mountain area where life is harsh. At the same time, we are introducing some exotic products to our people here. Hopefully we can start a social enterprise here or somewhere in this world to continue our effort in helping the needies.

So this July, with the permission of Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Singapore, during the Monlam Chemo in PMT, we have a small table selling tsampa bowls, Ladakhi hand crafted prayer tables and also a small range of oil mix with apricot oil from Ladakh for soothing the skin from sun and heat here.

With the amount we made, (even the crowd was not great) we deducted the costs and we split the profit into 3 ways: $100/- for TBC who graciously given us this space

                              $150/-for Ngari Institute in Ladakh for their help in procuring the products for us

                              Balance will be the seed capital for VE' s future sale

Our humble stall

Tsampa bowls

Prayer table 1

 

The apricot oil mix

Prayer table 2

 Then in late August, we are fortunate enough to have another small stall in Dharamasala during the Asia Teaching by His Holiness. This time we were selling semi-precious stone malas from India, saffron flowers from the Himalaya and also daily freshly made granola bars of chocolate, caramel and fruit taste by an Italian cehf residing in Dharamasala! According to the feedback the granola bars were fantastic in taste!!

We were very lucky as the crowd was big and we were able to raise the amounts that we have wanted.

 Also we do have our dear friends Ming Wen, Lee Nguan and Fangqi who have donated a base amount for TCV and some amount for the Buddhist Dialectics College before the sales. This really was like a booster shot to us! So together with those people who also have not only purchased from our stall but donated generously we managed to give the following amounts to the following 4 non profit organisations and people:-  

US$350 to Dalai Lama Trust to help those brilliant and needy students plus to defray some of their daily expenses

US$370 plus S$100 to TBC to help supplement some of the costs in organizing the yearly teaching

75,000rs to TCV as the Pocket Money Fund for their yearly winter program. This amount will enable 150 children to go out to the community to mix with them by either just simply having a holiday with a difference or helping in the local environment projects.

83,471rs to 23 students (monks, nuns and a few laypersons) from the Buddhist Dialectics who have completed their 7 years study in Prajnaparamita by the end of the year. They will be going onto a 2 months pilgrimage trip in Nepal and India. Hopefully with this amount they can have some better food in their journey if not helping them a little in their spare money as they are all not working people and have no source of income.

We like to say a big thank you to all, especially those friends from Singapore who had come for the teaching and the monks from the Buddhist Dialectics, who had spent their free time helping us with the stall. Also to Pauline who not only contributed her creations for the sale.

Without all of you, it would not have been a success!! Thank you again!

Helpers arranging our goods

The saffron flowers and fruit bars

Look at the crowd!

People are checking the products!

Busy counting money! Heeeee!

Some of the building projects done over the years

Year 2014 - Construction of Funeral Hall in East Bhutan

Donations were made to the nuns in a nearby nunnery to construct a funeral hall to benefit those who are going through a hard period of their lives. The weather and geographical conditions are harsh in this part of Bhutan.

 

Year 2015 - Opening the Dharma Door for all sentient beings

Donations were raised to fund the cost of constructing the main door and 4 side doors for the new prayer hall of Ngari Khangtsen in Sera Je Monastery in south India.

           

Year 2015 -  Furnishing Ngari Institute of Buddhist Dialectics Monks’ Hostel in Saboo, Ladakh, India

VE undertook the task of furnishing the 10 rooms which house 3 monks in each with a bed and table for each person.