Liberation 2015 in the Himalaya Region

At long last, the yearly liberation that you have been waiting for! This time we are doing it in a different place and therefore took a longer time to coordinate. Here are the details:-

1) Venue:

In the nomad region of Chantang near the border of Himalaya and Tibet.

2) Animals to be liberated:

A mixture of goats and sheep

3) Date:

We target to do this between 20th May to 20th June. The exact date being uncertain as that depends very much on the weather and road condition when the monks depart from Leh. It may take them one or two days if everything is smooth. However if there is rain or landslide or snow, the road might take days to clear before they can move on.

However we try to do this during the Sagadawa period where merits will multiply by 100,000 times to give all donors the maximum benefit.

4) Who will be conducting the ceremony:

Four lamas (one of them is very experienced in doing this kind of liberation and he knows the nomads well) will travel by car to the border area.

5) How is this done:

We will purchase the goat/sheep from the nomads, but after the ceremony the same nomads are responsible to take care of the goat/sheep by sending them for the daily grazing until the animals' end of life.

The monks will mark these animals bought during the ceremony and give them blessing. People in that region are well aware of the meaning of the marks and they will not sell, steal nor eat the animals, as this will create extremely bad karma for them.

6) How can you see the ceremony:

I have requested our main coordinator Dr. (Geshe) Ngawang Yeshi to send someone who will handle the camera to capture the ceremony for us to see.

7) How shall you put the name(s) of the donors:

Since we have limited number of animals to be liberated, we urge you not to book several animals under one name. We try to let more people to participate to share this merit.

Please give us Romanised names (no Chinese characters please) because we need to translate into phonetic sound in Tibetan to facilitate the lamas to read it out loud.

We do not have placards as we have done in Sri Lanks before as it is meaningless to spend a lot of time to construct the pents and catch the animals to put them inside and after the ceremony the animal will join the rest of the herd that belongs to the same owner. There will not be an change of owner in this case.

8) Cost per goat/sheep:

S$180/- .

This is inclusive of:- (A) all the travel expenditures:- transportation, lodging and meals for the 4 monks, (B) the offering items and materials required for the ceremony and (C) the dana to the monks who take time off to perform this ceremony for us.

9) Number of animals to be liberated:

40 goats and sheep.

We will not be increasing the number as this is our first partnership with the monks and we do not want to over stretch them with the logistics which they may not be able to manage.

10) Closing date:

15th May 2015.

We need to close the accounts by this day and collect all the money to be sent over to Ladakh in time for their departure for the nomad region.

 

Please contact Rita at 96731648 should you need clarification on this. Thank you for your continual support and may this meritorious deed brings much happiness and good health to help you in your practice of dharma in the future.

 

A Brief Report on TCV Upper Dharamsala Winter Program 2014 

 Date:-From 10th Jan 2015‐‐ 17th Jan 2015

This tour was organized by TCV Upper Dharamsala village director Mr. Ngodup Wangdu.  50 students (35 boys and 15 girls) were chosen and together with the director and 3 staff they went on this exciting week long trip. The students came from class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

10th Jan 2015(Day 1)
Left the school at 4-00am in the morning with packed breakfast and lunch to embark on this long journey.
Arriving late in the afternoon, Mr. Lhakpa Dhondup, Director of VTC‐ Selakui and the staff members gave them a very warm welcome with traditional Tibetan scarfs. A delicious welcome dinner was given to them at 9.00 pm.

11th Jan 2015 (Day 2)
Tour of TCV and VTC:-
Began their day walking around TCV Selakui campus with the principal Mr. Duke Tsering and headmaster Mr.Tsultrium Kalsang from 9.00 am to 11.00am. The tour was very educative and particularly the unique cow project.
This was followed by the tour in VTC campus. The staff and students at VTC‐Selakui gave a hearty welcome, followed by the Director of the institution Mr. Lhakpa Dhondup's power point presentation of TCV VTC campus and all the different trades of the center. Tour of the campus followed.
The team of cookery and Food & Beverage students prepared and organized a grand lunch for all the visitors.
Tour of Clement Town from 2.30pm – 6.30pm:-
Mindroling monastery is one of the larger Buddhist monasteries in India.. The group was lucky to get an audience with KE Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche and HE Rigo Tulku Rinpoche in the Monastery .
The early evening was spent in Clement Town, circumambulating around the great Lhabab Chorten (Lhabab Stupa). After the tour of the Mendrolling monastery, the students had one hour free time to explore the Tibetan colony on their own. 

13th Jan 2015 (Day 3)
Mussoorie Tour:
The group was welcomed by THF general secretary Col Penpa Tsering and he gave a very inspiring message to the students in his office. They had arranged school campus tour and a sumptuous lunch for the visitors.
The group also visited Central School for Tibetans Happy Valley. Mr.Ngodup briefed the students about the school, shared his experiences and advised the students to study hard and serve the community in future. After that, the children were given a two hours tour to Mussoorie town, which they have a wonderful time in this hill station. Returned VTC Selakui around 6.00pm.

14th Jan 2015 (Day 4)
Tour to Rajpur:
At 10.00am visited Sakya Dolma Phodrang and the group had a special audience with HE the Sakya Trizin and Rinpoche who blessed the group with special prayer.
This is followed by a visit to Jangchup Ling, another holy monastery where they took lunch with the monks.
In the afternoon, a friendly football match between VTC students and UTCV students was held.

15th Jan 2015 ( Day 5)
Tour to Hardiwar and Swami Ramdev Ashram:
The ancient Hindu’s holy city of Haridwar is located 75 km away from Dehradun and the place is regarded as one of the seven holiest places for Hindus. Every year millions of devotees come here to take a holy dip into the river Ganga, which originates from Tibet. The group spent about two hours at the holy Ganga site.
The group then proceeded to Swami Ramdev’s Ashram, which is 20 km away from Haridwar. Lunch was served in the Ashram. A tour for about 30 minutes of the Ashram followed after lunch.

16th Jan 2015 (Day 6)
Tour to Forest Research Institute of India(FIR):-
Spent tow hours there and visited six museums in FIR. The museums are all about forest and animals such as insects and wild mammals. FIR taught us how to preserve forest and how important role is being played by trees and the amazing animals in protecting our eco-system. It reminded all on how each one of us can do our own bits in saving our mother earth from deforestation and climate change.
Mr. Lhakpa  Dhondup  and  the  students  of  Secretarial  trade  arranged  a farewell  party for the guests with  bonfire that night. The children enjoyed the last evening in VTC ‐Selakui and many of them sang till 10.30 pm.

17th Jan 2015 (Day 7)
Back home to TCV Upper Dharamsala from VTC Selakui (Dehradun)
It was again, up early in the morning at 4.00am, had breakfast, packed the belongings and left on bus. They had packed lunch on the way at 12.30pm and enjoyed the delicious chicken briyani with soup on a roadside field.
The way back, passing by Herbertpur, Pontashib, Nahan, via Simla road solan road, Hamirpur, Kangra , Kangra,Dharamsala Dal lake , and finally reaching Upper TCV around 11.00pm.

Leaving for Dehradhun early in the morning by bus

Stopping for a tea break along the way

At Peace Zone Garden in Selakui

A group photo for the memory

At Mendoling Monastery

The very first Monastery built by Govt. in Exile in Mussoorie

By the River Ganga

At Swami Ramdev's yoga hall

Audience and blessing from HE Sakya Trizin

OUR KARMIC LINK WITH TCV SUJA

TCV Suja was the organization that caused the "birth" of  Varada Effort since 2010. After our project shawl was completed in Dec. 2010, members of Varada Effort together with some other Singaporeans have visited the school in Sept 2011.

The sight of seeing the children using football as basketball left one of our friends, Leeguan, an unshakable impression. Upon return to Singapore, he suggested to us as to whether we can buy some real basketballs for the children.

A subsequent donation of 14,230 rupees in total from Leeguan, Rita, Yvonne and Norzin made possible the following items to be purchased during Norzin la's home leave in the same year and distributed to the children:-

FOR THE 14 HOMES:-
28 skipping ropes
14 pairs of table tennis bats
14 packs of table tennis balls

FOR THE 14 HOSTELS:-
14 basket balls
14 pairs of badminton rackets
7 packs of shuttlecock

FOR THE STAFF'S CHILDREN:-
1 football
5 skipping ropes
1 pair of table tennis bats
1 pack of table tennis balls

This year due to the request from their PE teacher, new table tennis table is required as the old ones are quite dilapidated. Due to the high cost of a good quality table (19,089 rupees), in the end, one was purchased through the sponsorship of Jinpa (an old boy from the school) and Rita (member of VE). Hopefully this will be put into good use to improve their playing skill and we have no doubt that the children will enjoy it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TCV Winter Program 2013

This year we are lucky to have some pictures of the children going to various places during this January for their winter program. They are mainly into two categories:--

1) Those young ones who went to Tso Pema for pilgrimage and sight seeing

2) Those teenagers who went to Hunsur in the south to experience a higher practice in Buddhist philosophy and literature as  well as pilgrimage to those monasteries in the south.   

 

Children from TCV Upper Dharamsala going to Tso Pema for 3 days

 

 

 

Students from TCV all over India to go to Hunsur for one month

 

New Donors for Pocket Money Fund in 2014

Mrs. Shirley Hoe Siok Lay       $880/-

Ms Jasmine Tan Bao Yan         $221/- 

Total to date (4/6/14)                $1,101/-
The total amount was remitted to TCV headquarter on 4-8-14. Due to the commission charge, a total of $1,110/- was paid and it was converted into 53,088rs for the transfer. This amount will be added to the previous balance and hopefully we will be able to fund up to 106 students for the winter program this year. 

Attached is the receipt from TCV headquarter

A Learning Trip for Lhakpa Dondup la from VTC

End of October till Mid November was a very exciting period for VE as well as the director of VTC Mr. Lhakpa. After much talk and correspondence at long last we succeeded in bringing him over for a fact finding trip.

He was shown some of the successful models of educational and vocational training systems and social enterprises in helping those who are disadvantaged or not performing well academically. Some of these organizations including ITE West, Metta School, Helping Hands, Recipe, Shop 4 Social, Edes Spa, just to name a few. He also visited the local foodcourt, wet markets, supermarkets so that comparisons could be made in terms of business models.
Our fellow trainers cum dharma brothers and sister; Billy, Ching Wi and Siauw Chong had also given him much needed information regarding lifeskill, inter-personal skill and management skills. He had the privilege to visit the kitchen of a Peranakan restaurant-Blue Ginger and was on a half day attachment with an Italian restaurant-Pasta Brava.

The weekends were busy cooking up a storm for those who have "bought" a Tibetan lunch or dinner from us in order to raise fund for his trip here. About 50+ people were served and went through the "culture sessions" where they learnt about various kinds of Tibetan food, as to when and how to consume them. A good time had by all with lots of interest shown after understanding their students' plight on seeing a 15 mins video of the school itself.

We managed to have a balance of nearly S$1,400 after paying for Mr. Lhakpa's airfare and his staying allowance through the intake of the meals and various donations. TBC has generously offered to pay for Lhakpa's airfare and the rest of the money together with other individuals' donation will go to the general upgrading of the students' facilities in VTC itself.

Hopefully, after this trip we are able to follow up with more exchanges of students, more volunteers who are willing to go to train their staff and students in different areas and also possible training opportunities for their students outside India in the next years.

Some highlights of Lhakpa's visit:-

1) Getting started:-

Rita giving him the schedule, ezlink card and phone so that he will be able to get around.

2) Real work got started:-

An overall view given by Fee before our tour of ITE West begins

3) Some learning and discussions with various people:-

Some wise words by Mr. Chia Shi Sheung from Helping Hands on management skills and business models.

Sharing session at Buddhist Mission by Mr. Benny Liow on how to apply Buddhist teaching to everyday life. 

Some tips from our expert Billy on how to handle youth relationship.

4) Sharing sessions and eating sessions:-

Demonstrating how to eat Guthuk which traditionally served on the eve of Lorsar at TBC

 Sharing the life of Tibetans in exile with the Yap family

 Introducing VTC to the lunch participants in Norbu Choling 

5) Some of the Tibetan food that we rarely see:-

"Bobby" a Tibetan version of spring roll.

  "Tin Rhue", a royal dish made of egg omelette with beef filling and re-steam with glass noodle in the centre.

 A food of love....muffins baked by the students of VTC Selakui.

 Heart shaped Kapse that you get to eat during Lorsar.

  5) Some lighter moments:-

This is something interesting that we do not get to eat in India, so it is worth the picture taking. 

This bar is very interesting in the set up we must copy that one day.

6) The final accounts:-

We would like to thank all participants, helpers and most of all, the generous donors who have made this event possible. Please do carry on to support us for all our future endeavours! Once again a big thank you and hope you will join us in our "Effort" next year.

With the surplus money that we have given to VTC these are the items which the school has acquired for the welfare of the students. Hopefully they have many happy hours playing on these instruments.

REPORT ON THE PROJECT COMPLETION

With the kind and generous help of Varada Effort during the Singapore trip of the Director of Tibetan SOS Vocational Training Centre from 24^th October to 11^th November, 2013 a fund was raised of IR 71315/- (Rupees: Seventy One Thousand Three Hundred Fifteen Only) excluding Rs.28200/- (Twenty Eight Thousand Two Hundred Only) for Director’s airfare. This fund was approved to purchase Musical Instruments for the students of Tibetan SOS Vocational Training Centre Dehradun. It was aimed as it was felt wise to impart the students with the life skills of musical instrument along with the professional skill that they are learning from the centre. It was also aimed to utilize the free time that the students are having after the class till the evening activities.

So it was framed that the musical instruments of both western and Tibetan Traditional to purchase to impart the students with both skills.

So the quotation was collected and by brain storming with experts and professionals, it was decided to purchase 10 Western Guitar and 10 Tibetan Traditional Guitar (Dranyen). Out of this 10, 2 will be used for the performance purpose and 8 for the practice. The optional class for the practice is implemented with an instructor after the class and the enrollment of the students was really encouraging as more than 50 students have registered at the opening! The minimal entry fee will be collected from the candidate to bear the maintenance expenses and also to teach the ethic value!Centre really hope for a very positive result from this effort and would enhance the knowledge of Tibetan Youth with life skill like this which they can benefited them for a life time. It is also aimed to impart the preservation of our tradition through the music!

Accounts detail about the expenditure:

S.No	Particular	Rate	Quantity	Amount	Remarks
1	Hobner Acoustic with bag	2511.00	8	20088.00	Excluding VAT
2	Ashton Guitar with bag and pickup	4405.00	2	8810.00	Excluding VAT
3	Set of Guitar String	105.70	10	1057.00	Excluding VAT
4	Belt for Guitar	100.00	2	200.00
	13.5% VAT			4071.00
5	Dranyen Peyser  ( Tibetan Guitar)	3150.00	8	25200.00	10% discount
6	Dranyen Chungpa (Tibetan Guitar)	4950.00	2	9900.00	10% discount
7	Guitar Stand	175.00	10	1750.00	6nos receivable
8	Guitar String	120.00	2	240.00	Including VAT
TOTAL AMOUNT				71316.00

(Total Rupees:  Seventy One Thousand Three Hundred Sixteen Only)